Review: RUTHLESS MAGIC by Megan Crewe

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Ruthless Magic is ruthless indeed.

This book follows three young mages that have just graduated from high school. Upon graduating, one may be Chosen, meaning they get to keep their magical ability and continue on studying it at college, or Dampered, meaning nearly all of their magical ability is taken away except for a small amount that manifests itself as an area of heightened skill. Those who are Dampered have the option to accept that fate or declare for the Mages’ Exam, a brutal test against other mages to become a Champion. A Champion gets to keep their magical ability like a Chosen mage, but all those who fail will have their magic burnt out completely, not even allowed to be Dampered anymore. Is it worth the risk of having no magic at all for the chance to be Champion?

For our three protagonists, that answer is yes. We follow the perspectives of Finn Lockwood, a descendant of old magic that navigates the Exam with his best friend Prisha Mathur, and Rocío Lopez, a highly skilled new-magic mage who wants to avenge the death of her brother who died while taking the Exam some years before.

I really enjoyed this story. I haven’t read a book this magical in a long time, like with mages and enchantments. I feel like books usually have more of an ethereal magical quality, but this one has more of a hard magic. One thing I didn’t like about this magic system, however, was that I had a very weak grasp on it. It was not clearly explained at all, and the limitations weren’t defined, so I never really felt sure what the mages could or could not do with their magic. It seemed that magic just floated through the air and any mage could tap into and use that magic. I got the sense that there were some rules put in place by the Confederation of Mages, but that was also only vaguely explained. I would have liked to have a more concrete understanding at the beginning of this book of how the magical abilities worked and how mages could summon the magic; I think that extra detail alone would have prevented any confusion I felt throughout the rest of the story. But overall, the magic was very expansive and I did enjoy it a lot.

I think what the blurb says about Ruthless Magic combining “the magic of Harry Potter with the ferocity of The Hunger Games” is true. Like l said earlier, this book is full of magic in a way that I don’t often see, and Harry Potter is a close resemblance on the magic front (I don’t like when people say any book is the next Harry Potter because they’re always wrong and that’s not what I’m saying here, just that this book has lots of hard magic like Harry Potter). As for The Hunger Games, this book is even more brutal since the mages go through a similar test of strength and survival against other young mages (although this book isn’t set in a dystopian world). At first, I thought the description of “fierce” was an overstatement because the story seemed chill and friendly during the first few chapters, but then we got to day two of the Mages’ Exam and I realized I was so wrong: this book is savage. I didn’t think it could get any worse but every day of the Exam was a new level of scary. And I loved every minute of it.

I really liked all three main characters and their relationships. One thing I love seeing in multi-perspective stories is when the book starts out with two characters that don’t know each other and throughout the story become acquainted, so the reader can see how the characters evolve in the other characters’ eyes. Ruthless Magic included this element and I quite enjoyed it.

I loved this book way more than I expected to. It is a fast-paced and engaging roller coaster ride; I constantly wanted to pick up the book again whenever I paused reading because the story was so intense. Megan Crewe is an excellent storyteller and I can’t wait to read the sequel to Ruthless Magic and all the rest in this series. I also look forward to reading some of her other books as well.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: THE OPPOSITE OF LONELINESS by Marina Keegan

Rating: 5/5 stars

I don’t usually read—or enjoy—short stories, but this collection piqued my interest, probably because of the tragedy that happened to Marina. I got this book for free from a selection of otherwise uninteresting choices, but I probably wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise. I started casually browsing through it the day I got it, but then I decided I wanted to sit down and actually read the whole thing immediately. This is the first time I can remember when I read a whole book within a week of acquiring it.

