Story Review (Not mine)

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Fourteen-year-old Luz Noceda is a bit different from other kids her age. While other kids are content to put their book reports on paper, Luz reenacts them with action figures and live snakes. And instead of doing backflips for cheerleader tryouts, Luz flips her eyelids inside out.

Luz doesn’t mind being a “weirdo,” but unfortunately, her love of all things strange and fantastical has caused a lot more trouble than it’s worth, especially with her exasperated mother. Hoping to encourage a bit of normalcy in her daughter and with no other options, Luz’s mom arranges for her to go to a “Reality Check” summer camp, hoping that it will help Luz learn the distinction between fantasy and reality.

However, before she can even board the bus, Luz is waylaid by an owl stealing her favorite book. She follows the owl through a mysterious door and finds herself transported to the magical realm of the Boiling Isles.

Reality check? Check reality at the door.

WELCOME TO THE OWL HOUSE
The Boiling Isles are full of magical creatures: vampires, griffins and especially, witches. It’s everything Luz ever dreamed of. There’s just one small caveat: The inhabitants here don’t like humans.

Luckily for her, Luz immediately meets Eda, a witch who sells novelty human toys such as googly eyes and retro television sets. She brings Luz to the Owl House (her hideaway from the pressures of modern life, cops and ex-boyfriends) and agrees to train Luz as a witch in exchange for her help. Because in addition to being the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, she’s also the most wanted witch.

Much like Luz, Eda doesn’t like conforming to society’s standards. She dropped out of Hexside Academy (the local school of magic and demonics), refused to join a witch coven, befriended a dog-like demon named King and started peddling illegal human items on the black market.

As if all those offenses weren’t enough to land her a one-way ticket to the Conformatorium—a prison where inmates are brainwashed into (you guessed it) conforming—she’s also the victim of a curse that will turn her into an uncontrollable owl-like monster unless she drinks a daily elixir to prevent it.

If Luz wants to achieve her goal of becoming a witch, she’ll not only have to learn how to use magic (something that no other human has ever done before) but how to break Eda’s curse. After all, if Eda permanently turns into an owl monster, nobody else will teach her what she wants to know.

CLEARLY NOT A PG FANTASY WORLD
Luz is at first frightened by the monster-filled world of the Boiling Isles, and it stands to reason that some kiddos will be frightened, too. Some monsters are big. Some are small. Some have fangs and claws. Some have too many eyes, and some don’t seem to have enough. But Luz’s desire to become a witch and finally belong helps her to overcome her fears. And that, of course, comes with its own set of problems.

Luz, Eda and King often team up with other “weirdos” to defeat the dastardly forces that would like to see them conform (or destroyed—they really don’t seem too picky). And though the magic used by Eda is mostly harmless in this show, it still carries the taint of being demonic. (Hexside states quite plainly that it’s a school of demonics and Eda and the other witches bear a distinct resemblance to vampires with their tapered ears and fanged teeth.) Additionally, while King, Eda’s dog-like demon roommate, looks more like a plush toy than a ruler of evil forces, he insists on his own ferociousness and calls himself the “King of Demons”—which feels like it should be treated with more caution than it’s given

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