The Hatmakers

Product Information

A world of many Makers—there are Hatmakers, Bootmakers, Glovemakers, Cloakmakers, Watchmakers and Cane makers. Hatmakers weave enchantments into the hats they produce allowing the wearer to be more focussed, brave, daring, violent, angry; anything! And the hats need unique ingredients—like feather of an owl for which you have to undertake a journey, storms in jars, moonbeams etc. The magic is brilliant and nicely integrated into the world, which, if you’ve read the first book, you already know, but there’s some cool reveals I won’t spoil here. A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. Loved this, start to finish. I was immediately drawn into the beauty of this world through the storytelling, and with magic fizzing in every word, I got carried away and finished before I knew it. The great thing about this is that there is huge potential with this world moving forward, and as this is the first in a series, I am beyond excited to see the adventure Cordelia goes on next.

Merchant's writing is stunning and vivid, written with a beautiful prose style that is both accessible and full of elegance and wit. Some of my favorite parts of Merchant's writing are her focus on detail and her wit, both of which seem to play hand in hand. Something that I am always drawn to in books is when an author includes very minor, quirky details or insights about a world that aren't necessarily necessary, but that for me serve to build up the world and create a more immersive experience, and this is something that I think Merchant captured really well. Similarly, in doing this she includes some strong wit in both her creative details and a bit a humor that acts as an undercurrent and really helps make this story flow even better than it already does.

Games

A big thing about Ronald Dahl and Diana Wynne Jones is that their books are character driven. They always had wonderful, fully realised characters who made difficult choices and drove the story through their actions. The Hatmakers was 100% plot driven. And while there’s nothing theoretically wrong with a plot-driven story, in this case it meant that the characters had no agency of their own, and were very two-dimensional. They were pushed along by what was happening in the story and didn’t actually need to make any choices of their own, as the story pushed them in the direction it needed them to go. For example, the main character’s best friend, Goose, only actually did one thing in the entire book - he put up a sail at the end. The main character, Cordelia, is something of a Mary-Sue character - she is pretty perfect, has no flaws, is the hero of the day, helps everyone she meets to perfect their lives, and everyone loves her. It doesn’t make for a very interesting main character. The Mapmakers delves deeper into the magic and Maker world that we are introduced to in book 1. It is darker, but also includes cute fireflies! In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.

I would say there are jobs that you think would be great for you. There have been jobs that I thought I really wanted and that seemed almost like a mirage. They seem great, but actually the reality is it's really not great. For me, every turn in the road and every change of direction that I've had, where I've been the driving force behind that, whether it's been like a show getting canceled, like Salem got canceled. At the time, I felt really sad in a way, but then I wouldn't have been able to do Carnival Row if that had gone on. It's hard to feel like anything that felt bad at the time has not ultimately been something that's been really great. It’s so important that people actually talk about the failure as well as the success in life isn’t it… Return to the spellbinding world of Cordelia Hatmaker in this soaring magical sequel to The Hatmakers. Perfect for fans of Nevermoor, A Pinch of Magic and Harry Potter. We return to the magical England Tamzin Merchant introduced us to in book one, "The Hatmakers". Cordelia Hatmaker lives with her family of magical hat makers, the Hatmakers, and there are rival families, the Glovemakers, the Bootmakers, the Cloakmakers, and the now disreputable Canemakers. Each family has a Royal charter, and after a falling out years earlier, refuse to even talk to another member of a magical family. What a fun book! The cover of this is colorful and drew me in, then the start of the book dives right in and keeps a great pace with plenty of action. I thought the characters were entertaining and the plot was interesting. I flew through this in one sitting and I hope there will be more! What I loved about The Hatmakers was the emphasis on creativity with magical ingredients. This second book is an exploration of Maker magic itself, both light:

Cordelia comes from a long line of magical milliners, who weave alchemy and enchantment into every hat. In Cordelia's world, Making - crafting items such as hats, cloaks, watches, boots and gloves from magical ingredients - is a rare and ancient skill, and only a few special Maker families remain. When Cordelia's father Prospero and his ship, the Jolly Bonnet, are lost at sea during a mission to collect hat ingredients, Cordelia is determined to find him. But Uncle Tiberius and Aunt Ariadne have no time to help the littlest Hatmaker, for an ancient rivalry between the Maker families is threatening to surface. Worse, someone seems to be using Maker magic to start a war. It's up to Cordelia to find out who, and why . . . But danger is lurking around every corner, and Cordelia must convince the rival Maker families to work together for once - not only to bring her father home, but to save the very essence of magic itself . . .

Cordelia's father, Prospero, a renowned Hatmaker is lost at sea. She lives with her Aunt and Uncle and is learning bits and pieces about their family trade hatmaking. BUT Commisioned hats go wrong. There's a robbery. There are chaos. This is a big probem because France is declaring war on England, and the Maker-families through their magic can actually bring about peace. The peace clothes for the princess apeears to be missing and a villain and a thief is in their midst. I had so much fun reading this book and it really captured that nostalgic magical feeling I used to get when reading books as a kid. The setting itself is really fun and has a historical Georgian London time period that combines a sense of real history (think 'alternate,' maybe) with some magical twists that made it feel so timeless and welcoming to me. It's an exceptionally immersive setting that I really loved diving into and hope to discover more of in future books. Wildly inventive . . . full of laugh-out-loud humour, enchanting magic and rebellious hope. I loved it’ Catherine Doyle In Cordelia’s London, magic is real and is woven into objects created by the five Maker families: the Hatmakers, the Bootmakers, the Watchmakers, the Cloakmakers, and the Glovemakers. Growing up in her father Prospero’s footsteps, eleven-year-old Cordelia Hatmaker has learned the family’s ancient skills and secrets so she can one day make her own enchanted hats. Set in a world where there are Makers, such as the Hatmakers, who weave enchantments into the hats they produce, allowing the wearer to be more bold, daring... or even violent! Cordelia is a Hatmaker who lives with her Aunt and Uncle, and one day her father becomes lost at sea. Not only that, but France is declaring War on England, and it's up to the various families of Makers to produce peace clothes for the princess. Can Cordelia find her father and stop a looming battle with France?The story is about Cordelia Hatmaker, and begins with her father supposedly drowning at sea, but the main story is about the king going mad and the princess having to take over negotiations with France to stop a war, while it appears that the maker families are being robbed. Right from the first chapter I was enchanted by the beautiful writing. I constantly found myself tabbing and writing down quotes as I went. Like, this: "Keep wildness in your wits...and magic in your fingertips".....come on that's just pure magic. Imaginative . . . entertaining, comical and breezy, and the settings are conjured in transporting detail' The Times I also adored this quote: "Everybody has their own unique magic, littlest hatmaker. But it's up to you to discover what it is. You've got to adventure into your own heart and head and belly to find out just what your own special magic is made of." (P.65)