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Title: The Midnight Orchestra (Mystwick #2)
Author: Jessica Khoury
Genre: Childrens, fantasy
Rating: 3/5
# pages: Audiobook ~9hrs
Date read: October, 2022

Things are finally looking up for Amelia Jones: she's officially a Mystwick student, and she even has a teacher to help her learn how to use her rare Composing magic. When Mystwick enters an international magic competition, it’s Amelia's chance to Compose something that will help them win the day. The only problem is that she still doesn’t understand how her powers work. But then she hears about a super exclusive Midnight Orchestra—half performance, half magical black market—and Amelia is sure that’s where she’ll find the answer to her Composing problem.

But the Midnight Orchestra is far more sinister than it initially appears and if Amelia can’t unlock her Composing powers, not only will Mystwick lose the musicraft competition, she won’t be able to rescue her friends from the danger unleashed in this thrilling adventure.


Unfortunately not nearly as good as the first one. Amelia keeps making bad decision after bad decision, which got really old fast. Some of it made sense, but mostly I just WISH she'd talked to people about her issues, instead of trying to sort everything out herself. It was bound to go wrong.

Also, one of my favourite things about the first book was the way it used background music as an integral part of the story. Yes, it got distracting at times, because I'd be listening to the music rather than the words, but it was charming and worth it! In this book, the background music was much rarer, much lower (an editing decision, I know) and just seemed tacked on as an afterthought. Especially as it often didn't even fit the description - e.g. the words mention an obo, but you could hear strings, or it would talk about being a "lively tune", but the music played was really slow. That was far more distracting - and not nearly as charming - than the music itself had been in the first book.

The book improved as it went along, but I'm not at all sure I'll want to read the next one. A shame - I LOVED the first one.
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Title: The Mystwick School of Musicraft
Author: Jessica Khoury
Genre: Childrens fantasy,
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~8.5hrs
Date read: September 2019

Amelia Jones always dreamed of attending the Mystwick School of Musicraft, where the world’s most promising musicians learn to create magic. So when Amelia botches her audition, she thinks her dream has met an abrupt and humiliating end—until the school agrees to give her a trial period. Amelia is determined to prove herself, vowing to do whatever it takes to become the perfect musician. Even if it means pretending to be someone she isn’t.

Meanwhile, a mysterious storm is brewing that no one, not even the maestros at Mystwick, is prepared to contain. Can Amelia find the courage to be true to herself in time to save her beloved school from certain destruction?


This is definitely a book that gains hugely from being "read" as an audiobook. The inclusion of music in every chapter is awesome and made for a totally different (and more immersive) reading experience... even if listening to the music did sometimes cause me to forget all about listening to the actual words! No matter - worth it :-D

It started out being very Harry Potter'ish, but fortunately quickly changed tracks completely with Mystwick being very different from Hogwarts. I do wish we could have heard more about the Musicraft classes themselves though, as I always find that fascinating.

I mostly loved the story... it was charming and fun and though obviously written for children/YA still definitely appealing for adults as well. My one complaint about it - and the main reason I subtracted a star - is the same issue I have with so many books in this genre: Kids who have really serious concerns about something BUT NEVER TALK TO AN ADULT ABOUT IT!!!! I guess it could be argued that Amelia didn't really have any cause to trust the teachers... but still.

Ah well, the rest was absolutely delightful, and for once I actually really HOPE it will end up being a series, rather than just a stand-alone novel.

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