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Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom #1)

by Devon Monk (Goodreads Author)

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 5,732 ratings · 464 reviews

Using magic meant it used you back. Forget the fairy-tale, hocus-pocus, wave a wand and bling-o, sparkles and pixie dust crap. Magic, like booze, sex, and drugs, gave as good as it got.

Everything has a cost. And every act of magic exacts a price from its user - maybe a two-day migraine, or losing the memory of your first kiss. But some people want to use magic without pay...more

Mass Market Paperback, 355 pages

Published November 4th 2008 by Roc (first published October 16th 2008)

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Mar 11, 2009 Julie (jjmachshev) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-reads

New (to me) author Devon Monk has imagined a world where magic exists--but extracts a serious price from its users. The more magic you use, the bigger the price in pain, blood, or loss...unless you're rich enough, or ruthless enough, to transfer that price to someone else.

Allie knows all about magic's price. At least she would, if she could only remember. After all, her father and his wealthy corporation have their fingers in all the magic 'pies' in the world. And she was all set to follow in t...more New (to me) author Devon Monk has imagined a world where magic exists--but extracts a serious price from its users. The more magic you use, the bigger the price in pain, blood, or loss...unless you're rich enough, or ruthless enough, to transfer that price to someone else.

Allie knows all about magic's price. At least she would, if she could only remember. After all, her father and his wealthy corporation have their fingers in all the magic 'pies' in the world. And she was all set to follow in those footsteps and join the family business--until she worked herself free of her father's 'Influence magic'. Since then she's made her own life, and spends a lot of it tracking down those who misuse magic and turning them in to the authorities. So when her latest job reveals her father's magic 'signature', she tries not to be surprised. But all of a sudden, weird things start to happen, her father's dead, she's the number one suspect, and there's an incredibly handsome yet strange man who always seems to be around when things go badly. And did I forget to mention the almost dead man and his kitten?

A mysterious hunky man, lost memories, magical sex (although maybe not quite enough of it!), murder, a cute kitten, industrial espionage...this story has it all. The action is fast paced, the plot is well spun, and the romance vs. suspense quotient was just right for me. Monk has written a strong, yet emotionally vulnerable heroine with a drive for justice that often works against her best instincts. If I didn't know there was a second book coming, I would have found the author's website and hounded her for one! There's a lot of potential in her world and her characters and I'm hungry for more.

I loved the idea of a physical cost to magic and how that could play out in today's world. Devon Monk had me hooked from page three and I just couldn't stop reading 'til the end of this book. Now I'm tapping my toes waiting for "Magic in the Blood" to be released in May 2009 and hoping the story picks up right where this one left off!(less)

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Apr 05, 2011 ~♥*Marianna*♥~ rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book had such a nice ending. There are many questions yet to be revealed and answered in this story but the book didn't leave me feeling cut off with a cliff hanger. That is a nice change. I've gotten to expect the cliffhangers in series books, especially first in series.

This one left me really, really wanting to continue reading Allie's story but it also gave me a sense of renewal and fresh start; like a whole new chapter of her story will open with the next book.

I really like the sweet...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Gin rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars
I had a hard time putting this one down. The story completely sucked me in from the very beginning. What a refreshingly, unique and interesting take on magic! I think the author did an excellent job of painting a vivid world for the reader.

I really like the MC personality. Allie is strong willed and sarcastic with a great sense of humor. I also enjoyed the parts from Cody's perspective. I hope he continues to have a large part in future books.

The bad guy was kind of…..Meh. I think that...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Bubbles Hunty rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-f, stupids

I really like the world so far and how the magic works.

I didn't like that it switched from A's 1st person pov to third person pov for Cody. It was a little jarring. But then I felt so bad for Cody I did like his scene. I just don't like how it goes from 1st to 3rd person.

This is set in Portland which I enjoy, since I live in Portland. However I have a higher opinion of Saint Johns than the author does.

Some of the phrasing is weird to me, like: "My mouth watered so hard I had to swallow." some...more

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Jan 17, 2010 Blodeuedd Finland rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

In this world people discovered a way to harness magic 30 years ago. By trapping it in glass pipes for an instance it can be used. But it always takes something from you, pain, a memory, and Allie knows this. Still she hounds. She hunts people who does not use magic right, they do not take the pain, they give it to someone else. Her father is one of the richest men around but she has cut all ties, and she does live in a rathole and really suffers.

