The Lost Magician is a clever fantasy story that takes its premise from the Narnia books and crafts it into something fresh and unique. Author Piers Torday is like a magician himself when it comes to spinning stories and this one is spellbinding, combining enchanting fantasy worlds with well-developed characters and a convincing post-war setting of 1945.Siblings Simon, Patricia, Evelyn and Larry discover a mysterious library door that leads to a magical world called Folio. This is a world in which the library’s stories are locked in an eternal war and the only hope of restoring peace is by finding the original librarian, a magician who has been missing for hundreds of years.As the siblings become tangled in Folio’s battles, they encounter fairy knights, robots and bears among the cast of both familiar and unfamiliar story characters. Each of the four siblings has their own journey to undertake as they engage with the world of reading and imagination. While some feel naturally at home among the realm of stories, there is no glossing over the fact that not everyone finds it easy to immerse themselves in books and others need space to explore the whys and hows of their reading choices.The world building in this story is delightful and it is heaps of fun for readers to journey through fantasy worlds where fairy-tale characters meet sci-fi scenes. There are plenty of nods to the Narnia stories and readers familiar with the original books will enjoy to spotting them dotted in among the narrative.A fun and adventurous story where anything is possible and imagination is king.Nominated for Favourite Books of 2018 by: ClassBooks (@classbooks1), Librarian An enchanting and magical tale with adventure… it’s a must read!