THEY ARE TROUBLED? I DON'T THINK SO!

Hi, friends.... Welcome to my space!

RAMADHAN IS HERE, EVERYONE! I hope you all still have the energy to continue fasting for the rest of the month. If not, then I hope this book can help to lift it up!

Today, we meet the troubled girls of Dragomir Academy. But, are they really troubled?

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu

If no one notices Marya Lupu, it is likely because of her brother, Luka. And that's because of what everyone knows: that Luka is destined to become a sorcerer.

The Lupus might be from a small village far from the capital city of Illyria, but that doesn't matter. Every young boy born in in the kingdom holds the potential for the rare ability to wield magic, to protect the country from the terrifying force known only as the Dread.

For all the hopes the family has for Luka, no one has any for Marya, who can never seem to do anything right. But even so, no one is prepared for the day that the sorcerers finally arrive to test Luka for magical ability, and Marya makes a terrible mistake. Nor the day after, when the Lupus receive a letter from a place called Dragomir Academy--a mysterious school for wayward young girls. Girls like Marya.

Soon she is a hundred miles from home, in a strange and unfamiliar place, surrounded by girls she's never met. Dragomir Academy promises Marya and her classmates a chance to make something of themselves in service to one of the country's powerful sorcerers. But as they learn how to fit into a world with no place for them, they begin to discover things about the magic the men of their country wield, as well as the Dread itself--things that threaten the precarious balance upon which Illyria is built.

This is a middle-grade-fantasy book about Marya, who is distinguished by her parents. Her parents adore their son. Why? Because only boys can do magic or most of them. Some boys don't bring magic in them. So, when they are at a certain age, the Council for the Magical Protection of Illyria come to their house and do some test to see if that boy has magic or not. If he has, he will send to magical school, be given a mansion with servants and staffs, in other words he become rich. And girls...they are like not important. They exist either to be a sweet, beautiful wives, or to become servants. They are not taught to read or write, all they have to learn are how to clean the house, how to knit, how making embroidery,...all that kind of stuffs. Apparently, not all of people think this way, especially rich people. They think that it is important to teach girls how to read and write too, they are not born just to be wives, they can have a job, well, still...girls kind of job like seamstresses, secretaries, weavers. 

Now, we meet the Bandus. The Bandus are Marya's neighbors. Mr. Bandu is a doctor and Madame Bandu, is a master weaver. Madame Bandu asks Marya to be a baby sitter for her three sons. The truth is she just wants Marya to come to her house so she can teach her to read and write. Long story short, the Council come to Marya house to test her brother. Her parents are so excited. Her mother told Marya to behave, just stand still, does not speak if she is not asked, just quiet. Bad things happen and her parents blame her for it. And these lead her to Dragomir Academy.

This book is full of surprises. I thought I knew how things will turn out but then things went another way, and when I thought I finally got something, the other thing came out. It was like no end. THAT IS MY STYLE! I love everything about this book, the characters, the plot, the setting,...wonderful. Except the ending. The ending is not bad, it just lacks of something. Like there are so much more which are not revealed yet and the characters only solve, like, one point of their many problems. There are just some hints how they will solve it and these are written in the last couples of paragraphs. I hope there will be book two, if not...well, I guess I have to learn to live with that. Peace....

That is it for now. HAPPY READING!