This is not a nice world, it feels dirty, and the...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Liv rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Liv by: Gin

Shelves: mystery, urban-fantasy

3 stars

This was book #1 in the Allie Beckstrom series. As an urban fantasy novel, I thought it was good enough to keep me interested with its unique interprettation of magic. The mystery element was okay too. But that was about it.

Allie Beckstrom, was the heroine of the story. She was a magic user, and the only child of a business tycoon. However, she was estranged from her father and she went on to live a very separate life of her own (bordering on poverty). She took on the profession of "Hound...more 3 stars

This was book #1 in the Allie Beckstrom series. As an urban fantasy novel, I thought it was good enough to keep me interested with its unique interprettation of magic. The mystery element was okay too. But that was about it.

Allie Beckstrom, was the heroine of the story. She was a magic user, and the only child of a business tycoon. However, she was estranged from her father and she went on to live a very separate life of her own (bordering on poverty). She took on the profession of "Hounding" - something that took me forever to figure out - which meant the tracing of magic to its originator (through the use of magical as well as olfactory senses).

My main issue with this book was the world-building itself. The author spent very little time explaining the details of the world to the readers. Instead, the readers were pretty much left to figure things out for themselves, based on Allie's narration. This strategy didn't work so well and I was often left feeling confused. As mentioned above, for the longest time I couldn't figure out what "Hounding" meant. I didn't really understand how magic was discovered and how it was harnessed through the use of technological devices etc. The idea was vaguely conveyed and left the rest to the readers' imagination.

The main plot of murder mystery started off on solid ground and led Allie down a path that was rather adventurous. However, Allie was often left disoriented, fatigued, severely hurt, amnesiac, or some/all of the above. It was so repetitive that it got boring eventually. My guess would be that Allie had much more room to grow, both from a magical and emotional standpoint, and the author purposefully positioned her that way to allow for that upside-potential.

So did i like Allie? I'm feeling a bit lukewarm about her. It was neither here nor there for me at this time. I may be a better judge if I were to read more of the books from this series.

My review would not be complete without mentioning something about romance. Yes, Allie had a romantic interest in this story and his name was Zayvion Jones. Zay's identity was a bit of a mystery but insofar as Allie could deduce, he was likely a member of a secret magical association. Zay's magical abilities apparently complemented those of Allie's, which made them "Soul Complements". Again, the concepts were vaguely explained by the author and its benefits remained largely unexplored. For the most part, Zay had all the hot dude qualities - mysterious, good-looking, magically capable, protective, and so on and so forth. However, I wasn't completely sold on him yet. There was something about the attraction between Allie and Zay that felt a bit too contrived and the author did more telling than showing the readers how the attraction developed.

Perhaps given time, both the characters and the series would grow. Right now, I liked it just enough to continue on, though likely at a later time.(less)

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May 29, 2012 Heather (hungrycookiemonster) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, reviewed, supernatural

Original review posted on: heathersworldofbooks

I give Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk 4/5 stars.

The novel, Magic to the Bone, really took me by surprise as well as this review. I had previous planned to write a review every two novels, seeing as how there are around eight books in the series. However, I found myself dying to talk about this novel.

Magic to the Bone:

Magic to the Bone takes place in a world that has been deteriorating from over excessive magic use for the past three decades....more

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Jan 20, 2011 Hallie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I enjoyed a lot about this, but a lot felt as if it was really pretty standard urban-fantasy-with-a-*unique!*-element stuff. The characters were fairly interesting, though I sometimes feel I'm getting a bit sick of the trope of characters keeping secrets tightly hidden from each other and the reader (except Polly's secret-keeping in All Clear, for which I make complete and inconsistent allowance!)

I'm also clearly getting older and crankier by the second, because I'm finding more and more often t...more

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Nov 12, 2008 Angie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Is it weird that I kind of got a kick out of the main character's name in this book being Allie? It's not my name. I do have a dear friend by that name. But I think the main reason was that I just haven't read a book in a long time that featured an Allie, and it seemed to lend the story a certain appealing freshness. The other names in the book are equally appealing. Zayvion Jones. Violet Beckstrom. And the idea for the story is undoubtedly intriguing.

MAGIC TO THE BONE is set in an alternate Ame...more Is it weird that I kind of got a kick out of the main character's name in this book being Allie? It's not my name. I do have a dear friend by that name. But I think the main reason was that I just haven't read a book in a long time that featured an Allie, and it seemed to lend the story a certain appealing freshness. The other names in the book are equally appealing. Zayvion Jones. Violet Beckstrom. And the idea for the story is undoubtedly intriguing.