I will summarize my thoughts on each story and essay below:

• I really enjoyed reading the introduction by Anne Fadiman about Marina’s life and her enthusiasm to be a writer. This really set the ground for her stories, giving me some background into who she was.
• “The Opposite of Loneliness” was wonderful and very empowering, especially to recent graduates and young people. Some lines of it spoke to a part of me that needed to hear them, and I’m glad I discovered this essay (which I actually read three times in a row).
• The first fiction story, “Cold Pastoral,” was pretty good but also sad. In my opinion, it was her best story in this collection.
• The next story, “Winter Break,” honestly seemed dull and pointless, and I wasn’t really sure what she was trying to communicate with that one. It was my least favorite piece in this collection.
• “Reading Aloud” was very different, a unique concept. I can’t say that I entirely enjoyed it, but I was so enthralled that I couldn’t stop reading.
• “The Ingenue” was an interesting story that shows how one inconsequential detail can make all the difference. I did like it.
• Even though I didn’t care for “The Emerald City” (I just don’t really like war stories), the descriptive writing was great. And I loved how we got to read the email correspondences from only one person, even though it was implied that the other person was writing back. That’s a unique way to tell a story.
• “Baggage Claim” was the shortest and most forgettable of the stories, but it was still based on a unique concept.
• I want more of the story told in “Hail, Full of Grace.” I want to know what’s going to happen to the characters. I’m also impressed that Marina was able to write someone twice her age so well. I don’t think it’s very common for authors to write about a protagonist older than themselves, but she did a good job.
• “Sclerotherapy” was a nice, very short story about the permanence of our choices. I wonder where Marina came up with the ideas for her stories such as this one.
• “Challenger Deep” was the saddest of all the stories and I didn’t really care for it, but it continues to show Marina’s gift of writing.
• Now on to the nonfiction. The first essay was “Stability in Motion,” and I loved it. I just love her writing style so much in the way she describes scents and memories, everyday visuals with such detail that I wonder if I’ve ever even seen those things at all before now. I could never write an essay about my car as poetic and beautiful as this one. Definitely a favorite.
• “Why We Care about Whales” reads like a paper for school, but how I wish I could have written papers like this. It is not formal. It is whimsical. It illustrates her argument beautifully while other essays might be rigid with forced concern. The way she wrote this really made me interested in the topic, and I love how the point isn’t even about the whales. She really was a gifted writer.
• “Against the Grain” was an important story. I learned a lot from it. I didn’t realize people could feel so left out being gluten-free. I really like the title of this story as it doesn’t mean what you think it means at first; it’s very clever. This might be my favorite nonfiction story.
• “Putting the ‘Fun’ Back in Eschatology,” at barely two pages long, felt like the introduction to a science paper. It didn’t feel like a full essay because it just brushed on the topic of preserving our solar system with no real depth, and I felt it introduced contradictory ideas. This was my least favorite essay in this book.
• In “I Kill for Money,” Marina was distant as the author, writing entirely in third person and inserting no real opinions. It felt like a documentary but it read like a fiction story. And it was an odd sort of story. I wonder what led Marina to interview and shadow a bug exterminator for a day.
• Yes! “Even Artichokes Have Doubts” is an excellent essay that supports an epiphany I’ve been having for the past three months (more on that at the end of this review). This essay definitely had the biggest impact on me. Pursue your passions, people!
• “The Art of Observation” sounds like a journal entry. It’s raw and honest, but it also recognizes a great truth in the world.
• “Song for the Special” is another really good essay. There’s a quotation in here that immediately resonated with me (see my epiphany below for details): “There’s a really good chance I’ll never do anything.” I feel like that all the time.

I have a hard time believing that Marina was my age or younger when she wrote these stories. The fiction stories are very evocative and emotional. She has a way of noticing the smallest details, and in writing about them, she creates a very realistic portrayal of life. Her descriptions are immaculate. For a book titled The Opposite of Loneliness though, these stories are all very lonely. It intrigues me that someone who advocates for not being lonely, being surrounded by friends and love, would write such sad stories.

I especially love all the opening lines and titles that Marina comes up with. The titles are refreshing and original, giving me a different perspective on her stories before I even start, and the first lines are so shocking that they draw me in in fifteen words or less and I’m already invested before I finish the first paragraph.

Overall, I loved this collection. I thought I’d mildly enjoy it as I do any average book, then forget about it a few weeks later, but I was wrong. This book showed me that short stories can actually be good. They can, in fact, make me feel emotions after ten minutes that I normally only feel after spending hours with a character. They can be profound and deep, which I never expected. I guess I’ve just never read any good short stories before now because I never knew that good ones existed. This book also showed me that essays don’t have to be stuffy and boring. They can be engaging and resonate with me in ways I never imagined, and they can even teach me about myself.

