Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman — 9781440673757 — ***

Genre: Fiction
Time to Read: 2 Days

Short Summary:
It’s no secret: The women of the Owens family are witches. Or, at least the aunts–who use spells and potions to meddle in peoples’ love lives–are. When Sally and Gillian’s parents die in an accident, they go to live with the aunts, who run a lawless household that encourages junk food and discourages bedtimes. Despite this, however, the girls long for some sense of normalcy. Sally insists on cooking healthy dinners, doing laundry and cleaning the house. Gillian grows fed up with the name calling from her peers and runs away with her boyfriend when she turns eighteen.

Although she misses her sister, Sally stays with the aunts, finding love of her own and marrying a kind-natured man with whom she has two daughters: the pretty and spoiled Antonia and the shy and sweet-natured Kylie. When Sally’s husband is killed by a teen-aged drunk driver, she falls into a depression that causes her to spend a year withdrawn from the world. When she begins to recover from the shock of losing her husband, Sally packs up her girls and moves to Long Island, where no one has ever heard of the Owens family. Together, they settle into a normal life. At least until the long-roaming Gillian returns with bruises on her face and a dead boyfriend in the car.

I have to say that, despite my love for the movie that is (very loosely) based off this book, I was less than impressed by Alice Hoffman’s book Practical Magic. I found the writing style difficult to appreciate, as the entire book is written in present-tense and riddled with dizzying flash-backs and flash-forwards. It jumps from scene to scene and character to character with little warning. The transitions are done in such a casual way, that I often found myself flipping back and re-reading, thinking I had missed a page. One sentence might start off talking about the here and now, then jump back in time, forward in time, change characters, or change from Long Island to Texas. Past, present and future tense flip-flop within paragraphs and sentences in a maddening way that made me feel that, were this Alice Hoffman’s first book, an editor would have had a field day with it if he didn’t just turn it down all together. It is almost purely narrative, and the characters are almost impossible to connect with because they seem so detached. Reading it is like standing outside looking through a window and trying to feel involved with the people on the other side of the glass.

The story itself wasn’t bad. In fact, if it had been written a little differently, it might have been cute. Despite the writing style, I was able to enjoy parts of it, and it was a very fast, easy read. This is just one of those rare instances in which the movie is better than the book.

Check out Alice Hoffman’s website!
Read it? Rate it! 

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe — 9781401341336 — ****

Genre: Historical Fiction/Fantasy Fiction
Time to Read: 6 Days

Short Summary:
Connie Goodwin–a Harvard student of Colonial History–is in search of a unique source to base her dissertation on when her mother asks her to clean out her deceased grandmother’s long abandoned house in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Despite her reluctance, Connie agrees, only to discover that the source she has been looking for was once on the bookshelves of the very house her mother has asked her to prepare for sale. An antique key with the words “Deliverance Dane” on a tiny piece of paper rolled up inside of it fall out of her grandmother’s bible, sending her on a quest for answers. Realizing that Deliverance Dane is the name of a woman who lived in Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600s, Connie begins to dig into the past, learning about herself in her quest for Deliverance Dane’s long lost book.

I was a little uncertain about this book at first. The opening, during which Connie takes her oral examination at college, is a little mind boggling, and she does a lot of jumping between 1991 and the 1680s and ’90s before she settles into a good pattern. Once I grew accustomed to Katherine Howe’s writing style, however, I found that the book grew exponentially better as it progressed until I had 100 pages left and wanted to know the ending then and there.

The history in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane feels amazingly well researched and is quite fascinating. Connie’s research is both historical and genealogical, and the added magical element is very well done. Katherine Howe did an excellent job with the herbalism that is the root of the magic, and she shows a great deal of respect for the wiccan religion, skirting the stereotypes and sharing a modern and realistic point of view of the hysteria in Salem. A modern witch will appreciate her tact, a history enthusiast will be pleased with her care and a lover of books with seemingly real magic with be pleased with her story as a whole.

There is also a romantic element in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, but it doesn’t overpower the main story. It just flows along with the plot, enhancing it without changing it. As an anti-romance book reader, I appreciated its subtly.

Over all, this is an excellent book. I would recommend it to anyone with an appreciation for history, magic and realistic characters and plots.

Check out Katherine Howe’s website!
Read it? Rate it! 

