Draft:Queste

• Comment: Fails WP:NBOOK - Harper Collins and online bookstores are primary sources. Dan arndt (talk) 06:42, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

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Queste

Author	Angie Sage
Illustrator	Mark Zug
Language	English
Series	Septimus Heap (Book 4)
Genre	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing (in the UK), HarperCollins (in the USA)
Publication date	April 8, 2008
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	596 (hardcover)
ISBN	978-0-060-88207-5
Preceded by	Physik
Followed by	Syren

Note: If this draft is accepted, it can be moved to the current redirect Queste. The Infobox will also probably need an image.

Queste is a 2008 children's novel by Angie Sage and the fourth book in the Septimus Heap series. The cover was modelled after the in-story book which Ephaniah Grebe bound from Nicko's Restored notes, with the Questing Stone lying on top. Queste was released on April 8, 2008.

Plot

The book picks up about six months after the events of Physik, and Nicko and Snorri are still trapped back in time. Merrin Meredith, who was working for Simon Heap, manages to steal the Two-Faced Ring and gathers an army of Things before escaping to the Castle, where he signs up for a job at the Manuscriptorium and causes trouble for Septimus and Jenna. Meanwhile, the ghost of Tertius Fume, the first Chief Hermetic Scribe, plots to send Septimus away on a deadly Queste from which no other Apprentice has ever returned. He does this by forcing Septimus to choose the Questing Stone from a pot otherwise ful of ordinary stones.

Septimus ignores the Queste for a while and he, Jenna, and Beetle decide to find Nicko and Snorri. Using five-hundred-year-old notes written by Nicko and preserved by Marcellus Pye, they find their way to the House of Foryx, "where all Times meet."

At the House of Foryx, Septimus meets Hotep-Ra, the very first ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and his Apprentice, Talmar Ray Bell. Jenna and Beetle manage to find Nicko and Snorri, and eventually they all get home safely.

Characters

• Septimus Heap — the main protagonist.
• Jenna Heap — Septimus's adoptive sister and the Princess of the Castle.
• Marcia Overstrand — the current ExtraOrdinary Wizard. Septimus is her Apprentice.
• Alther Mella — the ex-ExtraOrdinary Wizard who is now dead and a ghost.
• Snorri Snorrelssen — a Northern Trader; she was trapped back in time at the end of Physik.
• Nicko Heap — Septimus's older brother; he was trapped back in time with Snorri.
• Simon Heap — Septimus's older brother; worked for DomDaniel.
• Lucy Gringe — Simon's girlfriend.
• Silas and Sarah Heap: Septimus Heap's parents.
• Merrin Meredith — worked for Simon Heap but escaped to the Castle with the Two-Faced Ring.
• Stanley — Message Rat.
• Ephaniah Grebe — a half-man, half-rat character. He Restored and bound Nicko's notes when Jenna dropped them in a puddle.
• Hotep-Ra — the first ExtraOrdinary Wizard; Septimus meets him in the House of Foryx.
• Talmar Ray Bell — Hotep-Ra's Apprentice

Reception

Critical reception of the book was mostly positive. Booklist said, "The Septimus Heap series remains one of the best outcomes of the young-wizard furor catalyzed by Harry Potter." Kirkus Reviews said, "Still showing no signs of strain, the saga of wizard-in-training Septimus Heap cruises through its fourth episode . . . thanks to generous wads of breezy charm, gusts of spectacular Magyk and a buoyant plot combining drama and comedy in just the right proportions."