magic Archives - Page 3 of 11

Yzabel / August 14, 2016

Review: Malus Domestica

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Kids are going missing in the tiny hamlet of Blackfield, Georgia, and nobody knows why except for Robin, the homeless young woman that just rolled into town last night.

When she claims she knows who’s responsible, only 4th-grader Wayne Parkin and his schoolmates Pete, Amanda, and Juan believe her…but it takes a terrifying encounter with an interdimensional creature to spur them into action.

Robin proves to be a formidable monster-hunter with strange supernatural powers, but a tragic setback reveals a secret organization and a centuries-old conspiracy.

Can new friends and old enemies band together to save Blackfield from an unspeakable darkness?

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

1.5-2 stars. I liked the ideas at this novel’s core, but ultimately I had a hard time getting into it, and had to force myself to go on reading. I guess this was a matter of rhythm, and of some clichés that didn’t sit too well with me.

The premise: young witch hunter Robin Martine has been travelling through the USA, filming her tracking and fighting witches (women who sacrificed their heart to goddess Ereshkigal in exchange for powers and a longer existence). She puts her videos on her YouTube channel, followed by thousands of people who don’t realise this is no special effects, but reality. After years spent training and hunting, Robin comes back to her home town, to get rid of the witches who killed her mother; along the way, she gathers quite a little posse of various characters who’ll help in that quest.

As said, the ideas themselves were fine. The YouTube channel? Why not: surely being anonymous would be a better choice, but there’s a certain appeal to the “hide in plain sight” theory. The various secondary characters formed a pretty diverse cast— a veteran turned artist, a kid and his father, a gay childhood friend and his brother owner of a comics shop… There’s a creepy house, existing on two different levels (I love that kind of atmosphere, those “parallel nightmarish worlds” layered over the normal world). A ruthless killer. Cats who’re more than cats. The stifling surroundings of a small town where just about anyone can be a spy of the witches. And so on.

The problem with the characters, though, were that in spite of their diversity, they were also a bunch of clichés, and not very developed as individuals. Kenway had his own background story and issues, but Leon’s bereavement for instance was just touched upon, and he wasn’t more than “Wayne’s father” in the end. Same with Joel, who felt like a potential sidekick but also like a gay butt-monkey of sorts. These side-stories both took too much room, in a way, while at the same time just being here, instead of being fully exploited (“while we’re here, we might as well…”).

I was hoping to see more of the witches and the killer working for them. While they did create a predicament for the “heroes”, I kept thinking they could and should have done more, been more frightening, brought even more weirdness into the story.

The writing itself was alright (although I found it weird when onomatopoeias were inserted—don’t ask me why I’m sensitive to that). Even though I mentioned having trouble getting back to the book every time I stopped, it wasn’t because of the style.

Really, it’s too bad I didn’t like it more. This book could’ve been right up my alley, but didn’t work for me in the end.

Enregistrer

Yzabel / July 13, 2016

Review: The Casquette Girls

The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Seven girls tied by time.
Five powers that bind.
One curse to lock the horror away.
One attic to keep the monsters at bay.

After the storm of the century rips apart New Orleans, sixteen-year-old Adele Le Moyne wants nothing more than her now silent city to return to normal. But with home resembling a war zone, a parish-wide curfew, and mysterious new faces lurking in the abandoned French Quarter, normal needs a new definition.

As the city murder rate soars, Adele finds herself tangled in a web of magic that weaves back to her own ancestors. Caught in a hurricane of myths and monsters, who can she trust when everyone has a secret and keeping them can mean life or death? Unless . . . you’re immortal.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

I’m not sure exactly how to rate this novel: I really liked the setting (New Orleans), but some of the characters’ features sometimes made me roll my eyes. To be fair, this may be in part due to my own jaded views on similar works: I’ve probably read one too many YA paranormal romance stories, so the usual love triangle and annoying guy attitudes has become old for me. I regret not liking this book more, at any rate.

The setting was definitely enchanting, in a sort of twisted way—twisted because this New Orleans is one slowly getting back on its feet after one of the most devastating hurricanes it’s ever seen (possibly Katrina, or at the least inspired by it). Infrastructures are in shambles, crime’s on the rise, there’s a curfew the police can barely enforce… And while I have no idea if this is an accurate depiction of a post-hurricane city, whether it would’ve been thus left to fend for itself by the government, I still liked that NOLA, for its blend of “post-ap” and people trying to go back to, and go on with, their lives there, keep smiling, keep the businesses running, and so on. Somehow, I could understand Adele’s desire to stay there, and not be shipped off to Paris or somewhere else, all the more since it’d mean being in a boarding school and not with her family. It was still magic.

