Magic Lessons is a good book but it doesn't quite stand on its own - it feels a little too in-between for me. The story moves very quickly (both to read and in time - the entire books takes place in just a matter of days) and I wish more time had been spent on learning more about Reason's grandmother and on the teen's magic lessons.

http://archthinking.blogspot.com/2009... ( )

http://lampbane.livejournal.com/542806.html

"Okay, so now it seems like we might get some answers, right? Well, not exactly. We start to touch briefly on the background behind all the magic and how our characters fit into it, but then plot gets in the way and we end up far from any literal magic lessons and it turns into an Anne Rice novel, complete with weird creatures and magically-induced sex. It's kind of like the transition between Witching Hour and Lasher, where you start out with a great concept and then things get very, very weird. I actually feel a bit cheated, because I think we could have spent more time focusing on the whole insanity angle. But it's still a good book, a tad predictable, but well-written."

Having picked the devil-you-know-slightly-more-than-the-other-devil, Reason has returned to Sydney to take magic lessons form her grandmother. Before they can start, however, something strange tries to break through the magical door in the kitchen, and it will take the combined efforts of Reason, Tom, Jay-Tee, and Esmerelda to stop it.
This is a solid follow up to the first book, with its interesting magic system. And how the family manages to reproduce when most of the girls die before they make it to their twenties is made a little clearer. There is an instance of under-age sex that made me uncomfortable, but it was essential to the story - and especially to the third book.
Again, the heavy handed pointing at differences between New York and Sydney slang was a little annoying.
I'd give this to fans of the first. ( )

http://lampbane.livejournal.com/542806.html

"Okay, so now it seems like we might get some answers, right? Well, not exactly. We start to touch briefly on the background behind all the magic and how our characters fit into it, but then plot gets in the way and we end up far from any literal magic lessons and it turns into an Anne Rice novel, complete with weird creatures and magically-induced sex. It's kind of like the transition between Witching Hour and Lasher, where you start out with a great concept and then things get very, very weird. I actually feel a bit cheated, because I think we could have spent more time focusing on the whole insanity angle. But it's still a good book, a tad predictable, but well-written."

Usually the middle book of the trilogy is the slow one, but this book picked up the minute the last one ended and was a roller-coaster till the end. I liked the first better, but because it was new. ( )