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

The Lost Gate (Mithermages Series #1) by Orson Scott Card — 9780765526577 — *****

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Time to Read: 4 Days

Short Summary:
Danny North is a normal thirteen-year-old boy, which would be all right if it weren’t for the fact that his parents are two of the most powerful mages to be born in his community in many years. His people are decedents of ancient gods, but their magic is waning, and his people had hoped that Danny would prove even more powerful than his parents. Instead, he is a disappointment, showing no talent for magic at all. Now, Danny is condemned to a life of ridicule, allowed to live only because his parents are the leaders of his community and wish to keep him alive.

Then, one day, Danny discovers that he does have a magical ability, and a powerful one: He is a gatemage, able to create gates that can carry him across the world, or across the universe. He is one of the most powerful types of mages to be born in a long time. The only problem: After the last gatemage stole the gate between Earth and his peoples’ home world Westil, his people have vowed to kill any gatemage that is born to prevent war among the clans and further trouble from one such mage.

After escaping from his family compound, Danny must find a way to live among humans while he learns how to use his newly found abilities to remain one step ahead of the family that now seeks to kill him.

This book drew me in so fast that I hardly knew it was happening. I’ve never read an Orson Scott Card book before now, but I expect I’ll be giving some others of his a try while I wait for the second book in this series to come out. The Lost Gate was amazing, addicting and powerful. It was also an easy read. The words flowed as if caught in a steadily increasing current from beginning to end, then the story left off at the brink of a waterfall.

Orson Scott Card’s characters are excellent, Danny’s world within our world has an undeniable realness to it, and the side-story–which seems a little strange at first–gives us a glimpse of things to come. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It is clear to me that it was written over years of planning and plotting by a seasoned master in the art of the fantasy novel.

Check out Orson Scott Card’s website!
Read it? Rate it! 

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

Among Thieves: A Tale of the Kin (Tales of the Kin Series Book 1) by Douglas Hulick — 9780451463906 — ****

Genre: Fantasy
Time to Read: 9 Days

Short Summary:
Drothe has been a member of the Kin for much of his life, nosing out artifacts and answers for his boss, one of the most notorious crime lords in Ildrecca. His knack for finding information and his well-guarded ability to see in the dark makes him good at his job despite his tendency to find trouble as well as tips, but when his boss sends him after a man who has been causing trouble in his territory, Drothe finds himself in an even worse predicament than he usually gets himself into (and out of). Tangled up in a hunt for an ancient book that has the potential to bring down the empire or put an end to the Kin, Drothe must find a way to survive and decide what side to take in the upcoming Kin war.

This was another of those advanced reader copies that I grabbed because it looked interesting, and I have to say that I’m glad I did, since I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it sitting on the shelf in the bookstore. Among Thieves is Douglas Hulick’s first book, but it certainly won’t be his last.

The plot is as unique as it sounds. Instead of following the stereo-typical fantasy character through the stereo-typical fantasy land as he tries to find the magical book that has the potential to put an end to the evil emperor, if it doesn’t kill him first, we follow Drothe through the slums of a dying city as he tries to find an old book because there are others who think he is after it and are trying to kill him so he won’t find it, and he’s decided that his best chance at survival is to get his hands on it and use it as leverage. The magic that’s involved is dark, dangerous and, in some cases, illegal. It isn’t treated with the typical hopeful awe, actually making things more dire instead of giving hope. The entire book is quite a twist on the stereo-type for the genre, and Douglas Hulick carries it out pretty well.

I didn’t like the main character. At least not at first. Same with the story. I didn’t dislike it, I just wasn’t sure about it. It was neat, and very well done, but I found it difficult to like a thief whose main interest was staying alive, and it started to sound like a book about gang wars in a magical city. Then the pieces started to come together, and Drothe (who narrates the book) started to see the whole picture. He started to realize that the mess he had gotten himself into was a lot bigger and more sinister than a petty war between two rival crime lords. This war went all the way to the top: To his boss’s boss, a war between two grey princes, and a powerplay that could bring out the end of the Kin if it didn’t rise their society into power to rival the empire.

Needless to say, the further I read, the more I enjoyed it, until I found myself at the end and wanting more. If you’re a fantasy fan looking for something new and different, give this one a try. Douglas Hulick is new, and his writing is a little rough around the edges, but that fits with the world his character is in and the story he is telling, making it perfectly imperfect.

For more on Douglas Hulick and his books, check out his website!

Read it? Rate it!