I also liked the parts about Adeline: a bit awkward in the way it was introduced, maybe (a journal), but her journey, the people she met, the stifling stay in a ship for weeks, knowing a threat was lurking and nobody could just walk away to escape it, those were interesting.

On the downside, the novel relies on quite a few YA tropes that I couldn’t care less about—love triangles, good boy vs. bad boy love interest, female characters being talked about as if they weren’t there and generally being a bit… passive, Queen Bee and Mean Girls at school, and so on. Granted, Adele was not passive for the whole story so I won’t fault her too much for that, and the school part wasn’t the main part; it just felt like the “mandatory YA dynamics being inserted here”, when the actual plot itself could’ve done without that. Mysterious murders, predators waking up, Adeline’s story shedding light on what happened and hinting at what to be done: all those would’ve been fine, no need for a romance subplot (which didn’t have anything special going for it), that slowed down the pace to a crawl in places: I could do with the “slower” chapters used to describe the city and its atmosphere, I could do less with lulls caused by romantic scenes.

Some of the descriptions (told in 1st person) were a bit odd, too—on the purple prose side, and not very believable coming from a 16-year-old girl. I found this happened mostly in the beginning (darkness being described as “the obsidian”, or “espresso-coloured hair”?), and less afterwards. I’m not sure either about the French words and sentences used here and there; some were alright, others sounded grammatically weird. No idea if this is how people in New Orleans do speak, but as a native French reader, it’s strange.

Finally, I felt some subplots and threads were left somehow dangling. For instance, Adele’s mother was thrown in here a bit at random, too close to the end. And I would’ve liked to know a bit more about Cosette and the native girl; did they have offspring or not, and if not, was it to keep the number of characters down? Sometimes it seemed like things happened by coincidence, as plot devices, and not naturally enough to be really believable.

Conclusion: The main plot (monsters and witchcraft, with events originating in the past) was good, even though not the most original ever—it’s less about “being original” and more about “what you make of it” anyway. Yet I didn’t really care about the main characters, nor about the romance.

Enregistrer

Yzabel / July 2, 2016

Review: Much of Madness

Much of Madness by S.E. Summa

My rating: [rating=1]

Blurb:

Seraphina Pearce doesn’t know what’s more frustrating: her magic’s affinity for death, her best friend’s transformation into an albino Sin Eater, or that simply touching a guy she loves means someone’s headed to the morgue.

After a sin-eating job goes awry, she casts a risky spell and butts heads with a handsome stranger in order to win an infamous grimoire.

Marceau L’Argent is the last person she should confide in because the occult cat burglar has a mysterious past, and he’s made it no secret he also wants the grimoire. He recognizes her dark magic and offers his unique help as a rare curse breaker. If all that weren’t enough, Marceau causes butterflies in her stomach—a feeling she’d long thought dead.

Seraphina was only trying to break her curse—not piss off Death himself.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Quite a few original ideas in this one. Ultimately, though, I found it too disjointed, in plot as well as in writing, and while I shall acknowledge its premise as definitely interesting, it wasn’t a novel I really enjoyed.

To be fair, some background information is delivered little by little, not as huge info-dumps. The problem was mostly the order in which everything was disclosed: more than once, I felt that “this information should have come sooner”, or “that revelation deserved being held for just a little longer”. I could feel that in the characters, for instance; in the nature of Seraphina’s powers, her relation with Rolf, the way she wove her spell to get the book; in the way Kath’s background was introduced (kind of “oh yes, by the way, I’m this species and I come from that family”); or Max’s nature—it looked like Marceau was the one doing all the work from beginning to end? Had such tidbits been handled differently, I suspect I would’ve enjoyed them more.

(And what exactly is the Conexus? Some kind of supernatural government or body, obviously, but it seemed oddly absent, only mentioned in passing in the beginning and at the end.)

In general, I didn’t really connect with the characters. Partly because their presence wasn’t always justified—I’m still wondering what was the point in having Vespa hang around. And partly because of the book’s “tell not show” tendency and stilted dialogues; the way Marceau address Seraphina was often pretty unnatural, which easily turns into suspension of disbelief as far as I’m concerned. (As a side note: the names. Sera, Finn and Khat are amlrights, but “Marceau” immediately conjures images of old French mimes, and “Vespa” that of Italian scooters. I couldn’t get that out of my mind. It was… distracting.)

