Brief

A misfit teen learns that the differences that alienate her from her family and friends is actually the possession of magical abilities. She unwittingly joins a group of mages who need her ability and together they are use their magic to work as wizard spies.

What We Liked

The mixing of spying with magic is a cool concept. The characters are powerful, well-developed and empathetic. The setting and locales are fun. The story will be appealing to broad audience and will be easy to market.

Film: The story is well suited for a feature adaptation. The characters are well developed as is the story. It takes the audience on a fantastical adventure that is broad in scope. Since this is the first in the series, there are more adventures to chronicle. It is perfect for a franchise.

TV: Combining the series of books for a television adaptation could be interesting. There are many storylines and characters to explore that could be spread out over several seasons.

Key points: Strong female lead; Broad appeal; Franchise potential; Wizardry; Strong premise

Synopsis

Myra Wetherby has spent her 14 years being poked and prodded by doctors because she has always been different than her family. She is haunted by “fits” that cause her to have visions that she does not understand. Hospitalized for madness, she runs away and lands herself in an orphanage. While in the orphanage, Myra has visions and feels feelings that are not her own. She awakes one night to a warehouse fire close to the orphanage. She is soon transported there in what she thinks is a dream. It is a frightening scene and she feels the feelings of all those around her. Aidan, who is slightly older than she, notices powers she radiates. He has his own powers as well. His friends Katy and Stephen perish in the fire, but he is able to whisk Myra away to safety. Aidan immediately explains to Myra that he is a wizard who works as a spy for the Magical Intelligence agency in England. He recognizes her as one of their own and immediately takes her under his wing. He takes her on a harrowing journey from American to England via a transatlantic turnkey system.

Upon arriving in London, Aidan takes Myra to the mansion that houses the wizard spies of Magical Intelligence. Once she is clean, rested and fed, Myra is brought into the fold. She learns that the team of wizards has recently been separated from their agency. They are now operating in a rogue state and are pitted against one of their own: Dr. Silas Addair. He is a mad scientist actively trying to siphon their powers and bring about their demise. In addition to being targeted by Addair, the advent of electricity is also affecting the mages’ magic. When exposed to electricity, they are subject to something called Violectric Dampening, which robs them of their powers. Myra is somehow immune to the Violectric Dampening and this makes her incredibly valuable to her new found friends. She is soon given a wand and begins to learn to harness her power, access the powers of the others and trains in all things Magical Intelligence. James James teaches her everything he knows. She also learns from Ben, who has the magical power to raise the dead, and Lauren, who can use kinetic energy to travel into the inter dimensional “ways”.

Katy and Stephen arrive back at the mansion, having miraculously survived the warehouse fire after all. Katy is happy to be reunited with Aidan and Stephen is happy to be reunited with James James. Stephen has been completely robbed of his powers after being poisoned by Addair. Julius, a non-magical, also known as an Ord, makes devices to be used by Magical Intelligence. He wants to help them defend themselves against Addair. He is soon captured by Addair’s henchmen and taken to the insane asylum. At first it seems that Julius has betrayed them. He turns out to be loyal to them in the end and is instrumental on their endeavors to fight Addair. Addair’s men break into the mansion, kidnap Lauren, who happens to be pregnant, and restrain the rest. Despairing at the loss of Lauren and his inability to save her, James James removes himself from mansion. Addair’s electromagnetic weapon renders the mages powerless so it becomes up to Myra to harness everyone’s power and save the day.

Myra and Aidan travel by broom to rescue Lauren while the others follow on the ground. When they arrive at the asylum, Myra can feel Lauren and use her power. She is there physically, but is mentally lost in the ways and it is unknown if she can be retrieved. An epic battle takes place that leaves Addair defeated and deceased, but James James also loses his life in the process. Grieving their dead, but grateful to be free of Addair, Myra and her new found family have redeemed themselves with Magical Intelligence. Many new adventures await them as wizard spies.

About The Author

M. K. Wiseman has degrees in Interarts & Technology and Library & Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her office, therefore, is a curious mix of storyboards and reference materials. Both help immensely in the writing of historical novels. She currently resides in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.