Portals to Whyland

* After reading the complete saga, I think the best order to read it is the original. Starting with Spell Speakers or Step into Magic. But reading these two before Kissing Magic and Within Magic. It is true that is not necessary to understand the story. But it’s necessary to feel it complete. *

Synopsis

Magic has never been as dangerous.

Troubled by dreams of Sian in danger, Karina opens a new portal. But instead of going to Whyland, she breaks the defenses against Lumina, an ethereal city with advanced and dangerous magic. Not only that, she ends up powerless, alone, and without any awareness of her magic, trapped in a strange land where not even her mind is safe. 

Sian has an impossible task: defeat the gigantic Maris king. A victory doesn’t mean a ticket home, though. In his struggle, he’ll come across magic more powerful than he ever imagined. 

Intruders in Whyland force Cayla and Darian to go to the Light Gardens, where more truths and secrets are about to be revealed.

Stranded across dimensions, how will these characters come together again?

Get immersed in this action-packed, emotional conclusion to Portals to Whyland, recommended for teens 13 and up. 

You’ll find adventure, romance, intrigue, revelations, and magic. Start reading it now!

Review

This book has a totally different tone from the previous ones. From the beginning it felt much darker, not losing its essence, but the protagonists suffered too much in a very short time.

Everybody was sent back where they belonged. This means that Karina was back in her own dimension, with all the portals closed. Away from Whyland. Away from Sian.

After 6 months of research, Karina went with Zoe to meet a stranger who claimed to have a teleporting tower. This was clearly a bad idea, but Karina was desperate, especially since she kept dreaming that Sian was in danger.

Things were even more complex than she expected, as she ended up opening a portal to Lumina, one of the ethereal cities, which had long been isolated for trying to conquer others. Karina ended up being kidnapped by the people of Lumina for being able to open portals, and was tricked by Satwak (with a very dirty trick in my opinion), the leader’s nephew, to get her help.

Meanwhile, Sian had been sent to Marisia, since he had to fulfill his promise and defeat their current king. The mission was impossible for a human even against a normal Maris, and the king was much larger than these. His only chance was that his dream was right and he had more power than he thought. Being without shoes…

Still, he was surprised that he remained there. The realization that he was in a dream usually pulled him awake.

The woman exhaled and smiled. Her hood covered the top of her face, but he could feel her eyes piercing him. “The fight tomorrow. Don’t wear shoes.”

This was quite odd advice.

On the other hand, in Siphoria, Darian and Cayla are finally having a nice relationship. Darian was named Grand General by Lylah, while Cayla is practicing self-defense and trying to be friends with Alessa, her coach. Everything was going perfect until Lumina was unlocked. Lylah involuntarily evacuated Cayla and Darian to Light Gardens to protect them from the people of Lumina, the same ones who had Karina.

• Sian: One of the biggest reasons I liked this saga.
  Sian is finally learning about his powers, but he is also learning about himself. After being with Karina, he understood that feelings don’t necessarily make you weak. But, after having to survive in Marisia, he doesn’t really know who he is anymore. Clearly, all his suffering in this place, plus everything he suffered as a child made a dent in him. For the first time he has to learn how to cope with emotions, instead of burying them.
  His evolution in incredible, because he is learning from his mistakes and wants to do things right this time. However, there were times when I felt it was not like himself. Above all, I needed more of his sarcastic and overreacted attitude.

• Karina: She looks stunning on the cover, it’s my favorite!
  It’s always easy to identify with Karina, and it’s nice to grow up with her. She has become much stronger and more determined. She wasn’t going to accept not seeing Sian again, nor losing her chance to become a guardian. However, things do not turn out as she expected and ends up trapped in Lumina.
  This time we get to know this ethereal city through her eyes, while she tries to remember the last two years of her life, the ones she has spent in Lumina’s royal family with her husband … Wait, what?