As for the plot, well, for me (again) it was shadowed by the romance. The latter was of course important when it came to the curse, I won’t deny that; only the “telling” and dialogues didn’t spoke of chemistry between Sera and Marc. And the “daily life snippets” were too long and several too many—as in, they eclipsed the Big Bad of the story, and the threat he was supposed to pose, in such a way that all feeling of urgency was lost. I could almost picture him popping out of a box at times, saying “muhaha, wait, I’m still here, let’s not forget me.”

Conclusion: Interesting types of supernaturals and magic (Sin Eaters, magic boosts, necromancy…) but plot- and character-wise, it just didn’t work for me. Not so much madness in there…

Yzabel / June 26, 2016

Review: Street Magicks

Street Magicks by Paula Guran

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Streets are more than thoroughfares. Cobblestone or concrete, state of mind or situation streets are catalysts for culture; sources of knowledge and connection, invisible routes to hidden levels of influence. In worlds where magic is real, streets can be full of dangerous shadows or paths to salvation. Wizards walk such streets, monsters lurk in their alleys, demons prowl or strut, doors open to places full of delightful enchantment or seething with sorcery, and truly dead ends abound. This selection of stories some tales may be rediscoveries, others never encountered on your fictional map will take you for a wild ride through many realms of imagination.”

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

In the past, I read a couple of other anthologies edited by Paula Guran, and I remember liking them overall, due to the choice of stories: they may not all have been breathtaking, but they also weren abysmal, and as far as anthologies go, I think I do tend to appreciate that a little more than reading excellency pitched against really bad writing.

The stories here deal mostly with magical happenings and encountering in cities–a theme I especially like. Most are modern fantasy, but more traditional fantasy also has its place here.

“Freewheeling” – 2/5
A young woman tries to help a kid whose very special take on life may be madness… or a real touch of magic? And the question is, will mundane life keep interfering until something tragic happens, or will magic happen instead?
Not my favourite. I could see the ending coming almost from the beginning.

“A Year and a Day in Old Theradane” – 4/5
A band of retired thieves find themselves back in their ¨line of duty¨ to perform the theft of their lives: steal a whole street. Humour, magic, blackmail, backstabbing, an urban setting, and a cast of mostly women (and an automaton) whoŕe not afraid to be who they are. Whatś not to like?

“Caligo Lane” – 3/5
Read in another anthology “The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Nine” so I guess the novelty wasn exactly there. Still, it remains a touching story, of a mage who uses maps to bend space and save people trapped in parts of the world where every other means of escape have failed.

“Socks” – 3/5
A Bordertown story. I don´t know that setting, except through another story in another anthology; however, I still think it´s not such a problem, as mood and theme are easy enough to ¨get¨ even without knowing the whole context. Here, Socks, a young girl, is taken in by a family of strays. Soon after, Perdita joins the crew, Perdita whose mysterious mother taught her many a tale…
Interesting, but I found myself wanting to know more about Socks at the end–it was never clear whereas the whole thing about her feet was merely illness, or a symptom of something else. I kept expecting that something else to happen, and… nothing?

“Painted Birds and Shivered Bones” – 3.5/5
A poetic tale of a man cursed to turn into a bird, going through centuries without respite, until a kind of magic apt to break his curse surfaces in the painting of artist Maeve. A bittersweet tale, perhaps a bit too focused at times on the artist-chic cliche? I may be a little jaded with that one at the moment — it itself, it doesn´t make the story bad, at any rate.

“The Goldfish Pond and Other Stories” – 2/5
Originally read in “Smoke and Mirrors”. This one relates a writer’s experience as he flies to Hollywood, where his novel is to be adapted into a movie, only to see said novel stripped to the bone and reworked every time. A tale of being dispossessed on one’s soul, maybe, and of having to let go. Or perhaps a tale of former Holywood legends fallen back into the mist of times, unremembered by all but the humblest?
Not my favourite Gaiman story, to be honest. It’s a bit… bland compared to some of his other works.

“One-Eyed Jack and the Suicide King” – 2/5
A good beginning, of a struggle between spirits/local gods fighting for their turf. The story was wanting, though, as it feels like it should be expanded into something more. It’s a beginning, indeed, and not a full-fledged plot.

“Street Worm” – 4/5
Rather scary when you come to think of it. A teenage girl runs away from a privileged home, for her parents believe her going on slightly crazy and want to send her to a shrink (probably not for all the good reasons either — a family has standards to uphold within the community…). But is this girl just mad, or does she really see things, things of another kind, worms danglings from buildings like a threat lingering above the city? And the man who tells her sheś magic, is he meaning well, or is he just a creep?
I wanted a bit more at the end, to be honest. Like a lot of stories, this one feels like unfinished business in some parts. Still, a good read.

