Tag Archives: magic

Review of Jade City (The Green Bone Saga #1), by Fonda Lee

I borrowed a copy of Fonda Lee‘s Jade City from the library.

Description from Goodreads:
Magical jade—mined, traded, stolen, and killed for—is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. For centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion.

Now the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon’s bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation.

When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone—even foreigners—wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones—from their grandest patriarch to the lowliest motorcycle runner on the streets—and of Kekon itself.

Review:
I wouldn’t say I loved this, though I liked it very much. It has a really rich world, with history and depth and politics warring with duty and personal desires. It explores the consequences of violence, gender politics, and greed. There are interesting grey characters, ones who do horrible things for what they think are the right reasons, ones who do the right things only to fail, and others who can’t see beyond their won victimhood. For all that, I found it a tad ponderous and, though there are plenty of fights, it didn’t feel particularly action oriented.

Magyk

Book Review of Magyk (Septimus Heap #1), by Angie Sage

I borrowed a copy of Magyk: Septimus Heap, by Angie Sage from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Enter the world of Septimus Heap, Wizard Apprentice. Magyk is his destiny.

A powerful necromancer plans to seize control of all things Magykal. He has killed the Queen and locked up the Extraordinary Wizard. Now with Darke Magyk he will create a world filled with Darke creatures. But the Necromancer made one mistake. A vital detail he has overlooked means there is a boy who can stop him – the only problem is, the boy doesn’t know it yet.

For the Heap family, life as they know is about to change, and the most fantastically fast-paced adventure of confused identities, magyk and mayhem, begin.

Review:
I am not the intended audience for this book, being far too old. But I rented it to listen to with my 10yo, on a car trip. She quite enjoyed it. I didn’t dislike it, but didn’t fall in love either. While I was entertained, I also found the whole thing obvious and flat.

I’ve seen a somewhat convincing argument that the whole thing is meant to be a Christian parable. I’d never of made the connection on my own (Christian parables seriously not being my thing), but once pointed out, I could see where the reviewer got the idea. If you’re looking for that in a middle grade book, pick this one up. Maybe reading it from that perspective will give the narrative the oooh I felt tit lacked.

All in all, not bad, entertaining in a youthful sort of way. But lacking in enough depth to make me love it. It’s no Harry Potter, that’s for sure, though likely aimed at part of the same demographic.

Allan Corduner did a marvelous job with the audiobook narration though.

Witch Inheritance

Book Review of Witch Inheritance (Mackenzie Coven Mystery #1), by Sonia Parin

I downloaded a copy of Sonia Parin‘s Witch Inheritance from Amazon, as a freebie.

Description from Goodreads:
Lexie’s birthday has caught up with her, as have her cousins, Mirabelle Louisa Mackenzie – High Chair of the British Isles and all Circumferential Domains Pertaining to the Mackenzie Coven – and Catherine Marianna Mackenzie, her down under cousin (If she has a title, she’s not telling her). They’ve been sent to remind Lexie of her family obligations and also to give her a birthday gift. The type she can’t return, refuse or exchange. It’s her heritage and it comes with a job she didn’t even apply for. It’s actually more a way of life than a career and it comes with a snazzy new outfit only her cousins can see. Thank goodness for that…

Not surprisingly, Mirabelle and Catherine Mackenzie are short on details and time to explain. In fact, Lexie has less than two days to brush up on her skills and fly to England… at the blink of an eye. The Mackenzie Coven has been enlisted to assist with a rising concern at House St James. It comes in the shape of an inky black fog Lexie calls the menace. It might not be in corporeal form, but it’s somehow managed to murder one St James family member. Now it’s Lexie’s job to make sure it doesn’t strike again, but she’s fallen under a spell. Suddenly she’s tearing off her beloved denim jeans and Rock Hard t-shirt and donning bespoke designer dresses and sipping ‘delish’ champagne. Even her accent has changed and her cousins can’t do anything about it because a covenant prohibits all three Mackenzie Coven witches from gathering in the house together. They must somehow circumvent the seal and guide Lexie through her first official task as a Mackenzie Coven witch and find the murderer before all the heirs meet their end…

Review:
That was…..that was a decent outline of the dialogue for a future book. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like it was then fleshed out into an actual novel (or even a novella). It is literally like 80% dialogue, with no world or character building. The reader is dropped into the middle, characters appear and aren’t introduced or explained, the plot make no sense and the narration is cheesy. I mean, the villainous evil is called the “inky black fog.” And while I sense this was meant to be humorous, it wasn’t. Then the climax arrived abruptly and the book ended on a cliffhanger. I will not be continuing the series.