Marina was a very talented author, and it is a blessing she could share even this much of her passion with the world. If Marina had lived to write a full-length novel, I have no doubt it would have gotten published, and I predict I would have loved it. Her writing style is wonderful, even if the content of her fiction stories is a bit depressing. But it’s touching and it makes me feel things, which is the mark of a good writer. Again, I can’t believe she was only twenty-two or younger when she wrote these stories. She has a raw talent that I think is hard to find in writers these days, especially young ones.


*Here is more about my epiphany: The people who really make a difference in the world and are the happiest at what they’re doing and are living a “dream” life are the people who have a passion and have sought after it to no end. You cannot dedicate your life to something you’re not wholeheartedly passionate about. But not everyone has a passion. In fact, I would say that most people don’t. For example, I’ve casually thought my whole life that because I collect words and I like reading, because I’m good at writing and editing, I would become a writer someday. Not necessarily an author, but maybe a writer for a magazine or something. Now I realize that isn’t true. I haven’t been writing my whole life. In fact, other than writing in my journal to comprehend my emotions and writing all these book reviews, I’ve never written anything that wasn’t required for school or for some kind of application. I’ve never written a short story, a nonfiction essay, or even a basic novel outline. I’m the age of Marina when she died, and I have no collection of writing to my name, nothing to show for my “love” of writing. Marina had so much to show, so many poems and essays and stories. That is what defines a true writer: someone who cannot stop writing, who writes everything they can think of, all the time. I’m glad Marina wrote all these pieces for me to read. I’m glad I could see what determines a real writer from a fake one. (I am the fake one.)
   The difference is that Marina had a passion for writing, whereas I do not. I’m interested in a lot of things from reading and writing to playing the piano, dancing, creating all forms of art, photography, horseback riding, interior design and graphic design, traveling, rock climbing, and the list goes on. But I’m not passionate about any of that. I don’t want to devote my life to only one of those activities and abandon the rest, but that’s what having a passion is. You give up everything to pursue your passion, even when it’s completely illogical and your family thinks you’re crazy and you’re up all night working on your project because nothing will stop you until you get there. The people who quit their jobs to start non-profits because they want to help people in a specific way are people with passions. The people who travel around the world to visit strangers and research history just to learn are people with passions. The people who dedicate a decade of their lives to being nearly homeless and broke just so they can be a drummer or a singer in this no-name band are people with passions.
   I wish desperately that I had a passion, but I don’t think I do. Logic rules my life, sometimes a little too much, and it always gets in the way of me making decisions and following any one path. I’m rambling now, but this particular essay, “Even Artichokes Have Doubts,” really shows me that I’m not alone in wanting to do something with my life but being scared and not knowing what to do so taking the easy way out instead. It is so common, and it is so sad.

Review: CITY OF GLASS by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I liked this book better than the first two in the series. It had higher stakes and gave me the answers I've been craving. (City of Glass's Chapter 17 was the most important chapter in all three books. When Jocelyn tells Clary all the details she needs to know, I was utterly lost in the audiobook and couldn't stop listening.)

I don't really have much to say about this book, or about this series in general, but I do want to make one statement about Cassandra Clare as a writer. One thing I've seen her do well in all three books is to make the characters question her own writing. What I mean by this is that readers always have questions about how the world works, why this can't happen, why things don't work a certain way. I, for one, always question the logic in a book because it seems like far too often characters make stupid decisions only because the author can't think of a better way to solve a problem. But Cassandra Clare isn't like that. She challenges the logic and answers the questions that most other writers don't address. Here's one of many examples from this book: Simon asks Clary why she can't just create a rune to destroy all demons or to destroy Valentine. This is the kind of question an intuitive reader would ask, but most authors would gloss over that point, probably thinking, Well she could create that rune but that would make the story less exciting and fun, so as long as that thought doesn't cross her mind, I can make the plot go this more exciting route instead. Like I said, Clare doesn't do this; she answers all those kinds of questions I had and explains why the world doesn't allow for this or that, and that made the story so much more realistic and enjoyable for me. This is the biggest compliment I can give her as a writer.