MAGIC TO THE BONE is set in an alternate America in which magic "came out" to the world rather like vampires did in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books. Soon after people become users and consumers of magic, much like they use and consume alcohol. And just like a night of hard drinking, any use of magic leaves the user with a monster hangover. This "hangover" manifests itself in a variety of unsavory ways from intense bruising all over the body to a flu that will lay you low for a week. Allie Beckstrom is a Hound--a person with the ability to follow a cast spell back to the caster. Unlike other Hounds, though, Allie is able to house a small amount of magic within her own body. But this increased ability exacts a higher price. After working a particularly potent bit of magic, Allie frequently loses random portions of her memory. Estranged from her power-hungry father, she lives in a hole, barely scraping enough money together to feed herself with anything resembling regularity. When a small boy is almost killed by a spell that leads back to dear old Dad, Allie immediately goes on the offensive to bring her father to justice. She runs into trouble in the form of Zayvion Jones--a stalker/bodyguard who used to work for her father and seems intent on shadowing Allie's every move.

The whole layout of this story held a lot of promise and I willingly immersed myself in Allie's seamy world, eager to see how she handled her manipulative, possibly murderous father as well as the darkly enigmatic Zay. Allie herself is world-weary in a way that mirrors her world, a place ironically sapped of wonder and goodness by the largely unregulated abuse of "magic." I loved the little book she carries around, recording memories against the day they're stripped from her after overstepping herself magically. In fact, each and every character piqued my interest, from Allie's unusual stepmother to her salt of the earth best friend. However, I found that interest flagging fairly soon as the execution did not quite match up to the idea. Zay's and Allie's relationship seemed rather quickly formed. He felt too good to be true while she seemed to fall into a sort of stereotypical urban fantasy composite heroine. I started to lose my sense for what made her unique and felt that they were both smarter than their actions painted them. The tension between them resolved too abruptly for my taste. Throughout the story, a well-conceived idea here or a particularly cool plot development there managed to revive my flagging attention, but the follow-through lacked the level of tightness and cohesion that is a defining characteristic of my favorite urban fantasy series's.(less)

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Mar 01, 2013 Bonnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

It could just be the sleep-dep talking, or the truly terrible book I read just before this one, but whatever it was, I loved this book. Good, complex characters; twisty plot; well-developed world concept; kick-butt lead female who, overall, makes good choices with the information available to her. a++, will do business again.

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Jan 05, 2009 Rebecca rated it 1 of 5 stars

I couldn't finish this. It wasn't interesting or well written. I read the first few chapters, then the last chapter, and didn't feel I missed anything in between. I like this genre, so it is rare for me to buy a book at full price at the bookstore and then not finish it. It felt like the usual murder mystery without a great plot or engaging characters. This book and author just weren't interesting to me.

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Mar 29, 2013 VK rated it 3 of 5 stars

In Magic to the Bone, Devon Monk has created a fun, spunky heroine, a fascinating Urban Fantasy world where magic is a natural resource that can be harvested and delivered like water or natural gas, and a Portland setting as vivid as her several highly enjoyable secondary characters. The plot is well developed and the witty banter between Ali and everyone else is loads of fun.

That's the "five-star" part of the book, and if it's all you care about snap this one up.

Unfortunately, the book also has...more

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Mar 07, 2009 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormalfiction

In between grading papers, and after spending weeks reading Inkdeath, I needed something fast-paced and exciting to read. Urban fantasy is good for that, but I have been feeling a little bit burnt out on vampires, werewolves, and fey---so what's an eager fantasy reader to do? Along comes Devon Monk's Magic to the Bone, which blends many of the tropes of urban fantasy (kick-ass heroine with daddy issues, sexy man of mystery, gritty urban setting) with an original and promising take on magic. In A...more In between grading papers, and after spending weeks reading Inkdeath, I needed something fast-paced and exciting to read. Urban fantasy is good for that, but I have been feeling a little bit burnt out on vampires, werewolves, and fey---so what's an eager fantasy reader to do? Along comes Devon Monk's Magic to the Bone, which blends many of the tropes of urban fantasy (kick-ass heroine with daddy issues, sexy man of mystery, gritty urban setting) with an original and promising take on magic. In Allie Beckstrom's world, magic was discovered thirty years ago and available for the general public to use, albeit at a cost. Those who use magic are subject to either a physical or mental cost, such as memory loss, the flu, or a raging migraine---not surprisingly, there are some who have figured out how to avoid paying the price by shifting it off to an innocent bystander, which is where Hounds like Allie come in. Allie can trace magic back to its user, but of course she uses magic to do so, and it frequently "double-dips" on her her, resulting in twice the payback that an ordinary user would experience. The story begins when a five year old boy is struck by magic, and Allie traces the magical offload back to her own father, a prominent Portland businessman. Soon enough Allie finds herself way over her head in wild magic, corporate politics, and family secrets, and involved with the mysterious Zayvion Jones, whose background he won't reveal but whose abilities seem to complement Allie's own.
This novel is entertaining---Allie's voice is appealing, the world-building is original, and the plot moves along at a lightning-fight pace---but it's not without its faults. I wouldn't fit it into the "paranormal romance" genre, but at the same time Zayvion and Allie seem to fall into bed a bit easily, given how little she knows and is able to trust him. Even though the rules of magic use in this world were original and interesting, in other respects the book is like a lot of urban fantasy, and to some readers it might feel stale. The ending comes quick, and lacks resolution---it frustrated me, but in a way to make me shout "I have to wait until May for the next one!", which is a good thing. Overall, I found this a promising start to a new series, which revived my interest in the urban fantasy genre. (less)

