Magic or Madness

There are lots of books out there that deal with magic and madness and sometimes both of them together. What makes Larbalestier’s book so different are her characters. When I first started reading the book and “met” Reason for the first time, I thought her as very young and very naive. In fact, there was this sense of detachment when I looked at the world through her eyes. While the older me knew that much of what her mother had told her about her grandmother might have been untrue, I could not help but be swayed from this belief by the strength of Reason’s determination to believe in her mother. There’s Tom, who is so unlike all the heroes I’ve come across that I might have read the book for him alone. He thinks in fashion show more – his magic is fashion. Jay-Tee, whose better nature leads her to help Reason even though doing so would get her nothing but grief. And the creepiest villain so far – Mr. Blake. This is the first book so you don’t get much of a sense of the adults – Sarafina, Mere and Mr. Blake have been hued (deliberately) vaguely so the reader gets a sense of the person but not the person wholly. What I found most fascinating about this story is Reason herself. For instance, I am never quite sure how old she is. The sense I got initially was around twelve but she fibs that she’s fifteen and somehow the subject of age is never broached again. She doesn’t react in the typical ways – anger, fear – emotions for her are not solid colours but prismatic. JT thinks Reason is naive when she is anything but. She’s like an onion that you can peel to find continuous layers of – discover something different about. And the story – the promised thrill of magic is blanketed by the sobering fact that using magic has dire consequences just as not using it does. In fact, the entire story presents a morally gray area, letting the reader decide how to feel about whom without guiding them. And I appreciate the liberty to do. With Magic or Madness, Justine Larbalestier presents readers with a tale that allows them to feel the extremes of heat and cold, to both fear and cheer for the protagonists. She allows the reader to experience characters that are imbued with details and a rich complexity that lingers long after the last page has been turned. show less

I love the way Larbalestier turns what we know upside down. Reason has lived her life on the run from her evil grandmother. When she's 15, her mother ends up in a mental hospital and Reason has to go live with the woman she was raised to believe is a cruel monster. While she's plotting to run away, she befriends a neighbor boy and then discovers that her mother had been keeping some important facts about a family legacy secret. I finished this in one night because I couldn't stop reading, and immediately downloaded the second book in the series.

From the Witchy Books Network review blog.

Reason Cansino, so named by her mother who wanted her life to be governed by nothing but logic, has grown up constantly moving around the Australian bush. Her mother ran away from home when she was 12 because, as she tells Reason, her mother is a terrible, evil person who "thinks" she is a witch. Unfortunately for Reason's mother, the book opens with her being committed to a mental hospital, and Reason being placed in the custody of her grandmother, Esmeralda.

Reason's fear and distrust of her grandmother is surprising to her new neighbor, Tom, who thinks that Esmeralda is the greatest person ever-- and small wonder, because she's been teaching him magic. But despite their diverging views on show more Esmeralda, the two teens find common ground when Tom reveals that his mother is in the mental hospital too. Reason puts her plans to run away on hold while Tom teaches Reason more about her family history and the secrets of her grandmother's house. Namely, the back door's portal to New York City...

The first in a trilogy, Magic or Madness is a new and unique take on how magic works, while also serving as a backdrop to the many culture clashes that occur in the story. The title refers to how in this world, something as powerful as magic takes its toll on the human mind-- an amazing idea that almost never gets explored in witchy fiction (yes, we all love karma and the Law of Three, but not all consequences are external!) I loved the way Larbalestier described Reason's upbringing from her own perspective-- as if there was nothing unusual about moving around every few months, not always knowing where you are going or where your next meal is coming from. Likewise, she presents very nuanced points of view between the different "factions" of characters: New Yorkers vs. Aussies, the pro-magic Tom and Jay-Tee vs. the anti-magic Reason-- even touching upon the subtle and not-so-subtle racism the half-Aborigine Reason faces in both countries.

This is the first book I've read (that I can remember) that presents magic as more of a problem than a power, and by the end you'll hope that they can find a way to get rid of their powers without losing their minds. I have every intention of reading the rest of this trilogy and strongly recommend it!

If you're not convinced you can read the first two chapters on Larbalestier's website! show less

A very strange, rich, confusing book. My view of who the villain was kept switching abruptly around - it was quite disconcerting. The obvious, cartoon villain was replaced by - lied to all her life? Then a whole new set of possible villains - who turned out to be one and a pawn...switch after switch. I wish we'd gotten more from Reason's POV after she went through the door, but I suspect that she really was nearly as bewildered as Jay-Tee thought. It's hard to upend an entire life's teachings - but she also got training in logic and reason, and when the facts contradict theory, facts win. She is, in many ways, very young - no "street-smarts", for either Sydney or New York. In other ways Reason is much closer to adult than either Tom or show more Jay-Tee - she's grown up being pretty much her mother's equal, not treated as a child. It's an interesting mix. One funny thing, for me - I had less trouble with the Australian slang than I did the New York variety (and there's no glossary for those!). It's most definitely the first of a series - the story ends at a turnpoint, not a conclusion (though without the feathers it would have been pretty solid). I'm interested enough I will probably seek out the other two, though it's not urgent. show less

Fifteen-year-old Reason, gifted in mathematics, struggles to work out where she fits in a family where magic and madness go hand in hand. The author's sparky and electric writing style brought the book alive for me. A quick and enjoyable read.

This is a YA book but I was completely enthralled. I like all books that have to do with magic or witches but this book takes the cake.

I don't usually do a synopsis but here's a short one: Reason and her mother Sarafina are on the run from Reason's grandmother Esmerelda. However, when Sarafina goes crazy, Reason is placed with her grandmother. Nothing about Esmerelda's home in Syndey, Australia is what she expected and when she walks through the back door and ends up in New York City, she has to face the facts. Magic is real.

This book takes place in Australia AND the US and when Reason, who has never been outside of Australia before, ends up in the US, you can just imagine how strange it must be for her. She goes from summer to winter, show more day time to night time, Tuesday to Monday. The New Yorkers speak English but it's a different English and often she finds herself asking what something means or explaining what she is saying. I found this part of the book extremely interesting. It was neat to think about what a foreigner would think of North America. It reminded me of when my Floridian cousin first saw snow.

I am beyond happy to see that this in but book one in the trilogy! I am off to find book 2 as I can't wait to know what happens next. show less

Reason has lived a transient life with her mother, moving from town to town in the outback of Australia. All her life she and her mother have fled her grandmother, a woman who is evil, who believes that she can cast spells, who believes she is a witch. But Reason knows better, because her mother has taught her that magic is not real; there is no magic; her grandmother is not really a witch.

However, things change when her mother goes insane and Reason is sent to live with her grandmother in Sydney. Reason begins to question the things her mother taught her, especially when she steps through a door and finds herself suddenly in New York, and she is hit with the reality that magic is, in fact, real.

This book is wonderfully complex with no show more clear lines of what it means to be good or evil. The rules of magic are clear and precise and deadly, creating an already complicated world of traps and snares for the characters to maneuver through as they try to figure out who to trust and how to survive. Fabulous story, and I'm fascinated to see where the trilogy goes from here. show less