• Cayla: She is finally beginning to mature, which implies that she needs to fix her relationship with. Although this is not easy when the two are unable to hold a conversation without attacking each other. She is also determined to learn self-defense and make friends. All while enjoying her relationship with Darian. But things get complicated when she is forced to escape to Light Gardens.

• Darian: At first I thought he wouldn’t be really important in this story, but I’m glad I was wrong.
  Darian has finally understood that he should not overprotect Cayla. He has matured a lot and wants to have a true relationship with his brother. He is also for the first time in a real searching for his powers (for which he becomes something between a hippie and a buddha).

• Satwak: Nephew of the leader of Lumina, he’s crazy. Karina is kidnapped and then Sat erases her memory to protect her from her uncle. Or not? I would have liked to know him better, he is a very interesting character. I still hate him, but he’s interesting.

For me this book deserves 4.5 / 5 stars. I really wanted to give it 5, but something was missing. I had a hard time understanding what it was, but I think I already know. It could give much more. It is a very good book, but the created world and the characters presented are so many and so good, that there isn’t enough time to cover everything.

As in the previous books, so many things happened that some of them simply lost relevance along the way. At least most of my doubts from Kissing Magic got an answer.

I liked the style of Day very much. I love that there is so much humor and sarcasm in the book. But above all I admire her imagination. From creating a new world, she went on to create dimensions, creatures and powers. With a really endless resource of imagination.

This book, and the whole saga are totally recommended for spending a pleasant time, in a world surrounded by magic and wonderful characters.

Bye bye ?

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*I know that this book says you don’t need to read the first one and it’s true, but it’s nice to have a better understanding of the world and the characters, so I would recommend reading it first anyway.*

Synopsis

Kiss him. Don’t fall in love.

Break a spell with a kiss. Karina has heard and seen enough weird stuff for this request to sound legit.

At 16, Karina has a shot at adventure—and an odd first kiss—when she’s called to Whyland, a kingdom in another dimension, to save Sian.
Sian. Last time she saw him, they were in opposite sides. Still, other than trying to take the kingdom for very selfish reasons and keeping her friend hostage, he was pretty nice. And he sent her a book. Maybe he’s not that bad. Well, she’s not going to leave him enchanted just because he was a greedy jerk some months ago. And it’s not like kissing him is some kind of torture. Far from torture. Still, Karina’s smart enough not to fall in love—or at least to tell herself not to.
But it turns out that risking a broken heart is the smallest of her problems. As an ancient darkness rises in Whyland, Karina will have to take a stand—and face more dangers than she’s ever expected.

If you like romantic fantasy and adventure with snarky and witty characters, you’ll have a great time reading Kissing Magic. This is book 2 in Portals to Whyland but you can jump straight into it without having read book 1. This novel is recommended for readers 13 and older.

Review

Karina goes back to Whyland to save Sian from a weird spell that made him a statue. Only a kiss could wake him up and for some reason Darian expected Karina’s would work.
While they tried to wake Sian up, Cayla, Darian and Karina were attacked by Kyons, sort of clay creatures that mimicked an incomplete human shape. Karina couldn’t let Sian-statue abandoned so she run and ended up teleporting to her own dimension with him.

Karina crossed her arms. “I kissed you on the cheek. Friendly kiss.”

His eyes widened, then he frowned. “That’s cheating!”

Sian finally woke up and warned Karina that the Kyons were after her. She didn’t believe they could reach her dimension, but they did and attacked her and her best friend Zoe.
To save her, Karina teleported to Whyland with the Kyon and met Sian again. So, she stayed with him in the Darloom Castle to find a way to stop the Kyons. Karina repeatedly told herself to avoid falling in love. But maybe it’s not that easy.

She’d been fascinated with him from the moment she first saw him. She’d told herself he was weird. Weird were her feelings. And now she’d have to deal with them.

Meanwhile, Cayla and Darian are finally together but now they will have a harder and unexpected problem that may end their relationship. They become the king and queen of Whyland in Lylah’s absence.

