The Time Witches - Softcover

Grade 5-7-Enraged by his defeat in The Witch Trade (Scholastic, 2001), evil Night Witch Wolfbane concocts an elaborate revenge in this less trite, more tongue-in-cheek sequel. Though the first episode's cast, led by intrepid witch-in-training Abby and stylish thespian Sir Chadwick Street, Grand Master of the Light Witches, is already bursting at the seams, Molloy adds yet more magical creatures, notably a donkeylike pooka with a wide brogue; a displaced band of mischievous woodland elves capable of tickling Night Witches to death; and a clan of powerful, bureaucratic Wizards with a mysterious agenda. Enlisting the aid of his loathsome mother and Baal, a jumbo spider, Wolfbane kidnaps Sir Chadwick's fiancee, Hilda, then travels back in time to change the future by killing an ancestor of Abby's. Abby and her many friends pursue, of course, plunging into a whirl of subplots, reverses, confrontations, narrow squeaks, and magic dusts of diverse properties. In the end, Hilda and Sir Chadwick are reunited, Abby's forbear is saved, Wolfbane is lost in the gulfs of time (until the next episode, no doubt), and Baal meets a deliciously squishy fate under the wheels of a train. Readers fond of sometimes-gruesome, sometimes-grand set pieces, and stout-hearted heroes of both sexes facing scenery-chewing baddies with names like Snivel Cheeseman, can look forward to a grand romp.
John Peters, New York Public Library
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Gr. 5-8. In this sequel to The Witch Trade (2001), set in the idyllic little English seaside village of Speller, readers re-encounter young Abby Clover, a Light Witch, who bravely helped defeat the evil Wolfbane of Darkwood Forest. Unfortunately, Wolfbane is on the prowl again, and along with his deliciously evil mother and assorted villainous cohorts, he has concocted a plan to travel back in time to destroy the order of Light Witches before they have a chance to exist and wield power. Little do they expect Abby and her companions, led by Grand Master Chadwick Street, to travel back in time for a showdown. The evil characters are more strongly portrayed than the good Light Witches, who tend to be rather prim, but fantasy fans will enjoy the classic good-and-evil romp, including those who haven't read the first volume. Anne O'Malley
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