Anatole isn’t just any magician. He’s the magician of Tiger Castle, whom the king of Esquaveta once declared to be the greatest magician in all the land.
“The Magician of Tiger Castle” is Anatole’s chance to set the record straight. Not about his greatness — he fully accepts the title the king bestowed on him — but about what really happened in 1523 with the princess of Esquaveta, the apprentice scribe she fell in love with, the prince she was betrothed to, and the prisoner who was kept in the dungeon for 100 years.
It’s the debut adult novel from Louis Sachar, author of the Newbery Medal-winning middle-grade novel, “Holes,” and the “Wayside School” series of memorably wacky vignettes. “The Magician of Tiger Castle,” out Tuesday from Ace Hardcover, is every bit as creative and endearing as Sachar’s dozens of children’s and young adult books that enamoured kids and teachers alike for decades.
The novel is told like a memoir, first-person from the magician himself. Only, he’s never been a true magician; we quickly see that he’s more of a misunderstood pioneer of medicine and modern science.
Calling attention to the thin, hazy line between science and magic, Anatole also dips into miniature medical history lessons. So, while you’re following the story of this bald magician, hypersmart scribe and headstrong princess, you’re also learning about why old-timey physicians wore beaked masks or how leeches are still sometimes used in medicine today.
Though it’s classified as an adult novel, “The Magician of Tiger Castle” is fairly clean, with only one or two curse words, a handful of innuendoes and some light violence, but nothing explicit.
You can read the surface-level story and have a great time, but Sachar also brings literary elements to the modern fantasy-adventure table. Chess games reveal the protagonists’ strengths while mirroring their evolving relationships, as well as their increasingly complicated schemes.
“The Magician” is self-aware and fourth-wall breaking, stepping outside the narrative to explain a word choice or cultural context for the fictional kingdom set somewhere near modern France. The plot is like a zany Dungeons & Dragons campaign played with friends; the storyline is meandering but with a definite aim and purpose, and the characters are lovably boisterous (or hateful, in the case of the antagonists). It’s funny, surprising, smart and weird, and fully lives up to the high bar you’d expect from a great like Sachar.
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