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Feb 07, 2009 Rhianna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Allie Beckstrom is a Hound, the best damn Hound running around Portland, Oregon. Magic use has a price to all who use it. Maybe something as simple as a week long sore throat but maybe something far more painful and potentially deadly. When someone isn't willing to pay the price an illegal Offload onto a stranger can prove useful. That's where Allie comes in and finds out who has done it. Tracking down the Offloader and making sure they get prosecuted for their crimes can be a dangerous line of...more Allie Beckstrom is a Hound, the best damn Hound running around Portland, Oregon. Magic use has a price to all who use it. Maybe something as simple as a week long sore throat but maybe something far more painful and potentially deadly. When someone isn't willing to pay the price an illegal Offload onto a stranger can prove useful. That's where Allie comes in and finds out who has done it. Tracking down the Offloader and making sure they get prosecuted for their crimes can be a dangerous line of work and in Allie's case not very profittable. But how can she turn down a little pro bono Hounding when a child is nearly killed by an illegal offload?

When her Hounding leads her back to her father's door after walking away seven years ago she falls into a side of magic she never knew existed. The hunter becomes the hunted and everything Allie knows about the fundamentals of magic begins to come into question. Could someone have forged her father's signature on the Offload? What does the man her father hired to follow her, Zayvion Jones, have to do with all of this? And just who can she trust in a world where magic can be both friend and foe?

It's not often I intentionally take a book a bit slow when I want to read it fast. Magic to the Bone was such a good read, never getting too slow or becoming so confusing I had to backtrack. Allie is impossible to compare to other heroines of the genre. One of the prices of her magic use is memory loss, something that really gives her depth and keeps her interesting. The contrast between she and her non-magic user friend Nola is a real treat. It isn't often that you get to enjoy a character who stands outside the realm of the wild and the weird confidently, Nola really balances Allie out and plays a great supporting role. The dynamic between these two was very refreshing! A relationship between friends that felt real.

Being a native of the Pacific Northwest I have to note that I loved how well Monk writes the locations she uses to the point that they feel like another character. There's nothing generic about them so it is easy to imagine yourself seeing what Allie sees.

One can't review this book without also commenting on Zayvion Jones. I liked him from the moment he showed up on the page. He's mysterious and cool, pretty much everything Allie isn't. He has a confidence that isn't easily shaken and makes for a great hero to Allie's heroine. Their relationship throughout the story did feel a tiny bit rushed but that's Allie's personality coming through. Like Nola I wanted to shout at her to be careful!

Overall it was an excellent read, one not to be missed. A well built mythos and magic system, characters that are likable but still leave some fleshing out for further novels and just overall smooth narration. (less)

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Nov 24, 2008 Cameron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

I will freely admit to being a snob with my urban fantasy; as hypocritical as it may be considering the genre, I just cannot stand the paranormal romances that increasingly bulge off of the bookshelves. I found Monk's title in my old Waldenbooks where genres are a tad more fluid and took the chance that it was not of the paranormal romance ilk, trusting in Roc's growing reputation as the leader in urban fantasy. I was intrigued by her description of magic use. In reading the novel, I was not dis...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Al rated it 3 of 5 stars

Devon Monk is casting a spell on the fantasy world...

Using magic means it uses you back, and every spell exacts a price from its user. But some people get out of it by Offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent. Then it’s Allison Beckstrom’s job to identify the spell-caster. Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune—and the strings that come with it. But when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father’s signature all over it, Al

...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Tracey rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was looking for something fluffy when I landed on Magic to the Bone. Oops.

