"Wishes come true..."
World of Wishes is a children's fantasy book series written by Carol Barton.
Middle school student Maddie O'Neil lives a typical, ordinary life for a young girl. One day, she finds a beautiful little boat in the stream at the bottom of her garden, and she can't resist getting in. The next thing she knows, she's the helper of Sebastian, apprentice WishMaster, and on her way to the magical land of Zavania, a world where wishes come true. Soon enough, Maddie finds herself transported to a fantastical world of magic and mystery, and she might just discover some new friends along the way.
Books in the series:
- Unicorn Wishes (2006)
- Mermaid Wishes (2006)
- Princess Wishes (2006)
- Ballerina Wishes (2007)
- Fairy Wishes (2007)
- Pony Wishes (2007)
This book series has examples of the following tropes:
- Aerith and Bob: Names in Zavania range from more common names like Zak, Lyra, Isabella, and Natasha, and then there's more exotic ones like Sebastian, Zenith, and Thirza.
- Aesop Amnesia: Princess Lyra seems to have learned to be more polite and humble by the end of Princess Wishes, but by the time the heroes meet her again in Ballerina Wishes, she's back to her typical bratty self. Maddie even lampshades this trope, and Zak blithely remarks that people like her rarely ever change. The character development seems to actually stick by the end of Pony Wishes, however.
- Alpha Bitch:
- Jessica Coatsworth is a snobby, self-centered bully and often teases Maddie for petty reasons.
- Princess Lyra is equally snotty and rude, belittling almost everyone at every turn, and hardly ever apologizing.
- Arranged Marriage: In Mermaid Wishes, Seraphina is initially involved in one of these with a merman named Stephano when they were infants. It's apparently common in merpeople culture to arrange marriages for their children starting from birth. However, since Seraphina believes that her intended love is dead, she sadly decides to never marry. Luckily for her, he's still alive, albeit transformed. When he returns, the two are able to be properly married.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: For all her bratty and insufferable behaviour, Princess Lyra cares for her brother Frederick deeply. When he goes missing for an alarming amount of time, she desperately wishes for him to come home safely, and she hugs him tightly when he's finally rescued.
- Badass Cape: Zenith and Sebastian both wear classy capes.
- Bald Mystic: Zenith, Sebastian's mentor and father figure, is a tall, imposing bald man with steely eyes. He's also one of the most powerful WishMasters in Zavania.
- Beauty Is Bad: The Ice Queen is very beautiful, but is also incredibly cold-hearted and ruthless, to the point where she abducts Peregrine's mother to draw her chariot, and later tries to imprison a servant boy for accidentally bringing her a food she's allergic to. Sebastian even passively notes that her powers are a lot like the Ice Queen herself, "beautiful, but deadly".
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted in Fairy Wishes. Queen Tatiana of the fairies is noticeably dirty and her hair is all matted when Maddie discovers her, having been held captive by the goblins in the basement of her own palace for weeks.
- Big Sister Instinct:
- Age-inverted in Princess Wishes, where Princess Lyra wishes for her older brother Frederick to return home safely. She initially tries to brush it off by stating she's just tired of doing Frederick's royal duties in his absence, but it becomes rather clear as the story progresses that she's deeply worried about him and misses him terribly.
- In Ballerina Wishes, Olga absolutely refuses to let her brother Laslo go outside to try fighting off the bear-wolves that are attacking his huskies, pointing out that one man would easily be torn apart by the vicious beasts. Thankfully, Sebastian is able to drive the bear-wolves away with his magic.
- Break the Haughty: Prince Fredrick's time being held captive in the Sun Goddess's cult seems to have been a humbling experience, turning him from a stereotypical pampered prince to a much more gracious young man.
- Deadpan Snarker: Zak is easily the most sarcastic of the main trio. Sebastian occasionally has his moments as well.
- The Dreaded:
- The Ice Queen is a constant source of fear for the protagonists, even long after she's been defeated.
- In a less villainous example, any time Princess Lyra's name is brought up, it's met with groans of dread from the trio.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Maddie insults the Ice Queen to her face in Unicorn Wishes, despite knowing that the evil ice witch could easily freeze her solid in seconds.
