Though touted as the beginning of a "new series", Bad Magic is really just a continuation of the Secret series, only this time starring Max Ernest's much younger brother Clay instead of Max Ernest himself and Cass. The narrator remains the same (anonymous) narrator as before, though he's somewhat less intrusive this time around. Various references are made throughout the book to people and events from the Secret series, so one's experience with Bad Magic is enhanced by prior reading of the Secret series.

As with most of the books in the Secret series, Bad Magic ends not with answers, but with more questions; there will clearly be more books to come before we'll receive explanations for all the mysterious events and circumstances.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley. ( )

I wanted to read this to see if it was appropriate for my grandson. There is certainly nothing about the story to make me hesitate to give it to him. I do wonder if he will find, as I did, the end lacking any real punch. ( )

Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch is a fun middle grade read that includes fantasy, humor, and mystery. Clay is the younger brother of Max Ernest who is one of the characters in The Secret series, another series that was written by the same author. It seems that Max Ernest likes magic and that he has passed on that interest to his brother Clay.

Clay's teacher gives him a journal so that he can write down his thoughts, but unfortunately and maybe magically, what he writes in the journal ends up as graffiti on the school wall. For his punishment Clay must attend a camp for "struggling youth" called Earth Camp. Strangely enough the camp is set on a volcanic island. The campers are a unique mix of personalities and, even stranger, are the magical and even ghostly things that happen at the camp and on the island.

Bosch creates a story that is magical, mysterious, and humorous. The book has just the right mixture of these elements to capture the interest of the middle grade reader. It will be especially appealing to the male population who will enjoy the absurdity of Clay's punishment and his efforts at redeeming himself. Throughout the story, the author cleverly makes many references to Shakespeare's play The Tempest. He does this so effectively that the reader is exposed to the play without realizing as much. Even though the events on the island take on a magical quality, the characters have depth and believability. I would recommend this to the middle grade reader who enjoys books written about unorthodox plots and settings.

This review is written from an EBook courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.
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Thanks to the publisher and goodreads for my free copy of Bad Magic.

THIS BOOK, OKAY? If time travel becomes a reality in my lifetime, I'm going straight back to hand twelve-year-old me a copy. Because adult!me loved this book, but preteen!me would have been completely obsessed.

So, what did I love about it?

1. The Tempest. What a fantastic way to weave the Shakespeare play into the plot. It makes me want to reread them -- both the play and then Bad Magic.

2. The other references to books, tv shows, etc. Usually I find that a bit contrived, but the author somehow pulled it off here. Maybe because they weren't particularly recent references, they didn't make the book seem dated. And anyway, Lord of the Rings reference? Count me in!

3. The Narrator's voice. Funny, elaborate, and not condescending.

4. And finally, the characters. How much did I love Leira with her constant wallet-stealing? How about Clay and the way his parents had him parent himself? What about Caliban (shh, he totally counts as a character)?

In short, Bad Magic is fantastic, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. ( )

Eh, it was alright. It was a quick read with illustrations in the same style as the Secret Series, but (granted, I'm not the intended audience of the book) it was a bit lacking in the feel that made me like the Secret Series....I'm not quite sure what it was; I mean, it had the footnotes and appendix, and the writing was pretty much the same, but for some reason it just didn't pull me in at all, and I found myself only reading it so I could move on to something else.
(For real rating: 2 stars; it didn't do much for me, but I hate giving two stars so I'm commandeering goodreads' star system dor my own dishonest and nefarious purpouses.) ( )