The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith by Loris Owen | A Scientific magical school & tons of adventures!

I LOVE MIDDLE GRADE! 😀 Every single time I pick up a middle-grade book, it makes me feel so content, happy, cozy. Basically, everything you want to feel while reading a good book. Middle-grade is the only genre that will ALWAYS accomplish that for me.

I’ve been checking my excel spreadsheet recently (because Goodreads is not enough) and I noticed that this year I read at least one MG book every month. Seeing this makes me very happy. As one of my goals, every single year is to read for fun. With constant blog posts, ARCs, reviews, new releases, and the need to stay relevant, I tend to forget to pick up books outside of popular YA or Adult books.

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goodreads blurb:

Welcome to the dazzling new world of Quicksmiths, where you will encounter Strange Energy, the Mowl, Wormholes, Dark Forces and the tantalising riddle of the Ark of Ideas.

When Kip Bramley receives a cryptic invitation, delivered by a beetle shaped drone which appears to be breathing, his world will change forever. Soon he finds himself chasing riddles and solving puzzles on a crazy treasure hunt set 400 years earlier by a mysterious genius. As things get dangerous, it seems much more is at stake for Kip and his family than winning top marks at his strange new school…

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Thank you Netgalley and Firefly Press for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by the company or its affiliates in any way.

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«The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith» is the first book in a new and very promising middle-grade series. On Goodreads, it’s actually not classified as part of the series. Maybe due to the fact that this a debut novel, the publishers want to see how it does before committing to the whole series idea. The book reads well on its own, but it definitely left some questions unanswered, and I’d love to see more adventures from Kip and his group of friends. 

Kip Bramley is a bright young student, but school is not his favorite place in the world. Mostly due to indifferent teachers and rather evil classmates. When he receives a cryptic invitation to Quicksmiths, his world changes forever. 

I won’t tire to repeat myself, but every single MG novel has a great friendship group (at least the ones I’ve been reading lately), and «The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith» wasn’t an exception to this great rule! Most surprisingly though is that Kip wasn’t the character I liked the most! Maybe Kip’s character needed a little bit more work to not get overshadowed by his much more interesting peers. Or maybe this was intentional, and Loris Owen wanted to show some love to the side characters as well. 

Was it intentional or not, but I liked it. It was interesting to see other characters shine as well during their quest to solve the ten riddles left by Eartha herself! 

Unlike, other books with magical schools, this one is unique! There is magic, yes, but it’s all way more science-heavy and almost has more sci-fi than fantasy elements. But as we all know, sci-fi and fantasy often walk hand in hand, and that’s definitely the case for «The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith». 

My rating:
★★★★☆

I want to continue this new habit of mine, and pick up at least one middle grade book each month. And I’m very much looking forward for the continuation of this series!

What middle grade book is your favorite? Leave your recommendations in the comments below! 🥳

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