- Disney Villain Death: In Princess Wishes the Sun Goddess (formerly known as the Ice Queen) barricades herself in her temple when Sebastian uses his final spell to reactivate the volcano she built it in. Prince Frederick claims that she's far too vain to abandon her monument, so it's very likely that she perished within its walls.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Ice Queen has a servant boy of hers dragged to the dungeon for accidentally bringing her pomegranate, something she's deathly allergic to. Thankfully, Maddie and her friends interfere before he can be hurt.
- Doorstop Baby: Sebastian was one of these, having been left on Zenith's doorstep wrapped up in a blanket when he was just an infant. He was subsequently taken in and raised by Thirza, Zenith's housekeeper.
- Exposed to the Elements: In Unicorn Wishes, Maddie is quickly overcome by the cold weather as she, Sebastian, and Zak travel further north into the Ice Queen's domain. Sebastian notices this and gives her his cloak to keep her warm, and when she protests that now he'll be cold, he calmly tells her that he doesn't feel the cold. He says this while only dressed in relatively light clothing, not at all suited for the frigid weather.
- Green Around the Gills: In Pony Wishes, Maddie notices that Lyra's face has "turned a rather peculiar colour" while the group is flying on Tariq's magic carpet, clearly indicating that the sensation of flying is making her nauseous.
- Fiery Redhead: Downplayed with Maddie. She's relatively calm and collected, but she definitely has a temper on her.
- Forced Transformation: Stephano, Seraphina's long lost fiancé, was kidnapped as an infant and transformed into a hideous sea monster by an evil sea serpent. With Maddie's encouragement, Sebastian is able to lift the curse with his magic and restore Stephano to his true form.
- Foreshadowing: In Princess Wishes, Zak quips that the reason why Frederick has been disappearing at night is because of a girl. He turns out to be right in a sense, as Frederick had been meeting with members of the Sun Goddess' cult, and was forced into servitude by the vain sorcereress.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: While "friend" is stretching it a bit, no one is very pleased to have the haughty Princess Lyra around. When she insists on accompanying the group on their mission to find her brother, Maddie and Zak are miserable the whole time dealing with her, and even the levelheaded Sebastian is often exasperated with her behavior.
- Girl of the Week: Zak seems to have a new love interest every other book, a fact Maddie and Sebastian poke fun at regularly.
- God Guise: The Ice Queen returns in Princess Wishes under the moniker of the Sun Goddess, having the convinced the hermit people living inside Sun Mountain that she is their goddess and they must obey her.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: The Ice Queen, a cruel sorceress who abducts and imprisons wayward youths in her castle and forces them to do her bidding. It extends further when she takes up the moniker of the Sun Goddess in the third book, where she continues to abduct young people from around Zavania into her cult, including Lyra's own brother, and works them to near death to build her temple. Her sadistic nature is put on full display when the group discovers that the Sun Goddess took a twisted pleasure in working Frederick harder than the other enslaved servants.
- He's Not My Boyfriend: Zigzagged in Mermaid Wishes. Maddie calls Sebastian her boyfriend to shut up Jessica and her cronies when they tease her for not having one. She later admits to her best friend Lucy that Sebastian isn't really her boyfriend, but more of a "special kind of close friend."
- It's All About Me: Princess Lyra believes that she's the most important person in Zavania, and expects her every command to be obeyed without question. She tries to forbid Sebastian from using one of his spells to help the sick unicorns, then later demands that he use a spell to serve her immediate wants, rather than focus on the bigger picture. She gets better. Eventually.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Alpha Bitch Jessica boasts early in the second book about her fancy outfit that she's planning on wearing to the school dance, and about her cute date who will be going with her. At the end of the book, Maddie learns that someone (read: Zak) dumped black ink all over her, ruining her outfit and humiliating her in front of her friends and date.
- Luminescent Blush: Maddie has a tendency to blush when she's given compliments, particularly by Sebastian.
- Momma's Boy: Crown Prince Frederick (Lyra's brother) is implied to be this, seeing as how his mother stands up for him constantly, even when he misbehaves.
- No Name Given: Lyra and Frederick's parents are only every addressed as "the king and queen".
- Ordered to Cheat: In Ballerina Wishes, Mikhail Petrov confesses under pressure from the protagonists that he was forced to sabotage the Maradova Theatre's performances at the behest of his employers at the Moltoi Ballet.