“A Water Matter” – 2/5
The Duke is dead, may he stay dead! Only a mysterious and potentially malevolent shaman wants the power released upon that death, so the Dancing Mistress, a shapeshifter (…I think?) takes it upon herself to prevent this from happening.
More than with the Bordertown stories, I think I was missing something here—the action is set in a world with its own backstory, and I constantly felt it was part of something bigger, something that deserved more. The actual plot didn’t impact me as it could have, had things been otherwise.

“Last Call” – 3/5
A Harry Dresden short story. On principle, I tend to like those, because I’m fond of the world and character Butcher developed (they’re part of the works I’d quote first if someone asked me for examples of “urban fantasy”). On the other hand, this one is a bit spoilerish if you haven’t read at least the first 8-9 books of the series…

“Bridle” – 1/5
A kelpie story, with a dark fantasy approach that had its poetic moments. Still, it didn’t grab me much.

“The Last Triangle” – 4,5/5
A junkie finds shelter at an old woman’s who happens to realise a dark magic ritual is about to take place. Together, they do everything they can to stop it, as well as the person casting it.
This one had the kind of plot and ending I’d deem as “definite”. You can see it going somewhere, with a beginning, middle and end, and even though the latter is “open” as far as the main character’s future is concerned, it nonetheless brings resolution to the “dark spell” plot.

“Working for the God of the Love of Money” – 2/5
Again, an interesting beginning, but the end was very abrupt (in an expected-yet-not-waited-for way).

“Hello, Moto” – 4/5
Three witches with enchanted wigs let themselves be devoured by their magic… or not? For Rain, taking upon herself once again to mix up magic with technology, wants to stop her “sisters” gone on a rampage of take-never-give in Lagos. One may wonder, though, if using precisely what went wrong the first time can right that wrong… or not.
Original and entertaining. I just regret the ending, again too abrupt, with no true resolution per se. “Leaving things to the reader’s imagination” can only go so far…

“The Spirit of the Thing: A Nightside Story” – 3/5
A detective doing his job, a shady bar with an even shadier owner, and angry water spirit, the ghost of a murdered young woman, and a twist to try and make things right no matter what.

“A Night in Electric Squidland” – 3/5
Paranormal investigators working on a murder case end up in a night club whose practices may not be what they seem.
I liked the atmosphere (the dark and somewhat perverted rituals going on, while the club also offered “nicer” attractions like a stage magician). I didn’t connect much with the characters, though.

“Speechless in Seattle” – 3/5
A.k.a “pay attention to the exact wording of your spells”, which is something a lot of mages should do. 😉
A cute story, with likeable characters. Only, as usual in such cases, the grounds for budding romance were kind of wasted on me.

“Palimpsest” – 2/5
Pretty, I guess, and evoking strange places in a strange city whose elusive map can only be found in some very special places. However, it was rather confusing, without much of a plot to speak of.

“Ash” – 4/5
Laid off from his job with minimum benefits, a man decides to commit a robbery, but one decision made while running away from the security guard has dire consequences.
A story of guilt and revenge, of a dying curse, of the city turning stranger and stranger, darker and darker, until it closes over you and never lets you go.

“In Our Block” – 3/5
Or “two blokes find themselves wondering why the area they’re in is so intriguing”, full of strange little shops and sellers/peddlers of unusual talents, like the typewriter girl. Although it was more a slice-of-life story than one with a real plot, it was enough for me, for once.

Conclusion: 3/5. I kind of expected this, as a lot of stories were of the “I liked” kind but not “great/I loved it”. Still, more good than bad in there. Though not a “to buy” recommendation, maybe a “borrow it” one?

Yzabel / June 15, 2016

Review: Riverkeep

Riverkeep by Martin Stewart

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

The Danék is a wild, treacherous river, and the Fobisher family has tended it for generations—clearing it of ice and weed, making sure boats can get through, and fishing corpses from its bleak depths. Wulliam’s father, the current Riverkeep, is proud of this work. Wull dreads it. And in one week, when he comes of age, he will have to take over.

Then the unthinkable happens. While recovering a drowned man, Wull’s father is pulled under—and when he emerges, he is no longer himself. A dark spirit possesses him, devouring him from the inside. In an instant, Wull is Riverkeep. And he must care for his father, too.

