Fridays with the Wizards by Jessica Day George

Fridays with the Wizards, by Jessica Day George, was published in 2016 by Bloomsbury. It is the sequel to Thursdays with the Crown.

Fridays at Castle Glower are as exciting as ever for Celie, Lilah, and Rolf, with newborn griffins hatching left and right, new Castle passageways to explore, and an out-of-the-blue wedding to plan. But when the dangerous, ancient wizard Arkwright escapes from the dungeon, no one can rest until he is found. Celie has an idea of where he may be hiding, but the only way to stop him could be to erase parts of the Castle for good. With danger lurking behind every tapestry and under every trapdoor, can Celie outsmart Arkwright fast enough to save her family and Castle Glower?

I thought Thursdays with the Crown was going to be the last Castle Glower book, but Fridays with the Wizards proved me wrong. And after reading, I’m fairly certain that Saturdays with the Unicorns (it will totally be called that) will come at some point. I’m not upset that a series continued when I thought it was finished, but despite its high points, Fridays only served as a reminder of how far the series has gone from that first book.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The first book in a series usually does tend to stand-alone, and things established in Tuesdays at the Castle remained consistent throughout the series. I only wish that Wednesdays in the Tower and the sequels didn’t feel quite so divorced from Tuesdays, as if George went “ah! This is how I’ll continue it!” in Wednesdays and then strung all the other books together, leaving Tuesdays alone in the front.

As an individual book, though, Fridays is really nice. I wasn’t all that fond of Thursdays, but Fridays brings back a lot of the humor and ridiculousness that I loved from the first book and kept up the string of plot events that have taken place from the second book on. It also has tons of development for various characters, such as Rolf, Celie’s mother, and Celie herself. And like I said, I’m pretty sure the next book will be about Celie’s and Lilah’s quest for the unicorns, and if it’s not titled Saturdays with the Unicorns, I will be upset. Make it so, Jessica Day George!

 Also…the future Pogue/Celie vibes are strong in this book. I know it’s middle grade, and the series will never go on so long that we’ll see Celie become old enough to date/marry, but if it does and we do, it will totally be Pogue.

Rating: 4/5

Recommended Age Range: 12+

Warnings: None.

Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade

“Arkwright’s still in the Castle,” she blurted out.

“What?” Bran turned away from watching Lord and Lady Griffin, wings beating in unison, carry an enormous beam to the top of the shed. “No! We’ve searched, asked the Castle, and then searched again.” Bran shook his head. “I don’t know what happened to Maisy, or how he’s getting in to steal the food and blankets, but he’s not here now.”

“He’s in the passageways,” Celie insisted.

“How could he be in the passageways?” Bran said. “There are guards patrolling them now. Maids and footmen going up and down, not to mention—”

“The secret passageways!”

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