It’s a unique setting: 21st century Earth, after the scientific discovery of magic. Magic can be collected like oil or electricity, and stored; when they use magic people don’t pull it from within, but from their surroundings, and every city now has cisterns of magic gathered from storms. And every use of magic has an effect on the user, which you can if you try mitigate by setting up a Disbursement. The effects on Allie...more I was looking for something fluffy when I landed on Magic to the Bone. Oops.

It’s a unique setting: 21st century Earth, after the scientific discovery of magic. Magic can be collected like oil or electricity, and stored; when they use magic people don’t pull it from within, but from their surroundings, and every city now has cisterns of magic gathered from storms. And every use of magic has an effect on the user, which you can if you try mitigate by setting up a Disbursement. The effects on Allie, the first-person protagonist of the book, range from headaches to severe head-to-toe bruising to a sore throat, etc… And, sometimes, when she’s really lucky, gaps in her memory, to the extent that she’s begun recording everything in a book she carries with her. The effects can also, illegally, be transferred to someone who had nothing to do with the spell, who doesn’t even have to be present.

Allie is called in by a … friend? called Mama to help the victim of just such an illegal move, Mama’s young son “Boy”. Why all her sons are called “Boy” I don’t know, but … whatever. They don’t seem to have other names. Allie’s what is called a Hound, which means she can – literally – sniff out details of a spell, like who cast it. And what she finds when she Hounds Boy is … her father. Who is a very rich, very powerful, very manipulative (ordinarily and magically) SOB, from whom she has been estranged for years.

Now, however, she goes to his office to confront him about the spell – about which he claims to know nothing … and the reader knows this is true because in brief third-person chapters it is revealed that someone very evil is using a very gifted, very damaged young man (Cody) to forge the spell “signatures” of others, including Allie’s father on this spell.

Then, the same day Allie goes to see her father for the first time in several years, he is murdered. And she is implicated. (Guess how.)

What follows is a high-energy action-packed story about how Allie investigates her father’s murder, the young man with the strange gifts (who somehow transforms her gifts, which results in some interesting physical markings), and whether or not she can trust Zayvion Jones, the handsome and sexy and seductive man her father had hired to keep tabs on her (my initial instinct was NO – but I could be wrong), dodging assassins and magical rebounds.

I never really warmed to Allie, or anyone else except Nora, Allie’s best friend; I never let myself trust Zayvion, right up to the end, since it seemed to me that Allie threw herself at him a little too quickly, thoroughly, and heedlessly. The writing wasn’t bad at all; it was very much like being in Allie’s head, listening to her ordinary speech patterns. Setting was well painted; I like the concepts the book was based on; while I didn’t enjoy the ending I appreciated the method of it. Not bad at all, and certainly very different from Kay without being a too-drastic comedown; I won’t rush out and buy the other books in the series, but I won’t pass them up if I come across them second-hand. I do still love the cover, and if I were slim and twenty-something might seriously consider a sleeve tattoo like that …(less)

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Jun 04, 2012 Meg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: women-supernatural

The writing style on this one was hard for me to read. Too much description and running around in the character's head. Pretty sure that's just where my tastes lie, but the writing itself was still hard to read.

There is a great plot here, though. What's most masterful is the complex way in which this book leads to others. We leave the book with a sense of something cataclysmic gathering in the future of this series, but only hints and scattered pieces. It definitely makes me curious about where...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Holly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Allie is a Hound, she is hired to find out who has done certain magic. Her skills allow her to scent out a person's magical signature. When she is called by an acquaintance to do a hounding job she discovers theperson who did harmful magic was her own father. She hasn't seen her father in 7 years but decides to confront him about his heinous magical act against a little boy. But she is not alone because her father has hired Zayvion to follow her. Just after confronting her dad he is found dead,...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Rita Webb rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, read-in-2011

After avoiding her father for 7 years, Allie discovers that her father attempted to kill a 5-year-old boy with a hex, storms into his corporate office, and threatens to sue him for all he is worth. He swears he didn't do it, even submits himself to a Truth Charm which requires blood magic, and she still doesn't believe him. She knows his magical signature.

Angry, she departs with the promise that she will make him pay. But the next day, after visiting her father, he was found dead in his office,...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Madame X rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal-urban-fantasy

This is a spoiler free review of the first FIVE books in the Allie Beckstrom series.

