Bad Hare Day (Goosebumps #41) by R.L. Stine

 Bad Hare Day (Goosebumps #41) by R.L. Stine-117 pages

⭐⭐⭐1/2

Trick cards, floating scarves, disappearing doves. Tim Swanson loves magic tricks. Someday he wants to be a real magician. Just like his all-time favorite hero, Amaz-O.

But then Tim goes to Amaz-O's show. And he finds out his idol is a total grump. That's when Tim decides to steal the bag of tricks. Amaz-O's bag of secret tricks. Scary tricks.

The one with the multiplying red balls.
And all those hissing snakes....

Thoughts: This one is pretty good. Tim Swanson is in for a rude awakening when he gets to "join" Amaz-O's magic show at 12 years old. I continue to enjoy the twists at the end of these books. They're not really that scary reading them as an adult, but they're still fun reads.

The Insides - Jeremy P. Bushnell

The Insides - Jeremy P. Bushnell - 304 pages

This urban fantasy novel follows Ollie, an ex-magician turned butcher (of meat, not people) and Maja, a finder of things.  Their paths cross at the intersection of a magical knife and a sociopath in a pig mask, as each hunts down their own very important thing.

The great thing about this story is that it's weird- weird because it's set in a world so similar to our own that it's almost believable aside from the subtle magic and hopefully that dude in the mask.  Also, giant inter-dimensional grub worms in the freezer for the win.

The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg - 222 p.

Life can't seem to get back to normal after Ceony returned Magician Thane's heart back to him. For one, all she can think about is her love for Emery. But things change when some horrible Excisioners, evil magicians, come for her because they think she has a secret. Can she and those she loves escape?

I enjoyed this book, though much less than the first one of the series. Like the first, it is a quick read with not much extraneous detail, just the action, except maybe when it comes to Ceony's lovey-dovey thoughts about Emery. I could have done with a little less of that. I will be sticking in there and finishing out this trilogy.

Emlyn's Moon & The Chestnut Soldier by Jenny Nimmo

Emlyn's Moon by Jenny Nimmo - 152 pages

The Chestnut Soldier by Jenny Nimmo - 203 pages

 

 

These are the second and third books in The Magician Trilogy.  They continue the story of magician Gwyn and his friends -- the Lloyds.  Nia Lloyd plays a big part in these stories as a girl that has just enough magic in her to see everything going on around her.



Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede

Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede, 339 pages
(book 2 in Frontier Magic series)

The 13th child, Eff, we previously met in "The 13th Child"is back again for the second time. This time she is a young adult still struggling with her magical skills and ready to graduate high school. When her twin brother (the 7th son of a 7th son) pushes for her to attend a magic university, Eff insists on going to work instead for the local menagerie and as an assistant to one of the professors of the local school of magic. When trouble again brews across the great barrier, Eff is called upon to travel with Wash and the professor to discover the cause. Before she can leave, however, an urgent message arrives concerning her twin, Lan. Will her magic finally work the way it should in time to save her brother and the settlements? The story meanders slowly through Eff's life and interactions. Once again, the story is very detailed oriented about the "Wild West" and the settling of the land. The true action is not reached until the last few chapters of the book.

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede, 344 pages

Lan and Eff are twins. Lan is the 7th son of a 7th son making his twin, Eff, the thirteenth child. There are all sorts of rumors that fly about a 13th child and Eff has to live with repercussions -- teasing, cruelty from her relatives and sometimes her siblings. When her parents realize the damage the teasing is doing to their young daughter, they decide to move to the "wild west" where her father, a 7th son and magician, will teach at the university. It's a fresh start for Eff and she begins to learn all there is to magic -- including "prophesies" being nothing more than old superstitions sometimes. Still, for so long she's heard that being a 13th child will make her wicked someday so she squelches the magic within her to the detriment of herself and those around her. Slowly, she learns to accept and embrace who she is, but will it be in time to save the territories? The world around her is quite wild and dangerous ... and ignoring your potential to help is the same as letting evil take hold. There isn't a whole lot of action in the book. Instead, you have a whole lot of world and detail building. (This might bore some readers.) I found the book to be entertaining enough and am interested to see how the Frontier series pans out.

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst, 424 pages

Liyana is the vessel for her goddess Bayla. As a vessel, the day the goddess enters her body, she will die but her desert tribe will live as the goddess will provide for all their needs. The ceremony day arrives and Liyana says goodbye to her family and friends. She dances her heart out, but nothing happens. Thinking she somehow made herself unworthy, her desert tribe abandons her to the desert. When the trickster god, Korbyn, arrives and tells her the gods and goddesses have been kidnapped and cannot enter their vessels, she leaves with him to find the other tribes' vessels before they, too, are left for dead. As the time draws closer for Liyana to surrender her body to her goddess and evil threatens the lives of all those she loves and hold dear, she begins to realize she wishes to live. Dare she defy her god to save her people?

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder, 361 pages
Book 1 of the Study series

OH MY GOODNESS! This is one of the best Adult Fiction/Fantasy books I have read since the Mercy Thompson series. There are so many twists and turns that I had no way of figuring out the story until each point was revealed. Yelena finds herself in prison after murdering someone for just cause. The Code is strict, though, and even just causes cannot equal murder. She is presented to Valek, the person that metes out justice, and is given the choice of either becoming the Commander's food taster - thus living long enough until poison takes her life one day, or, heading to the executioner and ending her life now. Yelena chooses life, though not the easiest life. In her country, being magical means your immediate death and she is full of magic she must hide. She also had the father of her victim to contend with who will do anything to see her dead and avenge his son's death. Toss in mystery, romance, fantasy and one serious shock... and you have a fabulous new series to entertain your imagination.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

                                      The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern- 387 pages

The Night Circus is a fantasy/romance/historical fiction novel that follows the story of a turn-of the-century world traveling circus and the people involved with it. Two young magicians, Celia and Marco, spent their childhoods training for a contest in which their magical skills would be pitted against one another. What they do not initially realize is that this "contest" is the Night Circus itself. Starting when they are teens, they spent their years keeping the circus running by altering and adding attractions. Every fantastical aspect is a piece of their game. While this creates an incredible experience for the patrons, it begins to have an overwhelming effect on the other performers. It further complicates matters when Marco and Celia fall in love only to discover that the contest can end only when one of them is left standing. This was a wonderfully written books with a lot of interesting characters and fantastic imagery. I would recommend it to any historical fiction of fantasy fan looking for something new or unique.