Bad Magic

by: Pseudonymous Bosch


Magic is bad. As in fake. Cheesy. Unreal. At least, that's what Clay, who has seen one magic show too many, thinks.
When words from his journal appear mysteriously on his school wall as graffiti, he never imagines that magic might be to blame. And when the same graffiti lands him at Earth Ranch, a camp for "troubled" kids on a remote volcanic island, magic is the last thing he expects to find there.
But at Earth Ranch, Clay encounters one strange surprise after another, until he no longer knows what to expect. Is he really talking to a llama? Did he really see a ghost? What is the scary secret hidden in the abandoned library? The only thing he knows for sure is that behind the clouds of vog {volcanic smog}, nothing is as it seems. Can he solve the riddle of Earth Ranch before trouble erupts? {cover copy}
Whenever I need a good laugh and a good mystery, I can count on Pseudonymous Bosch. The secret series is one of my favorite Middle Grade series, and I was so excited to see this book on the shelves at the bookstore the other day that I snatched it up without even reading the cover copy. Bosch is an insta-buy. I always get such a good feeling when I read these books, and while I can sometimes anticipate what's going to happen, more often than not I am surprised by the twists and turns in these books. And invariably, I always learn a thing or two as well! And Bad Magic did not disappoint. This is the story of Clay, younger brother of our main man Max-Earnest from the first series, and the trouble he keeps getting into when he is not, in fact, trying to get into any trouble at all. He used to love magic, but with the disappearance of his brother went his love for the fantastical, and it is not until unexplainable things keep happening to him that he can begin to admit that maybe, just maybe, magic is involved. I think there's a lot of promise here for this new series to be just as good as its "older brother" and I can't wait to see what happens next!

This book begins with a bad word. {first line}
"Vog is a portmanteau (pronounced port man toe): a word that is made by squeezing two words together. In this case volcanic and smog. Funnily enough, the word smog is also a portmanteau. It combines the words smoke and fog. Which makes vog a double portmanteau. A portmanteau-teau, perhaps."

"Life is a test. The llama was there to help."

"Repeat after me: Chocolate, brown. Licorice, black. Anything else I'm taking back!"

"Alas, there is more to writing a book than moving letters around, One also has to choose the words that the letters create; that's the part that always stumps me."

"Magic, it is what is left when you stop pretending to understand."

"And there you have it, my friend. Magic. Right in front of your eyes. It's in every book if you know where to look. Of course, there are some books that are more magical than others. And some authors."

• chocolate • {last word}
{view on Goodreads}