Review: Chase Tinker and the House of Magic by Maila Ann Haberman

In Chase Tinker's world, magic, lies and secrets can be a lethal combination...

Thirteen-year-old Chase Tinker can't understand why he has the power to move things with his mind. Besides that, his dad has been missing for over a year, causing his mom to be too upset to pay much attention to her sons, so now he's been busted for shoplifting. As if this isn't enough to worry about, his younger brother Andy suddenly has a weird magical ability too.

Can things get any crazier? Chase thinks.

Then, a grandfather they thought to be long dead arrives at their door. He wants Chase and Andy to come visit him for the summer so they can learn about their supernatural heritage and why they have magical powers in the first place.

The boys soon find out that Grandfather, along with their cousin Janie, lives on a remote island in the middle of Puget Sound in an out-of-this-world house where fantastic magic can be found in practically every room, stairway and corridor. Chase can't believe their dad has been keeping so much from them.

It's an even bigger shock when Chase learns that all their magic is controlled by a very powerful and mysterious Relic in the attic, and if anything happens to this relic, every bit of Tinker magic will be lost forever. He's even more disturbed when he learns his family has a dark and powerful enemy that is determined to steal all their magic, their house and their relic. 

Now Chase must find a way to stop these evil beings, while at the same time figuring out what has happened to his dad, unraveling even more Tinker lies and secrets and not letting on that he has a huge crush on the housekeeper's daughter.

from goodreads

Chase Tinker and the House of Magic can be one of those family book series that anyone would like. Mostly, if you are a fan of Harry Potter-and come on, who isn't? The book is not a rip off of the Harry Potter series though, and that was the key parts of why I liked it. I wasn't too keen on the idea of this twelve, almost thirteen year old boy and his brother discovering they have magical powers, and go to their grandfather's house to learn.

Malia Ann Haberman is a great author, but I won't compare her to J.K. Rowling because that's quite cruel, and no one can beat her-in my opinion. Though, she writes amazingly well, and it doesn't suck, as some independent authors have a tendency of having poor grammar and spelling-which can get tedious to a reader.   

The main thing I loved about her writing, was the characters. They were all very tangible people, and it was interesting to see them interact and follow them through the novel. My favorite character has to be the boy's grandfather, and I love the whole plop in out of no where characters. Sometimes, those characters are annoying and jerks, but the grandfather seems to work out a balance of being a cool old guy, that isn't a creeper. 

I believe that Chase Tinker and the House of Magic is a great reader for those middle grade reader, and even adults, anyone really. The thing is, magic is such an old story that you'd think it gets old after a while, but this novel is not one of those boring been there done that sort of deal. So, you guys being one of my all time favorite people, I give the novel by Malia Ann Haberman a head nods, thumbs up, and smiling like there's no tomorrow. (5 out of 5)