In the tradition of the strong heroines starring in some of my favourite series such as Julia Golding’s Cat Royal and L. A. Meyer’s Bloody Jack, Kat Stephenson bursts into the literary world with a lot of spunk and an irrepressible curiousity. The first installment, in what is sure to become a moved loved series for me, contains all the elements necessary to make an entertaining story into a novel one. The novel presents the Stephenson family which contains three sisters, one brother, one stepmother and a father who is, more often than not, seen and not heard. The main character’s tone is irreverent, irrepressible and entirely engaging. I have to commend Ms. Burgis on her character creation and development as in Kat Incorrigible, all characters (minor and major) are developed so well that you can believe they did (or do) exist somewhere in the world. Their foibles, their good points and the bad ones – they become more than characters on a page and transcend mediums to bloom into full existence in your mind. It’s a fantastic journey. Kat is undeniably my favourite character though Angeline is not far behind. The things she does and the stuff she says – precocious – but oh so entertaining. She’s twelve in this novel but I don’t think you need to be concerned that her “voice” such as it is will be immature enough to deter older readers. If anything, her youth only makes her perspectives and reactions fresher. Her reactions are actually surprising and keep the reader on her toes, guessing what Kat will do next. It also lets the reader glimpse how a child must comprehend the workings of an adult’s mind – and their motivations. What adults regard as complex, the younger person may take as inherently simple. The plot is compelling – and as I said before, has everything necessary to make it wildly entertaining. The book does engage a person into a discourse about “family” and its meanings, if some kind of intellectual engagement is necessary for you. For a deeper analysis, we could talk about the role of “magic” vs. the role of religion and whether these two really are, as suggested in the novel, two twains that shall never meet. But if you don’t need that deeper analysis, read it for the simple pleasure of Kat and her fun sisters. For the dialogue and the villains and the eccentricity that fairly leaps off the pages, grabs you and jumps back into the pages of the book. Yes, it truly is that great.
