The End of Magic by Mark Stay My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I picked this up because I’ve been listening to the Bestseller Experiment Mark Stay (and Mark Desveaux) does. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while. I figured that if I can listen to him talk for so many hours, I’d be fine reading a book written in his voice. I was right.
This is unusual take on the usual fantasy trope in that this is a story about coming to terms with the loss of powers, rather than people coming into their powers.
Sander Bree is a royal mage who has power (both magical and political). Without that power, he’s a bit lost. He needs to learn to do all manner of things – like light a fire without magic and be civil to people against whom he has no protection anymore. He also has to save a little princess who will die if he doesn’t get back in time.
Rosheen Katell has an honour code she lives by, but losing her magic and fear for her brother’s life means she has to compromise it.
My favourite plot was the sub plot of Oscar the moon child and how the loss of the Lapis Moon unshackled him. There’s a naivety about him which makes put himself in dangerous positions, until he realises what he can do.
I enjoyed this book. It’s a while since I read high fantasy and it was nice to get back to it.
Rhoda Baxter 