CW: violence, blood/gore, self harm, assault (not sexual), murder/serial killing, kidnapping/characters being held against their will, PTSD/trauma, mention of child death.

I ended up liking this exponentially more than I expected I would. The vibes are a lot like if V.E. Schwab's Vicious, had a child with The Night Circus, and I got out of it what I had hoped to get from The Magicians.

This is a super twisted yet sophisticated dark academia, urban fantasy where magic-wielders living in modern-day New York compete against each other in a ritual contest for superiority and power. In New York, magic exists in the "Unseen World" - invisible to mundanes (people without magic), but also prohibitive to magic users who are either weak, or who weren't born into one of its powerful Houses. In other words, it's extremely exclusive. At least once a generation, though, a contest called the "Turning" happens – each existing House must participate to maintain power, but also outsiders can enter and vie for a position as a new House. Enter our main character Sydney - she's a complete unknown, an outsider with incredible power who threatens to upset a decades-old balance. In reality, she's been released from the House of Shadows - a secretive and dark House that offers an easy source of magic for all magicians in New York.

I really really enjoyed this – I love fantasy with a twisted, f-ed up element to it, and this had it all. Alongside the magical contest plot, we also have a secret societies, and a serial killer who steals bones to increase his own magic. There are also delightful elements too – such as magic houses that strive to please their owners, magician bars that require the magical lighting of a candle to enter, and invisible magical archives. The characters were also lovable and well-developed. I will say this is way more character-driven than plot, which may be a weakness given the story is based around a magical contest. But, to be honest, I really dislike drawn-out action scenes in books, so the pacing in this really appealed to me.

My biggest gripe about this book was actually about the magic system itself. But, almost everyone in the New York magic scene draws their magic from a single, local source - the House of Shadows. It essentially makes their magic-casting easier. A world where magic exists would naturally have magic in more than one city... right? But not enough explanation was given to how magic is handled in other places. I would've liked a little more depth to the magic system in a book where magic is at the center of the story.

Despite that, this book really tickled my creepy bone and I'm really glad I gave it a chance after sitting on my bookshelf for 5 years. And all to find out it's getting a sequel soon! :) ( )

The story was good, but hard to follow at times. New characters are introduced rapidly so I had to take notes in the beginning to keep them all straight. The story flowed well, but the action scenes felt rushed. I would have liked to have seen a bit more magic battles as well as some more challenges for the main character, her victories seemed to come too easily so every challenge she was in was predictable. ( )

A bit grim for me. I don't mind dark, but I need at least a little light. ( )

Great plot and world building; Q will love this ( )

i was surprised at how much i liked this book and the main character, sydney. its darker and more complicated than your regular magician stories. this could be 'throne of glass', if that book was better (meeeow!). the only bad thing i can think of was that it felt like the story was trying to do to much...but it tied up things in a satisfying way, and i enjoyed breezing through the pages. i'll have to pick up the next book in the series. ( )