When he hears that a cure for his father lurks in the belly of a great sea-dwelling beast known as the mormorach, he embarks on an epic journey down the river that his family has so long protected—but never explored. Along the way, he faces death in any number of ways, meets people and creatures touched by magic and madness and alchemy, and finds courage he never knew he possessed.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

A coming-of-age adventure in a world that is both threatening and full of wonders, following a boy who embarks on a journey to save his father: after Wulliam witnessed his dad being possessed by a river spirit, he decides to take his only parent to the sea, hunting down a legendary beast whose fluids are rumoured to have many healing properties. And even if it means abandoning his duties as the keeper of the river, Wull feels he doesn’t have a choice: either that, or let his father wither and die.

There were quite a few magical, poetic descriptions and moments in this book, and I never found it hard to picture the characters’ surroundings, or to imagine the mormorach, diving in the dark waters, preying on ships and crews bent on taking it down. Nor was it hard to imagine little Bonn, or Tillinghast’s strange body (bodies?).

However, I was a bit disappointed in the “adventure” itself, for it was rather sluggish in more than one place, and some events and character arcs felt put on a bus after a while. Most of the people Wulliam meets have their quirks and an aura of mystery: from the undertaker to Tillinghast the man who’s not alive, from Mix and her strange tattoos to Remedie cradling her strange baby, from the solitary scientist in the Deadmoor to the silent Mr Bent. The problem is that some of those people were given their own adventure… yet said adventures were never really concluded: only Wull and Tillinghast seem to have an ending of their own (as well as a few other characters, but let’s just say that their ending is a little more, uhm, permanent). As a result, it felt less like an open ending, and more like the author wanted to get to Wulliam’s ending mostly, with his quest being a little… on the side? I may be mistaken, but that’s how I keep on feeling about it now. I still don’t know why Mix doesn’t eat, or what happened to Remedie and Bonn.

Wulliam was also pretty annoying as a character. On the one hand, I could understand his desire to save his Pappa, along with his underlying somewhat selfish reasons (he wants to save him because he loves him, of course, but also because he doesn’t know how to be the Riverkeep in his stead, and wishes for his guidance some more); I could also understand how he’d come to be angry, considering everybody seemed to hitch a ride and not lift a finger to help. On the other hand, well… those characters helped in different ways (Till does pay for the trip, after all, and Mix does have a knack to gather resources unseen), and Wull after a while became more the annoying, tantrum-throwing type than the rightly-annoyed, unfairly-treated one.

Conclusion: ~ 2.5 stars out of 5. I liked the atmosphere, the depiction of the river and of the places travelled in this novel. Nevertheless, the pace was rather uneven, and unless it’s the first book in a series and we’re bound to learn more in a second one, not bringing closure to other characters’ stories made me feel unsatisfied.

Yzabel / May 29, 2016

Review: White Sand (Volume 1)

White Sand, Volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson

My rating:[rating=2]

Blurb:

A brand new saga of magic and adventure by #1 New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson. On the planet of Taldain, the legendary Sand Masters harness arcane powers to manipulate sand in spectacular ways. But when they are slaughtered in a sinister conspiracy, the weakest of their number, Kenton, believes himself to be the only survivor. With enemies closing in on all sides, Kenton forges an unlikely partnership with Khriss — a mysterious Darksider who hides secrets of her own. White Sand brings to life a crucial, unpublished part of Brandon Sanderson’s sprawling Cosmere universe. The story has been adapted by Rik Hoskin (Mercy Thompson), with art by Julius Gopez and colors by Ross Campbell. Employing powerful imagery and Sanderson’s celebrated approach to magical systems, White Sand is a spectacular new saga for lovers of fantasy and adventure.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

First things first, I’ve never read anything by Brandon Sanderson (not yet, at least), so I have no idea if this compares to his novels.

As a comics, it was OK, but I wasn’t awed. Possibly because the PDF version I got was kind of blurry, more certainly because the style was a bit too rough to my liking and because of some things that didn’t make a lot of sense (or were missing) in hindsight when it came to world-building. On one hand, some panels contain a lot of text and explanations, which doesn’t always work too well in a graphic novel; on the other, in spite of those walls of text, little was actually *explained* when it came to all the questions raised.

