American Magic

A Novel

By: Zach Fehst

Narrated by: Corey Brill

In this fast-paced, international thriller, chaos erupts after a shadowy figure with ties to an elite and ancient society posts incantations on the dark web that allow people to perform real magic.

When an enigmatic message uploaded to the dark web turns out to contain an ancient secret giving regular people the power to do impossible things, like levitate cars or make themselves invisible, American government officials panic. They know the demo videos on YouTube and instructions for incantations could turn from fantastical amusement to dangerous weapon at the drop of the hat, and they scramble to keep the information out of the wrong hands.

They tap Ben Zolstra, an ex-CIA field operative whose history with the Agency is conflicted at best, to lead the team that’s racing to contain the dangerous knowledge—and track down the mysterious figure behind the leak who threatens that even more dangerous spells will be released one by one until the world as we know it no longer exists.

This sweeping, globe-spanning thriller explores the dark consequences of a question mankind has been asking for centuries: What if magic were real?

Fun yet predictable

I enjoyed the story and the narrating. It ended the way you’d expect but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth the listen. As always, Corey Brill’s voice is a pleasure to listen to.

Magical realism with a different twist

Good story with an easy happy for now sic. ending. But this is no romance though one is hinted at. It's a thriller, and it pays off. The very ending is predictavble, even necesary. A not surprising but hoped for twist. The characters were good enough for the sub-genra. I'll certainly real the next one.

The narration was good, fitting or the story.

It’s a shame the story could’ve been so much better!

It seems like people use a template whenever they write about anything espionage-related. Jason Bourne, Jack, reacher, the shooter, and others; it’s always the best spy/assassin and then the US government or a department within the government is after him. I don’t understand why riders can’t be original. Then of course, you have to have the obligatory romance. And the narrator could’ve taken five seconds to learn how to pronounce strange foreign words. Just like a good narrator can make a story, a bad narrator can ruin a story in my opinion. Other than that, the idea of Magic, coming back into the world was great, the writing didn’t have too many. Grammatical, errors. The characters were more or less believable, but stereotypical. Not a bad story for the price and maybe this was the narrator‘s earlier attempt at writing and maybe he’s learned and progressed. All in all, a solid effort.

Almost DNF

The writing was pedantic. I thought the magic would make it better, but no. It was a tool. The last 5 minutes were decent.