So, the girls are clearly in bigger problems than before, and now they must add love to the list.

Sian is seriously one of the best characters I’ve read about. He’s really complex and has a superior intelligence. He knows how to get whatever he wants but he’s not a murderer monster and he never lies, as he makes clear a lot of times. It’s clear that Sian wants Karina by his side. But the question is why?

Sian tilted his head. “Nobody believes in love at first sight. Until they do.”

Karina is amazing, she’s clearly a normal girl that found herself in the middle of too many unknown things, but she grew up along the story becoming braver and smarter. She still makes some silly mistakes but that’s only because she’s naive. Above all the new things she’s living, she falls in love for the first time and with the worst option possible (although I disagree on this). Sian, the weird guy that flirted with her after kidnaping her and Cayla. Now she and whole Whyland have bigger problems than ever before.

Sian stared at her. “It was a joke, then. All a joke.”

“It wasn’t. But you never told me what you wanted to do, never. You spent time away from me, probably planning whatever it is you’re going to do, and you never said anything. You never asked what I thought of that.”

Cayla and Darian have finally sorted things out, but Cayla is still stubborn, and Darian has an extreme need of protecting her, so they have a lot of fights around this until they both understand their mistakes. We can also see a little more of the past of them both, which is way more interesting than expected.

Cayla snorted. “You said it all, Darian. If I made the decisions. The problem is that I don’t.”

That was unfair. “I’m doing this for you! For us!”

I can’t say much about the other characters in the book as there would probably be too much spoilers.

In summary I loved this book. I’ve liked a lot the first one but was clearly for younger people. This one has a much more complete story with much better characters, or more than that, better presented ones. The evolution of the characters, mainly Karina and Sian, is really nice. You can truly see they are growing up and learning instead of getting stuck.
Something interesting are the occasional explanations of how technology works in Whyland.
More worlds, more magic, more love. What else can you ask for?
Also, the fairytales vibes are still here, and I love them. Therefore, I recommend this book 100%, even more than book 1.

One thing I was forgetting. I didn’t read this book, I listened to the audiobook.
About the audiobook itself, the voice is really nice to listen. My only complain would be that, as it’s only one narrator, when the conversations got a little faster it was really hard for me to know who was saying what. Anyway I enjoyed it a lot. This was my first audiobook and it opened my mind for keep listening them.

Bye bye ?

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Synopsis

Not special. Not chosen. But she’s got magical shoes.

14-year old Karina doesn’t know what she wants, but knows what she’s found—fascinating silver shoes. Fascinating, dangerous, and potentially evil. On the upside, they do bring cool visitors. When a princess invites her to go to Whyland and save her kingdom, of course she accepts. There’s that little “let’s destroy the shoes” detail she’s not crazy about, but hey, free trip, alternate world.
But Whyland is nothing like she expected. Karina finds herself stuck in a kingdom she doesn’t understand, with no clue on who to trust. Before saving anyone, she’d better save herself—if she figures out how. 
To make matters worse, as much as the princess is fierce, determined, and brave, she’ll jeopardize everything just to reconnect with her boyfriend, almost boyfriend, or whatever. And that might just be their doom.

Step into Magic is a fun YA portal fantasy adventure. If you like books with strong heroines, friendships between girls, subtle romance, and some mystery, you’ve found your book.

Review

This story starts with a completely normal girl named Karina who falls in love with some silver shoes in a garage sale. She didn’t buy them at first but once she got home she felt the urge to go back for them.
For some reason Karina decided that she wanted nobody to see the shoes and hided them in her closet as her special secret. The problem was her best friend Zoe who found the shoes and decided to “borrow” them for a dance. While Karina got furious seeing her friend with her shoes, Zoe suddenly slipped and fell from the stairs breaking her leg. Although it seemed stupid, Karina was sure it happened because she had wished her friend would take the shoes off. So, the shoes were magical and really dangerous but for some reason she didn’t throw them away.

The shoes – and what they seemed capable of doing – sent shivers down her spine.

