Thursday, May 7, 2020

Book Review: Wayward Magic


Hello Friends,

     I've been remiss in posting, but I've worked out a new schedule with writing time and blogging time on it. Hopefully, that will make the needed difference. I'm kicking off my new schedule today with sharing a book review I volunteered to do as part of a blog tour. I hope you all enjoy it.



Book Title Wayward Magic (Magic Underground Anthology Book 2)
Authors Melinda Kucsera, Raven Oak, Lee French, Erik Kort, H.M. Jones, Alesha Escobar, Devorah Fox, Anela Deen, Tiffany Shand, A.R. Johnston, Majanka Verstraete, Toasha Jiordano, S. Wallace, C.K.Rieke, Leah W. Van Dinther, Barbara Letson, C.S. Johnson, Joynell Schultz, Gwendolyn Woodschild, H.B. Lyne, William C. Cronk
Page Count 594 pages
Publication Date 2020
Review By K.C. Trae Becker

     Magic galore! Come and feast on 20 stories of magic gone wrong. Here’s a great new anthology which works well as a stand-alone, how I read it, but I’m pretty sure works even better as it’s intended, Book 2 of a 3 book anthology series. I think the idea is brilliant and hope to see more anthology series like this. I’m pretty choosy about who I’ll invest time in because there are so many good books out there, and even I found at least eight new authors I’m planning on tracking down more of to read.
     The stories’ settings differ quite a bit from each other in well-crafted variety. There’s deserts, forests, urban dystopias, and temples. The casts of characters vary even more. There are Minotaurs, elves, dragons, dwarfs, centaurs, pixies, etc., plenty of humans, and even some owl-cat creatures.

     Some of my favorite stories have plots where characters are:
  • trapped undercover in a temple filled with their enemies
  • fighting to save the life of a lord they’re magically bound to who has already betrayed them
  • underlings to a powerful mage they are planning to betray
  • healers in a hospital full of sick kids when death comes calling
  • ghosts of Vikings stuck in an amulet made to serve the man who destroyed their village
  • part of a pack of werewolves trying to figure out what happened when a large chunk of their city disappeared
  • magical creatures trying to save the life of their companion processed by a demon trying to kill them
  • bound to someone from another world because the two of them share one soul
     Don’t those situations just sound delicious? There are lots more great stories of ghosts, children struggling with their magic while they try to figure out who they are, witches trying to figure out how they fit into a world unfriendly to magic, and many more. You’ll have to read to discover which are your favorites.
     One of my favorite aspects of this anthology is that every story has at least one strong female character and most had at least one female main character. That’s refreshing for the fantasy genre. I did find some of the stories blaisé, but I don’t know how much of that can be attributed to not reading the beginnings of the stories in Hidden Magic, Book 1 of the series, and not reading the endings of the stories in Forgotten Magic, Book 3. The amazing part to me is that so many of these authors managed to knock it out of the park with just the middle section of the stories. Kudos to these writers. Though I do recommend reading all three books in the series. Personally, I’ll need to backtrack to read Hidden Magic, Book 1, so I can ramp up for the finale, Forgotten Magic, Book 3. Even though I said this anthology works as a stand-alone, I just have to know how some of the stories end, they’re that good. So I’ll first go back and find out how they started. With those plans, I’ve got a lot of good fantasy to look forward to!


4 of 5 stars K.C. Trae Becker




Here's the official info from R&R Book Tours for purchasing this book or even possibly winning a copy.


Wayward Magic (A Magic Underground Anthology)
Publication Date: April 2020
Genre: Anthology/ Fantasy/ Magic
Publisher: Magical Mayhem Press

Wayward Magic (Magic Underground Book II) reveals stories of missing people, rescue, and
most of all, magic. Our heroes will grapple with magic gone wayward in order to save
themselves, their families, and often the world. This collection features:

Out-of-control magic that could destroy a young apprentice’s master and their world
A woman’s hidden magic leaving her with more freedom that she wanted
Sisters at the center of a black magic scandal must stop the city from falling to demons
Children separated from their mother must escape the castle on the most dangerous night
in history
The ill are suddenly protected from death by an unlikely hero…a teenage physician
Famine-stricken subjects await precious cargo currently stranded on a ship
A holy order must save a town from a pretty poison most magical and most deadly
And more!

Fans of Patricia Briggs and Tamsyn Muir will love Wayward Magic, second of the Magic
Underground trilogy of anthologies… Get it today!



Magical Mayhem Press: https://magicalmayhempress.com/

Authors:
Melinda Kucsera, Joynell Schultz, Lee French, H.B. Lyne, Raven Oak, L.C. Ireland, Alesha
Escobar, Tiffany Shand, C.S. Johnson, Anela Deen, Erik Kort, Devorah Fox, Stephen
Wallace, Gwendolyn Woodschild, Leah W. Van Dinther, Barbara Letson, C.K. Rieke, William
C. Cronk, Majanka Verstraete, Toasha Jiordano, H.M. Jones  Krista Ames,  A.R. Johnston 
Giveaway: Print Copy


Twitter Tags
@MelindaKucsera @writercsjohnson @RRBookTours1 #Fantasy #Anthology #Books
#Magic

Blog Tour Organized By:

R&R Book Tours (Link: http://rrbooktours.com)

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