So there are two things to know about Allie Beckstrom: the first is that she's a Hound, someone who makes a living tracing magical residues back to their source. The second thing to know is that she's the only child of Daniel Beckstrom, a fabulously wealthy innovator and tycoon. You might think that her profession, Hounding, is the more important fact - but there are books in the series where she only Hounds once...more This is a spoiler free review of the first FIVE books in the Allie Beckstrom series.

So there are two things to know about Allie Beckstrom: the first is that she's a Hound, someone who makes a living tracing magical residues back to their source. The second thing to know is that she's the only child of Daniel Beckstrom, a fabulously wealthy innovator and tycoon. You might think that her profession, Hounding, is the more important fact - but there are books in the series where she only Hounds once or twice. Her daddy issues, on the other hand...they refuse to go away.

The series takes place in a world where magic has been discovered and commercialized in recent history. In fact, it's Allie's father - yep, daddy's already back in the conversation - who developed the technology to store and harness magic. Magic use has become very common, integrated into most aspects of everyday life, but it carries a "price in pain." Physical pain. The caster can direct the pain to arrive at a certain time, in a certain way, but there's no avoiding it.

This "price in pain" defines the Hounds - because they use magic all the time, they're always hurting. They turn to coping mechanisms like drugs or alcohol. They burn out fast. Allie's avoided that fate so far, but it's pretty clear that she's gravitated to Hounding not just because she has a talent but because she wants to get as far away from her father, and her father's plans for her life, as possible. So, you know, daddy issues again.

In MAGIC TO THE BONE, Allie's dad is murdered and Allie is the prime suspect. Everyone who examines daddy's body says she cast the spell that killed him. She didn't. We also find out, because we get occasional scenes from his point of view, that a mentally broken young man named Cody forged Allie's magical signature on the killing spell. When I read MAGIC TO THE BONE I was kind of annoyed by Cody. He seemed like a throwaway character and I didn't want to read from his point of view. To my surprise, Cody turns out to be really important to the series as a whole. He reappears in each book, and we get a little more backstory about him every time he shows up.

This Cody issue showcases one of the best and worst qualities of the series. The plot conflicts that Devon Monk starts brewing in MAGIC TO THE BONE carry through to every book I've read. She builds and builds and builds from the same elements. The overarching plot is the only plot, and the whole series feels a lot like one really long novel to me. On the downside, that means that a lot of problems that carry from one book to another also seem to DRAG from one book to another, long after they should have been solved.

Two highlights of the series...I find Allie's narration super funny, and her love interest, Zayvion Jones, super sexy. Allie is full of quips ("I was so thirsty I could drain a river dry and still have room for a few creeks and springs"). Her humor is often wry and understated and just works for me. As for Zayvion? He's unique in the urban fantasy pantheon. Allie always talks about his "Zen" demeanor and he is indeed a very calm, cool guy. He's also got a sense of humor and he and Allie have great banter, which is wonderful. But Zayvion manages to be relaxed and still very much an alpha, still fierce and downright scary when he wants to be. It's a nice change, and it means that he's equally sexy on the battlefield, in the bedroom, and just hanging out around the kitchen table.

On the whole I recommend the Allie Beckstrom books, although the series doesn't break into my circle of favorites.
(less)

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Jun 03, 2011 Christine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Magic to the Bone has a strong female lead; Allie Beckstrom is tough, stubborn, witty, and determined to do the right thing. She is protective of children and kind to little fuzzy kittens. The book also has the required love interest, a love/hate parental relationship, lots of bad guys and tons of mysterious characters. The plot is marginally interesting and, as this is a series, there is plenty of room for the story to expand. In other words, it has almost everything needed to make a good read....more Magic to the Bone has a strong female lead; Allie Beckstrom is tough, stubborn, witty, and determined to do the right thing. She is protective of children and kind to little fuzzy kittens. The book also has the required love interest, a love/hate parental relationship, lots of bad guys and tons of mysterious characters. The plot is marginally interesting and, as this is a series, there is plenty of room for the story to expand. In other words, it has almost everything needed to make a good read.

I really, really wanted to like this book…but we don’t always get what we want. The main problem isn’t so much the story line, although parts of the plot do irritate me, it’s not the annoying way the lead character adds “sweet” to random words to express her feelings “sweet loves”, “sweet gods”, etc… Heck, it isn’t even the fact that the author repeats herself…a lot. What really bothers me about this book is I simply don’t care about the characters. In order for me to really enjoy a story, there has to be good character development. The characters were not really believable to me. Never once did I truly sympathize with the lead character, nor did I really care when bad things happened to her. As part of the price inflicted by magic use, Allie occasionally loses part of her memories. In this novel, she loses weeks and basically misses several life changing events. Instead of feeling pity or compassion, I was, frankly, quite irritated. How is a character really going to grow and evolve if she keeps forgetting everything that happens to her? Okay, I admit it; this type of story line isn’t my cup of tea. I didn’t like the movie 50 First Dates, either.