One night a woman entered Karina’s room claiming to be the real owner of the shoes and offering a wish in exchange from them as they could not be stolen like Zoe tried.

No harm in trying. “World peace.”

“No, no, no, you have to wish something for yourself.”

“Why? That’s a good wish.”

“It is. But you see, you cannot mess with other people’s free will”.

Oh well, that meant there would be no new era on Earth thanks to her.

The woman, Lylah, said she came from another dimension and couldn’t stay long, so she would be back the next day which was more than a week later in her dimension.
After she left, Karina went to sleep and woke up as she felt somebody in her room again. This time were two girls, Cayla and Ayanna, princesses from Whyland, the dimension where also Lylah came from. They needed the shoes and Karina for destroying them as they were Lylah’s fount of power and she was an evil witch that put their realm in danger. So Karina, eager for knowing about other dimension agreed to go with them to destroy the shoes and become a heroine. Unfortunately the first part of the mission seemed to be quite easy and boring.

Perhaps that was what real adventures were like: they felt ordinary and mundane when one was in the middle of them. Only later, when looking back, people would realize what it had been, which was sad because it meant nobody ever truly lived an adventure, only remembered it as one.

“Luckily” for Karina, she found out really soon that things would be harder than she expected as there were real dangers in this world and she knew nothing about it.

Characters:

There clearly are more important characters that take part in this story but I’ll just talk about the ones that I felt more important.

• Karina: A normal girl eager for knowledge and adventure until she finds out that adventures where more dangerous than she expected. Most of the book is from her perspective so we are as clueless as she is about this realm we are brought into. Even though she gets easily scared in this new world she never quits in her mission and decided to be brave so she can help her new friends.
  
  More than anything, Karina hated to be wrong. Wait. There was something worse: admitting she was wrong.

• Cayla: Stubborn teenager princess. Bad combination but she’s not that bad. Her life style made her brave at a point that could be crossing the line for being reckless but she’s a really good person inside.
  
  Cayla looked at the girl. She stared as if examining her before answering. “People in the castle are not like you”
  “What do you mean?”
  Cayla had a half smile. “They are not dumb.”

• Darian: I spent most of the book trying to understand what side was he into. Darian is the “friend maybe more but not” of Cayla. He’s the son of the king’s general but was raised away from the castle. He was born with the talent of influencing people and he really gave it a use.
  
  “I’m sorry for my part in it. But I did tell Cayla it wasn’t safe to go wandering on her own. I offered to go with her, but no.”

• Lylah: I don’t really know what to say about her. It’s clearly the most powerful person in the kingdom and she’s an evil witch. But, is this true?
  
  “I was hoping this would be the day,” Lylah said. “Have you ever considered that most of what you heard in your life were lies?”

• Sian: I wasn’t going to mention him as he’s not really protagonist in this story and actually we don’t really get to know him. Sian is Darian’s older brother, but they are in opposite sides of the war. However, his honest and funny personality caught me immediately.
  
  “You don’t talk much, do you?” He smiled. “I like it! My favorite type of conversation partner. I can hear more of myself.”

In summary I loved reading this book. It’s full of small secondary stories and has friendship, a little of romance, adventure, magic and some hilarious parts. I guess I should add that if you’re of the kind that likes to get an explanation for everything, this may not be your book as lots of things just seems to happen. Anyway, this is just book I so there’s plenty of time for getting this answers.
After thinking about it I believe this book it’s a lot like old fairytales, as we get immerse in a realm where we follow this girls and their companions to their destiny while our hearts get filled with magic. I recommend it a 100%.

I got the opportunity to hear the audiobook and to be honest it gives even more vibes of a fairytale. The narrator is super clear and easy to understand, but I hated the attempt to do some voices, particularly Odell’s and Nia’s. And general Keen sounds like a snake ?. Anyway I loved this audiobook.

Bye bye ?

PD: Don’t buy strange shoes in a garage sale.

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