The Wizards of Once Books in Order

The Wizards of Once series drops readers into an ancient, tangled forest where Magic and Iron have been at war for so long that nobody can quite remember how it started. Wizards live in the deep Wildwoods with their enchanted creatures, while Warriors in iron armour clear the trees and insist that magic is dangerous and must be wiped out. Every child has been raised on stories about how wicked the other side is.

In the middle of this standoff are two misfit heroes. Xar is a wizard boy whose magic has stubbornly failed to arrive, no matter how many risky schemes he tries. Wish is the one eyed daughter of Warrior Queen Sychorax, small and awkward in a fortress that values sharp spears and straight lines. She also happens to possess a strange, forbidden type of magic that can work on iron itself, which should be impossible.

The first book, The Wizards of Once, begins on the night both children sneak out against orders. Xar is determined to catch a witch so he can steal its power. Wish is hunting for a runaway enchanted spoon in a forest her mother has warned her never to enter. Their collision in the Badwoods sets off a chain of events that reveals witches are not extinct at all. A dark creature called the Kingwitch is waking, and the old stories about why Magic and Iron turned on each other are far messier than anyone has admitted.

Across Twice Magic, Knock Three Times, and Never and Forever, Xar and Wish, along with anxious bodyguard Bodkin and a whole crowd of sprites, snowcats, raven advisers, and talking objects, try to find a way to break the curse hanging over the Wildwoods. Each book sends them to new corners of this world, from druid castles and cursed lakes to dungeons and mines where magical beings are trapped. The danger grows as the Kingwitch’s influence spreads, but so does the unlikely friendship between a boy raised to hate Warriors and a girl raised to hate Wizards.

Cowell tells the story in a chatty, almost conspiratorial voice, complete with scribbled drawings, crossed out words, and hand drawn maps scattered through the pages. The narrator warns readers when the story is about to get particularly scary and nudges them to think about what bravery, loyalty, and leadership really look like when the adults in charge have made terrible mistakes. The humour is constant, but so is a sense of creeping threat.

Underneath the jokes and the chase scenes, The Wizards of Once is about fear, prejudice, and the hard work of making peace between groups who have hurt each other for generations. The series works best read in order, starting with The Wizards of Once and running right through to Never and Forever, where the long promised Spell to get rid of Witches finally comes to a head. Readers who enjoy magic systems with rules, flawed parents, and big-hearted heroes who mess up often will find a lot to love in this forest of quarrelsome giants, sarcastic sprites, and extremely opinionated swords.