- Partial Transformation: Yuri's feet are transformed into donkey hooves as a result of a curse placed on him by an old witch who hadn't been invited to the party his parents had thrown to celebrate his birth. Sebastian is able to use the second spell to reverse the curse, returning Yuri's feet back to normal.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: Princess Lyra wears a pink gown, and her ballet dress in Ballerina Wishes is also pink.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Natasha the ballerina and her dance partner Yuri share an incredibly close bond, but are not romantically interested in each other.
- Pubescent Braces: Maddie wears braces due to having slightly crooked teeth, which is something that Jessica and her lackies tease her for. In Fairy Wishes, Isabella the tooth fairy uses her magic to fix Maddie's teeth so she'll no longer need the braces, much to her relief and joy.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The King of Zavania is a very level-headed and understanding individual, in sharp contrast to his petulant, bratty daughter. When Lyra throws a fit at the end of Ballerina Wishes when she learns that the trio decided to let Natasha stay in her hometown with Yuri rather than make her return to be Lyra's tutor, the king calmly silences her and tells her that she can always find another teacher.
- Redheads Are Uncool: Maddie, a redhead, is often picked on at school by haughty mean girls for a variety of petty reasons. She tries her best to ignore them, although it still bothers her at times.
- Ring of Power: Sebastian is given a ring with a gemstone in it whenever he goes on a wish granting mission. The type of gemstone varies depending on the mission, as do the incantations tied to each ring. He only gets two spells per mission, and they must be composed in rhyme. To use a spell at any given time, he must recite the incantation clearly and loudly, then firmly declare his intention for the spell to work.
- Royal Brat:
- Princess Lyra is incredibly haughty, rude and self-centred. Maddie flat out calls her the most unpleasant person she's ever met.
- Prince Frederick initially comes across as this in his various descriptions, not to mention his behavior prior to his disappearance in Princess Wishes. It's implied that his increasingly defiant actions, (ie. Dyeing his hair, getting a nose piercing) was a result of Toxic Friend Influence by the Sun Goddess's cult. He becomes a much kinder person after being rescued.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: In Unicorn Wishes, when Sebastian points out that keeping a unicorn in captivity is against the law in Zavania, Princess Lyra refuses to acknowledge said law and insists on keeping Peregrine in her stables, stating that laws don't apply to her since she's a royal princess. She's later punished by her father when he finds out about it, ordering her to clean out the stables by herself for a month.
- Ship Tease: Maddie and Sebastian have this quite often. While Maddie denies that he's her boyfriend in Mermaid Wishes, it's undeniably clear that the two have a special connection. Maddie gets increasingly jealous when Lyra tries to convince Sebastian to let her join him on every wish granting mission in Princess Wishes, she frequently blushes whenever he compliments her, and Sebastian always insists on having Maddie by his side for missions, even when he becomes an official WishMaster. The two have an extended Holding Hands moment and long hug at the end of the third book, which Zak immediately teases them about.
- Taken for Granite: The heroes defeat the goblins at the end of Fairy Wishes by using Sebastian's last spell to turn the evil creatures to stone.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Sebastian is described as being a pleasant-looking young man with dark hair and a tan complexion.
- True Companions: Maddie, Sebastian, and Zak are this. No matter what the situation, these three are always there for each other. Even when Sebastian becomes an official WishMaster at the end of Princess Wishes, he still insists that Maddie accompany him on missions, reasoning that it wouldn't be the same without her.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The Ice Queen flees her melting ice castle at the end of the first book in a rowboat, swearing revenge on Maddie and her friends. She later returns in Princess Wishes, having reinvented herself as the Sun Goddess.
- We Used to Be Friends: Zenith and the wizard Zoltan in Pony Wishes. The pair used to be close friends and studied together in magic school, but they eventually drifted apart due to Zoltan' s more selfish behavior. This comes to head during the climax of the book, where the party discovers that Zoltan was behind the abduction of Gus and Princess Lyra's ponies, forcing them to work as pit ponies in his diamond mine, and Zenith strips Zoltan of his powers and banishes him as a result.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time passes differently in Zavania compared to Maddie's world. No matter how much time passes in Zavania, the moment Maddie steps on Sebastian's boat, time appears to stand still.
