In the late twentieth century (1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s) all the fantasy books read a lot like Lord of the Rings. Well, not all, but there sure was a lot of high fantasy, as they call it. Nowadays, it’s all Harry Potter-influenced. Well, OK, not all, but a lot. The Mystwick School of Musicraft is HP-ish with music—and ghosts.

Still, just as there were and still are some fun Tolkien-influenced books, the HP-influenced stories aren’t all bad. I enjoyed The Mystwick School of Musicraft mostly for the new twist(s) it put on an old plot. Amelia Jones has always dreamed of attending the Mystwick School where she can learn to be a Maestro, a master musician on her chosen instrument, the flute, who creates magic with her music. When Amelia messes up her audition, big time, her hopes are dashed, but she gets her invitation to enroll at Mystwick anyway. Can Amelia become the perfect magical musician that her deceased mother once was? Does she even belong at Mystwick? And who is this other Amelia Jones who died before she could take her place at Mystwick?

So, the theme of the story is all about being true to yourself, becoming the person you really are on the inside instead of trying to fulfill the expectations of others, not a theme I like very much. It’s overused and trite and not wholly true. Yes, we need to know ourselves and become independent, self-actualized persons, but we also need to learn to live in community with others and in obedience and worship of Something outside of ourselves. Nevertheless, the musical magic motif of the book and the details of how that worked along with the ghost story were enough to pull me in and make me suspend judgment for the duration of the story. In other words, short version, I liked it. It was a fun read.