The Hatmakers

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The one gripe I had is I found the conflict going on with the king to be far to obvious, from almost the very beginning, and therefore the twist like extremely predictable....like the adults in the story ignoring the most clear explanation bugged me. But I know I'm not the target audience for this though, so me finding the ending predictable doesn't really detract from my enjoyment of the book. Auf den ersten Teil der "Die Gilde der Hutmacher" Reihe war ich sehr gespannt und ich habe eine Geschichte im Stil der Duftapotheke-Reihe erwartet.

Imaginative . . . entertaining, comical and breezy, and the settings are conjured in transporting detail' The Times

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 . . . Anyway, there’s the usual shenanigans and friends helping each other despite their families not getting along at all, Sam and Goose continue to be awesome, and the search for Cordelia’s father continues. We get to learn more about the villain and what they want and why. Zunächst war ich gespannt in das Setting einzutauchen, die unterschiedlichen Gilden und ihre Aufgaben sowie die Charaktere kennenzulernen. Es konnte mich anfangs auch wirklich gut unterhalten und es war interessant die unterschiedlichen Aufgaben kennenzulernen und ich war außerdem neugierig darauf Cordelia bei der Suche nach ihrem Vater zu begleiten. Enter a spellbinding world in this soaring magical adventure, perfect for fans of Nevermoor, A Pinch of Magic and Rooftoppers. That's surprising, because cliche characters usually bother me SOO much, but somehow this was NICE cliche. Which makes no sense, but I just found it kinda cute and endearing. And I did like Cordelia- she was a very strong female MC and I was rooting for her throughout the book. I also enjoyed the way all the characters complimented each other and how they all had such different personalities. So, yes, maybe a little 1-dimensional but since it's middle grade and I still thought they were cute, I'll let it slide.

This book was fun! Cordelia is energetic, and super determined. Though I wish she had opened up to Sam earlier, Cordelia is seemingly tireless at trying to find her father, despite her family's disbelief. I loved how she, Sam and Goose finally got people to begin working together, though it did take things getting pretty bad for all Makers for that to happen. 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. 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.The Hatmakers is even more delightful and beautiful than its cover--and I think that it's cover is spectacular.

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 her 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. Even worse, someone seems to be using Maker magic to start a war. It’s up to Cordelia to find out who, and why . . . 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. By Katie Teehan and Ali Pantony Do you feel like sitting here knowing that you've achieved this goal, is the proudest you've ever been of yourself? Stories featuring strong female hatmakers have captured my heart since meeting Sophie in Market Chipping and this one is no different. Although this isn't quite the next Howls Moving Castle, it's an adorable younger sister to it and delighted my heart as much. Cordelia shares many of the same traits with Sophie: she's determined, loyal and unafraid of doing what's right. The escapades of Cordelia and her friends had me snort-laughing-out-loud, with some delightful twists and a queer romance subplot that just melted my heart.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. Puffin started out as a non-fiction publisher, with its first title appearing in 1940. As the most iconic and well-known children’s book brand in the UK today, we are always on the lookout for innovative ways to tell the world’s favourite stories and for brilliant new debut talent and brands that connect with today’s young readers, from newborn up to twelve years old.