Rich Worlds Filled with Magical Details: Review of The Wizards of Once, Knock Three Times

The Wizards of Once: Knock Three Times is the third book in this suspenseful and highly imaginative fantasy series from Waterstones Children’s Laureate and best-selling author Cressida Cowell.

If you’re unfamiliar with this series then have a read of our reviews of the first two books The Wizards of Once and The Wizards of Once: Twice Magic here. We have thoroughly enjoyed the series to date and can happily report that this third instalment does not disappoint.

In the third book we find Wizard Xar and Warrior Wish, along with all manner of friends including bodyguard Bodkin, sprites, a werewolf, giant, enchanted key, spoon and fork … the list goes on flying through the Wildwoods trying to avoid being caught by the witches that live in there. However, the main purpose of their mission is to find the ingredients for a spell that will finally rid them of witches and also out run their parents who are onto them and following close behind.

Both Xar and Wish have an urgent need to rid themselves of witches – Xar has a witch stain on his arm that is growing and threatens to over take him. While Wish has the ability to work magic on iron and this is highly desired by the witches and the Kingwitch.

The pace doesn’t slow down any time soon although when they are taken in by the wise, warm and powerful Perdita at her school for Spectacularly Gifted Wizards there is a slight reprieve from the running/flying. Here the troupe manage to fine tune some of their magical skills in the hopes of being ready for the next leg of the journey. And they need all the help they can get.

When the witches and their parents detect they are holed up in the school it’s time for a rapid exit. They also need to make sure that their good friend and bodyguard Bodkin doesn’t meet a sticky end while trying to make up for past mistakes.

Will Wish and Xar manage to find what they are looking for? Will Wish be forced to fight the Kingwitch once again and will their parents, sworn enemies with an entwined history manage to work together to save their children and their kingdoms?

Filled with stunningly intricate drawings that also come from the imagination of talented Cowell, this series will captivate little imaginations (and big we have to admit). The rich worlds filled with magical details, the wide variety of creatures and a plot that will have you equally excited and terrified is bound to hook the little reader in your life.

Fortunately, there is another on the way in 2020 and if they like this series and they haven’t had the chance to delve into the world of How to Train Your Dragon then you’ll have a ready-made reading list – and we all want that especially when school holidays are on the horizon!

Purchase a copy of The Wizards of Once: Knock Three Times by Cressida Cowell

Cressida Cowell is the author and the illustrator of the bestselling How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once book series, and the author of the Emily Brown picture books, illustrated by Neal Layton. How to Train Your Dragon has sold over 8 million books worldwide in 38 languages. It is also an award-winning DreamWorks film series, and a TV series shown on Netflix and CBBC. The first book in Cressida’s new series, The Wizards of Once (also signed by DreamWorks), is a number one bestseller. Cressida is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency, a Trustee of World Book Day and a founder patron of the Children’s Media Foundation. She has won numerous prizes, including the Gold Award in the Nestle Children’s Book Prize,the 2017 Ruth Rendell Award for Championing Literacy, the Hay Festival Medal for Fiction, and Philosophy Now magazine’s 2015 Award for Contributions in the Fight Against Stupidity. She grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland and she now lives in Hammersmith with her husband, three children and a dog called Pigeon.

Find out more about Cressida Cowell here.