Now, I haven’t completely given up on Allie. This is the first book and sometimes it takes a while for an author to really warm up a story line and I just have to face it, Devon Monk has written at least five books in this series. There has to be something bringing folks back. I’ve started reading the second book, so we shall see.

UPDATE~ I finished reading Magic in the Blood (Allie Beckstrom 2) and I enjoyed it much more than the first. It looks like the series is going to be pretty interesting and its worth the read, even if the first one was a bit tough on me!(less)

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Jan 11, 2011 Ithlilian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Finally, an urban fantasy book with intriguing characters, a believable magic system, and a great mystery! I've been reading my way through plenty of so-so urban fantasy books, opening the next one with trepidation, bracing for the worst, and hoping to find a gem. This is what I've been waiting for!

Allie is a Hound, she traces magic back to it's caster. In this world, each time magic is cast someone must pay a price. The wealthy usually pass those ill effects onto a proxy, someone that willingly...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Marcia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: waste-of-paper, urban-fantasy

Nothing about this book feels fresh or interesting. It's yet another tough-ass heroine who chases bad guys, and while I am fine with that if the book is a fun read, this one doesn't qualify. The lead character confuses attitude with personality, and financial woes and daddy issues substitute for actual conflict. Seriously, if you're so damn broke, stop taking cabs everywhere, especially in a city with great public transportation. The love interest is supposed to be mysterious, but instead is jus...more

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Oct 14, 2010 Alexis rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like paranormal fiction

Shelves: paranormal, adult

At first glance, the Allie Beckstrom series seems like so much of the fluff that crowds the paranormal genre these days - distanced from her family, with magic powers that are oh-so-slightly off from even 'normal' magic users, making her living as a Hound, a.k.a private eye. It's so formulaic you could just snort and toss the book aside.

But don't. Seriously. Devon Monk took a tired trope and ran with it - and it was awesome. Instead of finding out she was a magical fairy princess, so to speak, A...more

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Jun 05, 2010 Sandy Williams rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 19, 2010 Lexie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-blog, genre-urban-fantasy, books-owned

There's something vexing about reading a novel where at any moment the narrator, in this case Allie, will lose a memory. Its one thing to second guess a memory, but whenever Allie would lose a memory completely--of something happened only chapters before--and then do the exact opposite of what she should have done (if she had kept the memory) I wanted to tear my hair out. We're not talking minor things, but entire relationships or traumas are just...gone suddenly after she uses magic. Half the t...more There's something vexing about reading a novel where at any moment the narrator, in this case Allie, will lose a memory. Its one thing to second guess a memory, but whenever Allie would lose a memory completely--of something happened only chapters before--and then do the exact opposite of what she should have done (if she had kept the memory) I wanted to tear my hair out. We're not talking minor things, but entire relationships or traumas are just...gone suddenly after she uses magic. Half the time she had to be brought up to speed. Ever see the movie 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler? It was very much like that movie (and equally as frustrating) at times.

That all being said, its really more only criticism with the novel. I really, really liked Allie. Jaded, cynical and kind of scary violent she may be--but she had a charm to herself. The sort of charm that makes a person know she'll have your back and makes you want to keep knowing her if you can. She took no crap, but didn't go picking fights unnecessarily. She's understandably wary of people, after what her dad did (and still tries to do several times)you can't fault her at all.

I wasn't as keen on 'Mama' and her boys however. She seemed much more of the take take take sort and only grudgingly gave back what she thought the person (in this case Allie) deserved. She wanted Allie's help at the drop of a hat, but lord forbid if Allie asked her questions or gave her advice. I don't get on with people who act like that and I definitely wasn't feeling all this warmth that Allie seemed to feel for Mama.

The story is broken up at times by chapters from a guy named 'Cody's perspective. From his POV you get a sense of what's happening in the case that Allie is investigating, but he has a very simplistic view on life. He's not in control, someone else controls him, and I felt so bad for him. He tried so hard at times and things didn't always work out so well for him.

Alle's love interest, Zayvion Jones, just got more and more interesting as the story progressed. He went from hired 'stalker' to reluctant helper to caring for Allie and then...mystery man incarnate. Allie says he has a 'Zen face', the perfect poker face, but he cracks often enough around her that you can get glimpses of what he feels. I want to know more. I want to see more, especially after everything that goes down in the last couple of chapters.