For instance:
– All the Sandmasters we see are men. I don’t recall any women. Why? Kenton’s mother is mentioned as having come from Darkside, and there’s a point where he wonders about whether he has any brothers “or sisters” left, but where are these sisters? I don’t recall any women anywhere, either among the Sand Masters themselves or back at their enclave, and this just seems… weird. It’s never explained, there isn’t any line, not even one, about women living somewhere else, or not developing powers over sand and thus not studying with the men, etc.
– Re: Darkside and Dayside, the whole dichotomy doesn’t make a lot of sense. The people living under the blazing sun all year long are light-skinned, and the ones living on the presumably “dark side” (no sunlight there, ever? Or are they living in caves?) are dark-skinned. So, sure, I like it when we don’t go with the usual clichés, yet biologically-speaking, and in a science fiction story, it’s not really believable. I could buy, for instance, “drows have dark skin and white hair” in the Forgotten Realms ‘verse Because It’s Magic or their dark goddess making them like that or anything; here, I’d need an actual scientific explanation to be satisfied.

All this to say that, as is often the case when such a problem arises in a world where a scientific basis is expected, things that don’t make sense tend to keep me unfocused on the actual story: as soon as anything new pops up, I always find myself wondering why it is like that, and how it’s supposed to be justified.

The Darksiders have a sort of “19th century British empire” flavour, with their way of seeing the Daysiders as uncouth and not very civilised, and this is a bit problematic (that theme always is): had they been light-skinned people, it would’ve been too close to events that happened in history, but turning the tables here didn’t work too well for me. What I mean by this is that it felt like the author wanted such a civilisation in his story but didn’t want them to be “the civilised white people vs. the dark-skinned savages”, yet at the same time making them dark-skinned clashes with what you’d expect from people living on that “dark side of the planet” all the time. This was weird, and, I don’t know, I guess another option would’ve been more believable?

(This said, I liked them graphically-speaking. The Duchess was stylish and quite amiable, and the items they carry hint at mechanical inventions I wouldn’t mind seeing more.)

Mostly this story was an easy read, with some good fight-and-magic scenes. However, I’m likely to forget about it quickly, to be honest. 2.5 stars.

Yzabel / May 21, 2016

Review: Black Magick: Awakening, Part One

Black Magick, Volume 1: Awakening, Part One by Greg Rucka

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

Collecting the first five issues of the critically-acclaimed new series from creators GREG RUCKA (Lazarus, Star Wars: Shattered Empire) and NICOLA SCOTT (Secret Six, Earth-2). Rowan Black is a detective with the Portsmouth PD… and a witch, two aspects of her life she has struggled to keep separate. Now someone is targeting Rowan, someone who knows her secrets and means to expose her… or worse.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

3.5 to 4 stars. A fairly good read, containing the first 5 issues of the “Black Magick” series. Portsmouth P.D. Detective Rowan Black is also a witch, one who meets with her coven to practice rituals, and she definitely doesn’t want this other part of her life to bleed into the mundane one. Until a perp reveals he knows so much about her… but she’s never met that man, so what’s happening, who’s after her, and how far are they ready to go to achieve their goals?

The art throughout this comics, both panels and covers, was good. There’s a certain harshness to the characters’ features, showing that this isn’t going to be a nice story, and what’s meant to be frightening and threatening, well, is. Just like her colleagues or her friend Alex, a fellow witch, Rowan appears as a “no nonsense” person, one you’d better not mess up with, even though all these people may be out of their league here… for now. Most panels are also coloured in sepia/black and white washed tones, and when colours are applied, it’s only to highlight very striking moments, involving flames bursting out or spells being cast, and it’s quite impressive. As for the crime scenes panels, they depict well enough the corpses found, the wounds they suffered, and so on. It’s not meant to be pretty, after all.

I’d say the magick here (the rituals, the warding, the gatherings in the forest, etc.) aren’t too original—“mainstream pagan magick” put into pictures—but if you’re willing not to look too much into it, it works within the scope of the story, and it didn’t make me roll my eyes (too much). Sometimes you want authors to go further than that… and sometimes it doesn’t matter that much, all things considered.

Another issue I had was with the characters, because we have more glimpses about them than anything to really chew on. We have the basics (where they live, their jobs, the people they meet), but as *people* with psyche of their own, they still seem a little blank. This first volume reads more as an introduction to them. On the other hand, much like the settlements of a larger plot are put in place here, it may just be that issues 6+ will start delving into this more and more, which I hope. I’d like to know why Rowan seems to be able to do so much more with her magick, but doesn’t. Or how she met Alex the very first time (there are hints very early in the story that these “witches” go through reincarnation cycles or something, and tend to find each other in every new lifetime?).

I’m willing to check the next issues, to see if this is going to happen. If it does, this series will be on its path to its real potential. But there’s also the othe possibility, so… fingers crossed?

Yzabel / May 18, 2016

Review: Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition

Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition by Phil Brucato

My rating: [rating=5]

Blurb:

“I tell you this: We are Divinity.

