Thank you so much to the team at Shadow Mountain Publishing for having me on this blog tour for Wizard for Hire: Magic Required! I seriously need to read a lot more MG books more often, and I’m glad this is one of them that I get to read. Also, thank you so much to Shadow Mountain Publishing for having me on Auto-Approval on Netgalley! Just found that out while I was writing this post, and I am so honored for his opportunity!

The final answer to the existence of magic.

Ozzy and his friend Sigi are in more danger than ever before. After being injected with the mindcontrolling serum, Ozzy is learning to control the minds of people, but he is still being hunted by Ray, the power-mad villain who will stop at nothing to find and possess the formula. And on top of that, Rin still claims he’s a wizard, but he and Clark are missing, leaving Ozzy to wonder once again if magic really does exist.

When it becomes apparent that the minds and free will of all mankind are in danger of being controlled by whoever controls the serum, Ozzy and Sigi join forces with strange new friends that claim magic-like abilities. When Rin finally returns, Ozzy will discover once and for all what happened to his parents, what really happens at those popular fantasy conventions, and if magic truly exists.

OBERT SKYE is not who you think he is—unless you think he’s a best-selling author of over thirty books. Also, if you think he’s not great at whistling, or that he’s discovered cures, or that he once broke his collarbone while walking, then he’s exactly who you think he is, and you’re psychic. Among the books and series he’s written are Leven Thumps, The Pillagy, The Creature from My Closet, Geeked Out, and Mutant Bunny Island. Among the cures he’s discovered are the cure for boredom, a cure for ignorance, and a half-decent recipe for the curing of a ham. Obert is also a presenter and champion of both words and paper. If you have time on your hands you might look in on some of the other things he’s done at obertskye.com. If you’re out of time, then take comfort in the fact that you spent your last few moments reading something worthwhile.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing and Netgalley for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

This was such a cute book, and I’m so glad I got to read it. I didn’t have the pleasure of reading the first two books in this series, but I think that even without this background I did a pretty good job of figuring out what was going on. The kind of imagination that went into this story was absolutely great, and it really is interesting to see what kind of worlds and journeys can come out of middle grade fantasies. Seriously people, MG novels need way more love than they currently get because some of these books have been the ones keeping me going lately.

I also think about how even with all of the evidence showing for Ozzy, I could understand why he still questions whether or not magic is really real. It’s hard as well when people are are going missing and there seems to be some sort of mind-control serum that really does not help with the whole free-will thing that we humans love to support. To think about having to deal with those kinds of complex issues as a young person – not so much a young adult but not a child either – can be super intense!

I think that this was such a great conclusion to this book series, and I think books like this remind me – and others – that magic does exist in the world.