Review: Save Magic City by Rocsanne Shield

Publisher: iUniverse.com,2010

Pages: 304
Genre: Fantasy/Magic Realism
Children/YA


Hurled into the time flow by a banishing spell, 13th century Edmund lands into the USA, 2007, in answer to Leona's fervent prayers for help to save her town.

The corporation employing the townspeople has left, the bank foreclosures have created whole streets of empty houses, people are leaving in droves... the town is slowly dying.
A black magician in his old time, Edmund is forbidden to do any magic if it is not for helping other people. He discovers and is fascinated by the magical powers of Internet and wants to bring instant relief to the townspeople, but Leona, who does not trust their dependency on magic, forbids him to do so.
Leo, Leona's adoptive son, and his friends, Squirrel and Raccoon, accept the magic with enthusiasm and do their best to help the town to survive.
When misfortune strikes, Leona gives her blessing for Edmund to use his magic.

My thoughts: Although the setting for Save the City is the USA it is equally relevant to any western country . The first thing I realised as I was reading was that not only are today's children growing up in a world ruled by multinationals, huge corporations and franchises but they know nothing else. The days of friendly local businesses and employers , of focus on community welfare and growth that I can remember is as distant to them as Edmund's medieval time. The story uses magic to bring change but the real message is that the magic lies within everyone if they're willing to work together for the good of everyone.

I loved the movement between Edmund's medieval time ......

"A knight in armour is pretty heavy. A normal horse would not be able of the effort of carrying the knight and his armour, plus the horses's own armour, and still move with speed and endure the jolts of impact.."

....and the way it contrasts with the modern business/computer/internet world...

"--- once incorporated, a business becomes a 'person' with assets and liabilities, with reputations that be tarnished, friends who may decide to withdraw their support, if the reputation is lost. In this case, they could go bankrupt".

I confess I don't like any sort of 'legalese' or business talk even in adult novels - I find it boring but I don't know how children are going to feel about it. It slows the story down but it is also necessary to the story and young readers may find it interesting and informative.

Overall I found Save the City fun to read. The children, Leo and his friends Squirrel and Raccoon are delightful and I hope their adventures will be also be enjoyed by the grandchildren I'll be passing the book on to.

About the Author

Rocsanne is the pen name of Raluca Popov, born in Romania many years ago, when communism was still the way of life in her country. She desired to escape the communism and find more about a freer way of life in the West. For this, she left Romania as a tourist, and never looked back. Her education includes Geological Engineering and Construction Estimating, thus being able to find work wherever she went. During all these years she wrote short stories, mostly about the people she met, finding them extremely interesting. But always she was sure she will write a novel someday.
After she retired, she finally found the time to transform her dream into reality, and four novels in the Historical Romance genre were written, one connected to the next through their common heroes and heroines. And here she found herself in a quandary -- where to send the banished sorcerer -- the solution to her fourth novel, in which Edmund, the bad sorcerer is banished by his enemies, and disappears in thin air.
She can say that inspiration comes from the most extraordinary places. In this case it was the TV, watching an animated movie for children. Forgotten was the romance, and children, together with their parents became the new heroes.

I received a copy of Save the City to read and review from The YP Publishing