After his parents announce that his bizarre, emerging abilities are getting in the way of their divorce, Felix Silver relocates to Dorset Harbor and becomes the charge of his Grandma Aggie. As Felix adjusts to life in a new school, Aggie decides that it’s time he learns The Silver Way, and teaches him all she knows about sorcery and magical arts. When Felix and his new friends decide to solve the mystery of local teenagers who have gone missing, Felix learns that his crush, Aero, has a big secret. Is dark magic creeping into the town, and can Felix learn enough from Aggie and the witches of Dorset Harbor to combat it? From actor and author Harry Cook, Felix Silver is a charming and funny Golden Girls-meets-teen wizard YA fantasy adventure in the tradition of Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On. 

The title of the novel and actual plot of the book both caught my attention; it has a cute little mystery. I admire the “villain,” I love Grandma Aggie, and Felix’s friends. Felix is cute throughout the novel. I genuinely like the LGBTQ+ content, especially the bisexual representation. The author uses two characters (Felix and Aero) to communicate his views on relationships and sexuality. One character even suggests polyamory as an alternative relationship style, in addition to the fact that one of them is gay and the other is bisexual. 

This is Harry Cook’s second young adult novel after his debut novel, “Fin & Rye & Fireflies.” Certainly, the book had great potential. For such a small town (Dorset Harbor), things were unquestionably cute, odd, and very entertaining. The magic was fantastic, too. Particularly when it was coming from grandmother Aggie. I was hoping for more—something amazing, captivating, and glorious. I was somewhat disappointed that I thought this story was only passable. This should not imply that the narrative is poor, tedious, or anything else. The writing was too simple, the romance seemed oddly rushed, and the characters lacked some depth. 

The biggest letdown about this book is that, despite the fact that the characters explicitly state that it is set in England, the writing shows a complete lack of understanding of British culture and society. To begin with, all of the spellings are American (for example, Dorset Harbor when it ought to be Harbour, and color when it should be color); if indeed the characters were British, they would not spell things in an American way. It was so confusing to see so many American-isms. Others include “senior year” instead of “sixth form,” “fries” instead of “chips,” “sneakers” instead of “trainers,” “Math” instead of “Maths,” “kindergarten” instead of “reception/early years,” “faucet” instead of “tap,” and “commercial” rather than “ad” —and many more. 

Additionally, the author switches narrators several times without revealing the identity of the speaker until a few paragraphs later into the story. However, I believe that problem could be resolved fairly quickly by simply adding a name at the beginning of each chapter when the narrator or point of view changes. Two characters are referred to as “Gran,” which lends to the confusion without a properly designated POV. I felt that a number of characters were underdeveloped. 

I urge anyone who enjoys fantasy novels about magic and classic Harry Potter fans, especially those who value LGBTQ representation, to read this novel. 

– Weldon Ngetich