This is an intriguing start to a new urban fantasy series (to me at least, Book 4 is due out in about a month or so) and I look forward to picking up the second book Magic in the Blood and seeing how things...fare for Allie and Zayvion and the world at large. (less)

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Dec 03, 2009 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

I met Devon Monk at Orycon last weekend. She was on an Urban Fantasy panel, and she's sharp and sounded like she knew what she was about. And she sets her Urban Fantasy in Portland.
I'm writing an Urban Fantasy set in Portland.
So out came my Kindle and 42 seconds later I had Magic to the Bone.
It's a fun, fast read. Allie Beckstrom is a Hound, a person who uses magic to track down other magic users, like the person who almost kills a young boy in Johns Landing. She runs into Zayvion Jones, a clos...more

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Jul 28, 2009 Brownbetty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Brownbetty by: Jam

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I don't know how other people think of it, but I tend to classify books as having traction or not. If a book has traction, you start it, and four hours later you're done, and really have to pee. If a book doesn't have traction, you start it, and two chapters in, you realize you meant to get a load of wash done, so you do, and then you forget about the book for two weeks. Obviously this is pretty subjective, and can depend on the mood you're in, and whether or not you have a load of laundry to do...more

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Jun 14, 2009 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. You don’t have to actually read this book review because I have thoughtfully condensed it into one sentence for you: Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk was alright. So, feel free to skip the portion of this blog whereby I come to this conclusion, as its only about as interesting as reading the book itself.

Devon Monk’s debut novel had a lot of potential, in my opinion, that unfortunately is never realized. Nowadays, it feels like the urban/paranormal fantasy market has become supersaturated with the...more You don’t have to actually read this book review because I have thoughtfully condensed it into one sentence for you: Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk was alright. So, feel free to skip the portion of this blog whereby I come to this conclusion, as its only about as interesting as reading the book itself.

Devon Monk’s debut novel had a lot of potential, in my opinion, that unfortunately is never realized. Nowadays, it feels like the urban/paranormal fantasy market has become supersaturated with the same wise-crackin’ kick-ass girl with super powers who fights magic/evil/vampires. And Allie, our heroine, is disappointingly only a slight deviation from this carbon copy. The most interesting aspect of Allie is her relationship with her father, which unfortunately never gets an opportunity to progress due to murder most foul. Now, the Joss Whedon fan in me knew it was coming and yet still rejoiced at this twist, and the emotional turmoil Allie clearly experienced because of it; Devon Monk did a splendid job of not-quite-articulating the complexities of that relationship. However, I wish she had managed to extend a little bit of that brilliance into the rest of the plot and character development.

The magic system at first was refreshingly confined and based of strict and realistic rules. As the story progresses… notsomuch. Allie and Zay’s relationship felt awfully contrived and just sort of inexplicable. But the real crux of the matter lies in Allie’s unique magic-based flaw: part-time amnesia. When I first read the back cover, I thought how neat! This feels like a real drawback, real consequences for supernatural powers. However, Monk missed on the delivery. By the end, I was simply thinking… what’s the point? We go through this adventure with Allie and then she “forgets” it all? Why bother with character development at all if you’re just going to push the reset button?

However, I am going to read the second book in the series. Why? Firstly, I want to see more of Portland, Oregon in this world: never knew it could be that smelly. Secondly, I want to see if the second book can follow up on some of the potential I saw in the first. And lastly, because its summer and I am bored.

Seacrest out.
(less)

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About Devon Monk

Devon Monk has one husband, two sons, and a dog named Mojo. She lives in Oregon and is surrounded by numerous family members who mostly live within dinner-calling distance of each other. She writes the Allie Beckstrom urban fantasy series and the Age of Steam steampunk series. Her collection of short stories, A CUP OF NORMAL is a finalist for the Mythopoeic and Endeavour Awards. When not writing,...more

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Books by Devon Monk

Magic In the Blood (Allie Beckstrom, #2)

Magic in the Shadows (Allie Beckstrom, #3)

Magic on the Storm (Allie Beckstrom, #4)

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Quotes from Magic to the Bone

“I promise I'll stay as safe as I can. And since Zay refuses to leave me alone, I figure if things get bad, I can always shove him into the line of fire while I run like hell.” — 7 people liked it

“Instinct told me it was dangerous.
I could handle dangerous. Dangerous and me went back a long way. We did lunch when dangerous was in town.” — 6 people liked it

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Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom #1)

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