Upside Down Magic (Book 5): Weather or Not

again okay, but somewhat predictable storyIt was not an Outstanding book of the series. O-Pun intended. It was a decent book, but it missed something for me. I think if the story touched on more of Willa’s water magic and that it actually might be a 6th of 7th F-type category of such magic, it would have been a better story.I did like that it discussed the different ways family interact and not always in the same way as another person’s family. It’s a great lesson for someone to learn. Willa’s family were doing the best they could given the unique nature of her magic. That the family, teachers and anyone involved in her life took as long as they did about noticing her emotional state was the cause of much of her rain ability, was a bit disappointing. I think early on this connection would have been noticed and they would have worked on giving her tools to help navigate the highs and lows of her emotional turmoil. Even she realized that when she’s upset, she makes it rain. Getting your emotions in check and stopping them aren’t an easy task at any age.That Carrot was the one who helped her the most in acknowledging her emotional state and giving her ideas of how to accommodate it without overwhelming herself, was inspired. I think it would have better had Ms Starr and Carrot had discussed it privately, but done so we could read it, and they thought it best coming from Carrot. Especially as who knows how long Ms Starr’s powers allow Carrot to continue speaking, when she’s not in the room. Something I would think is not very long, though maybe with continued exposure, the effect would last longer. Leaving such details in the air, when so much of the rest is explained made it come across as poor story telling. Sort of, we need this special plot device to happen so we are just going to add it here and not give enough detail behind it. That’s poor plotting and lazy writing.The same situation about the rainfall at the parade. That such a big deal was made that it never rains on Bing day, but suddenly it did, and amazingly Willa just conveniently was able to help. I didn’t mind that she was able to help and push the rain clouds, but the fact that it was raining should have been shocking to the populace. Wouldn’t they have wondered and tried to find someone to blame, if it truly didn’t rain on that day? I think it would have been better to have the story say that it never rains on Bing day, but then point out that it’s not really a fact, it’s hyperbole to better sell the mythos regarding the day and of the characters involved. That or create a magical answer that people work for a week or two in advance to make sure it won’t happen but this year a mistake occurred.The main plot was all too predictable as well. Nory, has become more precocious and annoying than a good character. Maybe having her act this way is understandable considering the restraints she felt she was under in her father’s home, but her acting out and poor choices would not have been done by someone receiving good grades, let alone Outstanding ones. Her grades should have reflected this, even if only in one or two subjects, so she’d have areas of improvement to work on.