An Unkindness of Magicians

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Quote:

Magic, at its heart, starts with sacrifice. You have to give up something to get something, and because magic is big, with all that it allows you access to, what you give up has to be big. It has to be meaningful.

Review:
I loved An Unkindness of Magicians. This was another one of those "surprise, I have no idea what I just signed up to read because I didn't look!" books, and I'm so glad I randomly chose it from the library. I loved the journey the main character, Sydney, went through. And I loved the world. This was a quick the read, despite a ton happening.

Magic requires sacrifice and pain, and Sydney knows pain. And she knows sacrifice. She grew up in the House show more of Shadows, whose pain is used to fuel the magic of others. And she escaped. One of only two to escape in the history of the House of Shadows. And she is being used again, now, because just because she escaped doesn't mean she is free.

Sydney is being used because a tournament to the death has been called, named the Turning. The magical elite use to jockey for position and power. The winner is declared the most powerful and becomes the leader, even if they do all use proxies. The elite can't be expected to risk their own lives, can they? They instead look towards people who need something, and then tell them they'll get it if only they'll participate. It doesn't start deadly, but it quickly turns that way. And Sydney has been contracted by one these magical elite to participate for them, because she has been told to do so, or else.

But something more sinister is happening. There is something wrong with magic. It is getting weaker. Spells are going awry. Catastrophically awry. And there are the myriad of young woman who are being murdered. Their finger bones, the most magically soaked part of the body, are being taken and presumably used for nefarious deeds. And no one knows what is happening. And doesn't really seem to care, either.

Except for their magic backfiring. Which people are blaming Sydney for. Sydney came from nowhere, she doesn't really owe anyone allegiance, and no one knows what she is capable of. And her magic doesn't seem to be weaker - it seems stronger. And anyone sent to the House of Shadows had to have deserved it, right? She shouldn't have escaped. The nerve of her.

And Sydney absolutely hates them. She hates them because of what they do. She hates them because they don't care about anything but themselves. She hates them because they blame her, the victim. And she will not lose. Not to one of them.

What a good book. Had I known it was a tournament book, I probably wouldn't have picked it up, because that isn't my favourite type of story. Yet I'm so glad I did read it, because Kat Howard wrote an amazing story with some great characters. There is going to be a sequel to this, though this is a wonderful standalone. show less

This is a fantastic (and fantastical) urban fantasy! Not only does Howard not use the tried and true mystery formula (or any formula), but she’s done an amazing job realizing present-day magical New York. Of course the top magician families are a bunch of rich WASPy snobs. Of course they’d enchant their buildings and offices and landmarks. There are even magical lawyers! And there’s a beautiful sense of wonder to the magic too—cars doing aerial ballet, gardens growing in ballrooms, houses that know how you like your tea.

But as with any society, any fantasy, any magic system, it’s not all fun and games or perfection. Everyone in the story is flawed, some way more than others, and the Turning brings out all the nastiness that show more you’d expect from a bunch of wealthy white people into politics. Plus there are dark secrets, classism and racism, greed, and the thing I mentioned with the magic. It makes for compelling reading, definitely, and Howard’s prose is on the edge between lyrical and thrilling, which helps.

It’s also one of those novels where every piece, every character, and every scrap of plot is necessary. There’s no padding, but also little or no foreshadowing about how anything or anyone will get used, unless it’s to keep you turning pages to find out when it will. There’s a side plot focused on Sydney’s backstory, and another with a young lawyer, and you think you know how they’ll end but …

Anyway, yeah. If you like urban fantasy, go read this one. You won’t be let down.

Warnings: Slavery and torture. Sexual predation and violence (not condoned).

7.8/10 show less

As I was reading this, I was caught by just how bleak and depressing the world of magic is. It carried over to me almost immediately and I wondered if I was falling into a black spell.

But no, I think it was mostly just the world of this imagination.

When we're talking about the unkindness of magicians, it's a real dog-eat-dog life with some of the evilest requirements to keep the magic flowing I've seen, brought home even more because it's our modern world. The ending wasn't as bleak as most of the journey, thank goodness, but I was really struck by the effect.

I probably should have been in a different kind of mood when reading this. Maybe I should have been prepared for just how cutthroat it was, but that, in itself, isn't bad if show more that's what you're looking for. If the author intended it, then Howard succeeded very nicely.

That being said, I'm bogged down in a little bit of an existential horror by reading this. :) Bravo!

I have to wonder if it was just this book or whether the rest of Kat Howard's writing feels like this. The effect is marvelously disturbing. I just didn't want to be disturbed in quite this way, and so my enjoyment suffered. Alas.

Even so, it was interesting to find out exactly why the magic was failing. :) show less

Anybody who thinks that fantasy has run out of things to say about magic and magicians needs to read Kat Howard. An Unkindness of Magicians is a wonderful look at a magical New York City that lies side by side with the non-magical one, but is filled with all the same power games, secrets and mysteries.

The Unseen World is ruled by magical houses, such as House Merlin and House Prospero. When there is a “turning” magical battles determine the hierarchy among houses, whether upstarts can found a house of their own, and who ultimately rules over all the houses. Sydney, a product of the House of Shadows, is an unknown and very powerful magician who is hired to represent Laurent Beauchamps who is seeking to found his own house. They share show more a desire to shake up the political structure, which makes the powers that be increasingly nervous.

The battles start out as competitions to demonstrate prowess but eventually reach the point where outcomes become deadly. Along the way, it seems that magic is beginning to fail. The reason, and the solution, is something that few people outside of Sydney are prepared to confront.

An Unkindness of Magicians is filled with family squabbles, petty revenges, and murderous intentions. The competitions have a ritualistic format to them that underscores the long tradition of the event and the aristocracy it has given rise to. The characters are sketched out nicely, if not all fully developed. The depth of the depravity of some members of the unseen world is revealed slowly, layer by layer. Sydney’s personal and tragic history make her sympathetic and help to highlight the importance of her personal quest.

Kat Howard has created a fascinating world with characters that leave you dying to know more about them. The stakes of who wins and who loses, who lives and who dies, are painted in stark and clear contrast. The quiet moments are particularly poignant in Howard’s skillful hands. This book is a lot of fun and Kat Howard is an author to watch. I’m looking forward to her next book. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher. show less

Magic is Unseen, hidden from mundanes by the laws of the magical community, which is currently undergoing a Turning, where leadership of the community may change from one House to another. Various upstarts are plotting, as are the already powerful. Into this uncertainty comes a woman who’s escaped from the House of Shadows, where sacrifices go for their magic to be painfully drained and used by others. Also, there’s a serial killer of women on the loose (why does it always have to be women? I know, but…). It’s hard not to think of The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, given that most people in the magic community know where their easy power comes from; this novel is pretty clear that even if you get rid of the atrocity, the people show more who survived it are not okay, and the people who allowed it are still around. show less

This is a lovely book to read in a post-Kavanagh era, with angry women kicking ass, taking names, and breaking down oppressive systems. It doesn't pull any punches when describing the systematic injustice and horror at the heart of the Unseen World's magical system, which was somehow also cathartic.

I did feel the characterizations and relationships were a little rushed and one-note, but not so much that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the story.

i was surprised at how much i liked this book and the main character, sydney. its darker and more complicated than your regular magician stories. this could be 'throne of glass', if that book was better (meeeow!). the only bad thing i can think of was that it felt like the story was trying to do to much...but it tied up things in a satisfying way, and i enjoyed breezing through the pages. i'll have to pick up the next book in the series.