Reality is ours to bend. To subvert. To command.
We have that power – all of us.

Not everyone knows what to do with it, or uses it well.
Most of us never realize just what it is we are or how much we can do.

Those of us who do… well, some of us are monsters.
Manipulators. Parasites. Tyrants. Fanatics.

And the rest of us never see that monster in our own mirror, only in the reflections of those folks who are not “us.”

Here’s the truth, though: We are ALL “us.” We are ALL gifted,

We can ALL change the world. Most of us remain asleep.

A blessed few Awaken. Fewer still use that power wisely.
And none without consequences.

And so, reality is up for grabs. Where do you stand?

And will you Fall… or Ascend?”

What’s in it?

• Updated profiles of the Council of Nine Traditions, the Technocratic Union, and the Disparate Crafts… with many unexpected developments.

• An epic history of magick and its factions.

• A compilation and clarification of essential and optional rules, including martial arts, vehicles, hazards, cybernetics, the Otherworlds, and far more besides.

• Overviews of paradigms, practices and tools – the focus of your Art.

• Detailed explorations of the epic concepts involved in Mage.

• Chilling looks at the Nephandi and Marauders.

• The Nine Spheres, plus their Technocratic variants.

• Old favorites and new faces from among the Awakened Ones.

• Reality Zones, Paradox, Quiet, the “coincidental vs. vulgar magick” debate, and far, far more…

• New full color original art by Michael William Kaluta, Echo Chernik, Steve Prescott, Christopher Shy, Larry MacDougall, and other classic Mage artists, as well as classic B&W pieces carefully chosen from the earlier editions.

Review:

I took my sweet, sweet time reading this. it’sa huge book—in terms of pages as well as of weight. Actually, that’s the kind of book that makes me feel like breaking into a church to steal a lectern and respectfully place the latter on a pedestal in my living-room, so that I finally have an appropriate reading spot. Except that the whole act wouldn’t be respectful in many other ways.

Anyway.

I discovered Mage: the Ascension in 1998. Possibly earlier than that, if you count the times I had seen it mentioned in RPG magazines. At the time, I was a representative of that rare breed of young (and incidentally female) Storytellers who intended on doing something with this game, apart from using it as a doorstopper. We used to joke about how you needed to go through a whole tube of aspirin before being able to understand what it was about. And yet, I still wanted to try my hand at it.

I never came back from that experience. Even during the years I had stopped gaming, Mage had never left me, not really.

This game is full of possibilities. Full of ideas. Bursting with potential. It’s all about what you do with it, about viewing the world in so many different ways. About interpreting reqlity about you. About shaping your own reality—as a much needed reminder, too, that reality is what we make of it, mages or no mages, and that at least for some things, for a lot of things, there may come a time when you have to decide: do I want changes to occur, and will I be the driving force behind those changes?

This new edition was a joy to read, from one end to the other. Even some 20 years later, it’s still holding that special place in my little shrivelled black heart.

And I shall blame it henceforth for adding “why not run a Technocracy game” to my long list of “must do’s”

Yzabel / May 6, 2016

Review: Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge: A Novel by Paul Krueger

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

A sharp and funny urban fantasy for “new adults” about a secret society of bartenders who fight monsters with alcohol fueled magic.

College grad Bailey Chen has a few demons: no job, no parental support, and a rocky relationship with Zane, the only friend who’s around when she moves back home. But when Zane introduces Bailey to his cadre of monster-fighting bartenders, her demons get a lot more literal. Like, soul-sucking hell-beast literal. Soon, it’s up to Bailey and the ragtag band of magical mixologists to take on whatever—or whoever—is behind the mysterious rash of gruesome deaths in Chicago, and complete the lost recipes of an ancient tome of cocktail lore.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.]

An original enough idea (powers granted through cocktails), although in the end the story didn’t stray much into uncharted territory as far as “typical urban fantasy” goes.

Bailey, freshly graduated from Upenn, is struggling to find the career of her dreams. In the meantime, she’s had to take a job as a barback at the Nightshade Lounge, where her old high school crush, Zane, is now working as well. Typical? Not so much, because after whipping herself a pretty wicked screwdriver, she suddenly finds herself embroiled into a world of demons stalking unsuspecting preys at night, and of hunters granted super powers through… cocktails.

