Miles Thorne and the Forbidden Magic by Rebecca Ahola

Title: Miles Thorne and the Forbidden Magic

Author: Rebecca Ahola

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Wombat Australia

Published: 1^st August 2026

Format: Paperback

Pages: 238

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: Miles Thorne was kicked out of his last school, the prestigious Nox Wizarding Academy, because he’s a wizard with almost no magic.

At his new school, he meets Eric, a monster, Freya, a fairy, and Colter, a werewolf. To protect Miles from the bullies at his new school, they enter the Battle Games, a dangerous contest only for the strongest of magic users.

But when Miles’s magic starts to develop, it’s different from anyone else’s. What secret is his family hiding?

~*~

Miles Thorne has been expelled from his last school. He can no longer attend the prestigious Nox Wizarding Academy. Why?  Because he is a wizard with no magic, so now he has to attend a public school. This is a school that wizards do not attend unless they have to. Now he is off to the public school, where he will mix with fairies, monsters and werewolves, and a few other wizards who think they’re above everyone else. Including Miles.

Once he starts, Miles becomes friends with Eric, a monster, Freya, a fairy, and Colter, a werewolf. But Miles is being bullied by the other students, he and his new friends enter the Battle Games. If they win, the bullies back off and let Miles be. If not, Miles is doomed to a three year contract to be a slave to Sonia. So there’s everything to lose.

Yet Miles doesn’t have magic or does he? His grandfather has been hiding a secret from him for a very long time, because what he does know could ruin the family. Slowly, though, Mile’s magic begins to develop as he trains with his new friends. It’s just not quite what everyone expected though. It’s something a bit more than wizard magic. Something scary, worrying, and potentially dangerous.

The Battle Games are a serious matter for everyone, and Miles also has his family reputation to uphold. So there’s a lot going on in this young adult novel, set in a fantasy world filled with contemporary technology like cars, which is very different to many fantasy novels. It does work in this one, because the magic aspect is the focus.

The first half of the novel focuses on building up towards the Battle Games, developing the friendship and establishing that Miles’s magic isn’t what everyone expects it should be, feeding into the idea that he either doesn’t have magic or has very weak magic. It allows the four main characters to develop, and for the reader to get an idea of how the world works and what the relationships are like.

Then, we head into the Battle Games, and this is where things really pick up and happen faster. Its where we start to see how Miles, Colter, Eric and Freya work together and how they use their skills, talents, and strengths to get through the games. But it’s not that easy, is it? Not at all. Sonia and Taj are determined to make Miles and his team lose. For pride. For power. To make Miles their pet.

I think it really got interesting when secrets threatened to put a stop to Miles and his team being part of the Battle Games. Bullying was also a key part of this, showing that even magical worlds aren’t free from bullying and manipulation, and people trying to take advantage of something they want to control desperately.

So what seems like a simple story is a complicated examination of class and prejudice, because in every community there are going to be people who think they are better than others because of who they are and what they think they should be. Or what they think their status entitles them to. It takes these real world and makes them into something a little bit different in this book to reflect how the universe that Rebecca Ahola has created.

This is a great book for all readers. It has a male protagonist who doesn’t fit into any stereotype, it has great friendships, and Miles is allowed to question who he is. The males who are bullies don’t win. So if you want a cool boy wizard story, check this one out. It might just surprise you to see what is out there for readers.