An Unkindness of Magicians

By: Kat Howard

Narrated by: Madeleine Maby

“A remarkable writer.” —Neil Gaiman, bestselling author of American Gods

An Alex Award Winner

There is a dark secret that is hiding at the heart of New York City and diminishing the city’s magicians’ power in this fantasy thriller by acclaimed author Kat Howard.

In New York City, magic controls everything. But the power of magic is fading. No one knows what is happening, except for Sydney—a new, rare magician with incredible power that has been unmatched in decades, and she may be the only person who is able to stop the darkness that is weakening the magic. But Sydney doesn’t want to help the system, she wants to destroy it.

Sydney comes from the House of Shadows, which controls the magic with the help of sacrifices from magicians.

Cool concepts, poor execution

This felt like the author had a dozen or so awesome ideas for scenes. She wrote them and realized she needed more book to go around it. A few times, I didn't even realize a climatic event was happening because the scene had no build-up. The magic system really needed some more definition. Soft magic systems are great until things are happening with no apparent rhyme or reason to just move the story along or to make cool scenes. Despite that, I did love the tone of the book and the dark uses of the magic system

Reread at least 6 times

This book has always been a comfort read for me. When I in a reading slump I read or listen to this book to get back into it. I love the magic system, I love the characters, I love the ending. Maybe I’m biased because I first read it when I was 15 and have read it at least once every year since then.

Tried too hard

This book tried too hard to be a good story. I wanted to like it more but there was too much crammed in to feel for the characters

amazing

I loved this book. I can also see why Neil Gaiman enjoyed it. the book has a wonderful magic system and is very immersive.

Unique and qwirky

This unique take on magic started off so well, but lagged in the middle. Thankfully, the ending was also great. Hoping for a sequel!