So the basic idea is pretty fun, and I must say, much to my dismay, it made me feel wanting to try my hand at mixing cocktails, too. (Much to my dismay because, uh, it’s pretty expensive. But that’s a story for another day. ^^) And I say, “why not”? It has the rules of magic stamped over it, after all: you need to mix in precise, exact quantities, using very specific alcohol brewed in very specific ways, and since the users can’t “imbibe” more than one sort of cocktails at a time, it doesn’t advertise the idea of getting completely pissed either.

I also really liked the recipes after each chapter (well, almost each), mirroring pages from the “Devil’s Water Dictionary” (kind of the novel’s mixologist’s book of magic recipes). I have no idea if they’re accurate, but having a recipe + some background story after it, tied to the world-building, was neat.

On the other hand, speaking of world-building, I would’ve liked to see a few things more detailed. For instance, the tremens are attracted to people who’ve had one drink too many. OK. However, this was a bit too vague. Where are they coming from (parallel world, Hell…)? Is someone sending them? What was the Blackout exactly? Since this doesn’t seem like a series so far, I’m not sure there’ll be a way of finding out. And I do like my detailed world-building…

The other thing I don’t liked much were the characters, as Bailey and a couple of others seemed rather… immature. Regularly enough, I thought they were teenagers, rather than people in their twenties (Bailey is 21-22). This didn’t fit too well in my opinion with the sort of stylish tinge brought by cocktails (it’s not cheap lager, come on, especially when another character – Zane – is described as wearing what I may call “bartender suits”).

Conclusion: not exactly convincing, nevertheless I did enjoy the story and atmosphere when it dealt with magic/powers and recipes. If this novel was a bit more polished, it could definitely shine.

Yzabel / April 13, 2016

Review: The Star-Touched Queen

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds friendship and warmth.

But Akaran has its own secrets – thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran’s magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar’s plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk – it threatens the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.

Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.

Review:

[I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

A story reminiscent of several “seeking one’s beloved in another world” tales and myths, with an Indian twist and the including of reincarnation. This led to an interesting shift in balance, as both main characters sought each other, first Amar seeking, then Maya searching for Amar.

Amar is, obviously, the Mysterious Stranger of the tale: tall, dark and handsome, with love in his eyes and words but secrets that he cannot reveal before a certain event is past. In a way, his choosing Maya was akin to insta-love, which I usually don’t like; here, it fit within the reincarnation theme permeating the novel, so at least there was *that* explanation. Not the best or the most original, but eh, it worked, and it was logical in that specific setting. Also, it helps that he was a pretty decent person overall: with a dash of “unnerving mysterious love interest”, yet never falling into the dominant-jerk template so many male love interests in YA seem to be created with. Although the mystery about who he truly was may have made him look at times a bit too “controlling” (in keeping information to himself) in spite of his claims of wanting Maya to rule as his equal. There are explanations to this secrecy later, tied into the supernatural/mythological background.

Maya was a good character to follow, in that she’s born under a bad horoscope, has been shunned in many ways from birth in spite of being a princess, yet isn’t complaining all the time. She may be petty with her tutors so that she can spy on her father (and learn the ropes of true leadership), resent the harem wives, but she didn’t strike me as someone with a terribly negative, depressed view of life. She tried to remain stoic when faced with a dire choice with dire consequences, but kept looking for chances to grab a “third choice” (escape) when she could.

I admit I didn’t like her too much when she made *the* choice mid-novel, though. I felt it wasn’t exactly justified, prompted only by a few lies and one bit of conversation. It would’ve made more sense if Maya had been confronted to similar occurrences more than just a couple of times.

The prose was mostly flowing, with really vivid descriptions at times, conveying beautiful images of enchanted, preternatural lands where legendary beings dwellt as if this was the most normal thing in the world. And I think this was a strong point: the book didn’t explain much about those beings, didn’t justify their existence… but it was totally OK, because it managed to show them as part of the natural order, as unquestionable. It made sense, completely, and no explanation was actually needed.

On the other hand, in a “it’s not you, book, it’s me” fashion, I sometimes found it difficult to remain invested in the story. Perhaps it was the rhythm, or the descriptions? (I can appreciate beautiful descriptions, yet still want more action/dialogues; it’s a bit paradoxical, I know.) I don’t think it’s any fault of the novel itself, just a bad reading timing on my part.

I would also have liked seeing more of Nritti’s reasons for acting the way she did. I understand what prompted her to choose that path, however there was a bit of a discrepancy between her first appearance and the others, as well as some shadows on how exactly she followed “that path”.

A solid 3.5 stars (3 on Goodreads, 4 on other platforms, depending on the rating system)—and someone who likes descriptions more than I do may in fact rate it higher.