Another thing I really liked is how much this story ties into Bible theology. I think a lot of writers shy away from religious aspects, thinking it will alienate part of the audience they are trying to reach, but Clare really embraces Biblical concepts in her stories. For example, I love the idea that the mark of Cain was actually an ancient rune. Ideas like that are so cool and help to make the magical system seem more realistic.

Overall, City of Glass was a strong concluding novel to the original trilogy. It answered all my questions and wrapped up all the loose ends. I'm really happy with how the book ended, both with the main storyline and with the direction all the relationships took. (I don't understand why there are three more books though.) I think there are a lot of good messages and morals in the whole story, which I was glad for because we don't always see that in young adult novels.

Next, I plan on starting Clockwork Angel before continuing on with City of Fallen Angels. I've heard it's best to read the books in publication order, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm looking forward to delving deeper into the world of Shadowhunters.

Review: CITY OF BONES by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I don’t know how I’ve managed to avoid all spoilers for this entire series, considering how popular it is and how long it has been around, but I seriously knew next to nothing before I started the book. I knew it was an urban fantasy, there are beings called Shadowhunters, and the main characters are Clary and Jace. That’s it. I’ve been wanting to read The Mortal Instruments for quite some time but kept putting it off because it’s a long commitment, but I really wanted to get to it this year, so here I am.

City of Bones is about Clary, who finds out she is a Shadowhunter (which is a demon hunter). The story basically just follows her as she learns about and gets used to the Shadowhunter world while fighting some monsters in the meantime. This was a very foundational book because most of the story is introducing us readers to the main cast of characters and how the “magic” system works and what the world looks like. Of course, there is also drama occurring and secrets being revealed, but nearly everything that happened felt like a plot device so Clare would have a reason to explain X, Y, and Z about her world without just throwing those details at us randomly.

I could tell this was a debut novel because the writing did seem amateurish at times, but I have heard from many people that Clare’s writing gets better as the series continues. I love seeing how authors’ writing styles progress over their careers. The writing is my favorite part of any book.

For the most part, I did not feel like there was a lot of info-dumping, which was nice. Going into a brand new fantasy world with unknown creatures and abilities, it can be hard to adequately explain it all without overloading the reader all at one time. There were a few times when a lot of information was being handed to me, and I had to slow down and reread to process it all, but overall the descriptions were spread out enough throughout the book to be interesting and engaging but not overwhelming.

I did not like the characterization in this book. A lot of the characters felt very stereotypical, predictable, and one-dimensional. Especially Isabelle. What a stuck-up snob. And Jace isn’t any better. He’s your typical bad boy who’s actually just a piece of crap. I like Clary, although sometimes she can be melodramatic, and Simon is my favorite character for his humor. I hope as the series progresses, the characters will become more fleshed out and realistic and relatable.

I do not like when people compare books to other books, but City of Bones definitely gave off Twilight vibes. There was just something about the writing style, the character traits, and the plot nuances that reminded me of Twilight. Except I liked Twilight more.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. I found it to be entertaining, but also highly melodramatic (and reading the blurb for the next book, it sounds like the whole series is going to be that way). I wasn’t at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next, which is how I usually am when I’m reading a fantasy. In fact, I didn’t have a problem pausing in the middle of an intense high-action scene and coming back to the book at a later time. I guess I just didn’t feel as emotionally invested in this story as I usually do when I’m reading. I’m hoping as I continue the series that I will become more connected to the characters and the plot.

What I didn’t like the most was the ending of this book. There was no resolution in the ending, no cliffhanger to make me want to read more, and it honestly felt like nothing really happened. I think this first book of The Mortal Instruments was fairly weak, but at least it was entertaining for the most part. If I were younger (like if I had read this book when it was released), I might have enjoyed it more. But as it is now, I don’t feel especially compelled to read City of Ashes, but I am still going to because it was my goal this year to read this series, and I own all six books. I’m hoping I will enjoy each one more and more.