The Magestaff

The Magestaff by Cordelia Castel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The initial entry of author Cordelia Castel’s The Seven Kingdoms series opens with protagonist Cendrilla Perrault, nicknamed Rilla, serving tea to her stepsisters and stepmother, laboring for her household in an analogy to the classic tale of Cinderella. Rilla’s hand in marriage her stepmother promises to an ambassador, Lord Bluebeard, whom Rilla finds to have been abusive to the point where he murdered his previous wives. Rilla consequentially flees her household, encountering a man named Jack Galloway, who provides backstory on Bluebeard’s heritage. As a reward for rescuing a magical boy, Rilla receives the book’s eponymous quarterstaff.

Rilla and Jack quickly find themselves in the home of a miller, who is coercing his daughter Catherine to wed someone she doesn’t want to, after which they meet a talking cat named Puss, whom they take to his old mistress, who holds the key in healing the wounds Jack receives from powerful bluebirds sent by Lord Bluebeard to hunt his fiancé. Jack eventually leaves Rilla after reuniting with his family, with the wielder of the Magestaff making it a point to travel to the city of Metropole, where she hopes to stay low until she comes of age and Lord Bluebeard gives up on her.

The first book ends with a cliffhanger that obviously ties into its first sequel, and generally I found the first Seven Kingdoms book to be an enjoyable read, given its various fairytale analogies, and I could definitely relate to the ostracized protagonist. The story does slightly suffer from a smidgeon of unoriginality, particularly regarding the names of characters such as Lord Bluebeard, although the author made some effort to distinguish her work, with Cendrilla being a good alternate form of the name Cinderella, for instance. Those who grew up on old fairytales from authors such as the Grimm brothers will be the ones to appreciate this work the most.

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