Revisionary

Magic Ex Libris #4

by Jim C. Hines

Hugo winner Jim C. Hines's hilarious and clever Magic ex Libris series, where books come alive and libriomancer Isaac Vainio combats magical threats that spring from the page
"Superior worldbuilding." --Charlaine Harris - "Really, really clever." --Patrick Rothfuss - "Magic librarian and ass-kicking dryad adventure story we've all been waiting for." --Seanan McGuire
When Isaac Vainio helped to reveal magic to the world, he dreamed of a utopian future, a new millennium of magical prosperity. One year later, things aren't going quite as he'd hoped.
An organization known as Vanguard, made up of magical creatures and ex-Porters, wants open war with the mundane world. Isaac's own government is incarcerating "potential supernatural enemies" in prisons and internment camps. And Isaac finds himself targeted by all sides.
It's a war that will soon envelop the world, and the key to victory may lie with Isaac himself, as he struggles to incorporate everything he's learned into a new, more powerful form of libriomancy. Surrounded by betrayal and political intrigue, Isaac and a ragtag group of allies must evade pursuit both magical and mundane, expose a conspiracy by some of the most powerful people in the world, and find a path to a better future.
But what will that futures cost Isaac and the ones he loves?

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Paranormal, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 2, 2016

About the author

Jim C. Hines began his writing career with a trilogy about the irrepressible Jig the goblin, which actor and author Wil Wheaton described as "too f***ing cool for words." He went on to deconstruct fairy tales in his four-book Princess series, made all the world's literature a grimoire in the Magic ex Libris series, and explored the heroic side of spacecraft sanitation in his Janitors of the Post Apocalypse trilogy. His short fiction has appeared in more than fifty magazines and anthologies. Jim has been outspoken about topics like sexism and harassment, and was the editor of the Invisible series—three collections of personal essays about representation in sf/f. He received the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2012. Jim currently lives in mid-Michigan.

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the previous book in this entertaining series, Isaac Vainio told the world about libriomancy, a form of magic practised by him and a handful of people, as well as the existence of vampires, werewolves and other magical folk. Libriomancers are able to use their rare form of magic to pull items out of books, which has proved very useful to Isaac in his past battles with evil. Now Isaac and his fellow practitioners have a battle on their hands to prevent the government and military taking over the use of magic and magical creatures for war.

This book has a different feel to it as Isaac and the libriomancers try to use their magic for good while being threatened by government plots set to undermine them and take over their organisation. They are now playing on a world stage and their ideas for how to expand libriomancy is rapidly moving beyond the world. It was evident that Isaac has become very adept at his craft, able to weave spells from several different books together as Hines displays his amazing creativity and knowledge of books.

This feels very much like the last book in the series and it's a good place to stop as the plots start to move into the realms of science fiction - but there is a novella Imprinted set some months after the events of this book that will help those with withdrawal symptoms. I'm also looking forward to starting Hines' Janitors of the Post Apocalypse series.

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suffering some withdrawal symptoms here. That closing page sounded suspiciously like the end of the series as well as the end of the book! Please let it not be so although I am very grateful for the four books we have been given. Revisionary was a little hard to get into at first. I think I preferred libriomancy on a smaller scale as it was in the early books and I had to adjust to observing it on the world stage - just as the characters in the book were having to adjust! I did enjoy Isaac's new found and totally mind boggling increased strengths and powers, and the last half of the book really takes off in typical Jim C. Hines style. Love it when the fire spider saves the day. One special thing I have got from these books is a list of books I need to read and an introduction to several authors I had not come across before. Thanks Isaac for being an excellent librarian as well as a super libriomancer. If you don't come back, I will miss you.

[El Tapiz de Fionavar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este es el último volumen de la saga de libromantes y criaturas mágicas. Aquí la comunidad de centinelas se enfrenta a las reacciones que ha provocado la decisión de Isaac Vainio de develar la existencia de la magia al mundo.

De los cuatro que he leído es el que menos me ha gustado. Demasiado predecible la historia, los personajes no tienen mucha profundidad y aquellos que eran interesantes no han aparecido en este tomo o tienen papeles muy secundarios.

La trama en sí me pareció bastante aburrida, más del montón basado en conspiraciones de los gobiernos frente a lo extraño o diferente. Y la resolución de los conflictos tampoco fue entretenida.

Creo que hubiese sido una buena decisión cortar en el libro anterior para que nos quedara una entretenida historia fantástica, con algunos toques de originalidad.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

NB: I received a free review copy of this book but that has not affected the content of my review.

January 2016: Maybe you will understand just how much fun I think this series is if I tell you that I quite literally sent an email to Mr. Hines's publicist begging her for a review copy, when I learned there were a few available. I was a bit nervous, never having done so before, that in the unlikely event I didn't like the book, I would be stuck with the terrible task of giving a bad review to a book that was given to me for free. Normally when I've reviewed advance reader's copies, it's been for book series I've never heard of before, or for books that I have almost no emotional investment in. This is the first one I've done where I cared. And luckily, it all worked out. The last book in the Magic Ex Libris series (for now) is just as fun as the first three in the series, and more importantly, it's a worthwhile ending.

The last book in the series ended with libriomancer Isaac Vainio revealing the existence of magic to the world. That book ends so hopefully. Isaac is tired of all the collateral damage the secrecy of the Porters (the magical organization founded by Johannes Gutenberg 500 years before) has caused. Revisionary picks up almost one year after the events of Unbound, and things have gone just about as badly as they possibly can in that time. Magic, magic users, and magically created/endowed beings are feared and misunderstood by the general public, and their civil rights made non-existent or severely curtailed by hastily enacted laws based on fear. Isaac has helped to create a Porter-run magical research institute in Las Vegas, but he's so busy doing things like testifying at legal hearings and making PR appearances, he barely has any time to do anything proactive. And legal restrictions on magic are almost completely preventing him from using magic to help people. As if all of that weren't bad enough, there's a militant magical organization seemingly committing terrorist acts against people who are openly anti-magic in retaliation for unjust laws and brutal attacks on magical creatures.

It's a frickin' mess is what it is.

I was a little bit worried while reading this that things were SO messed up they weren't fixable, or that the book couldn't end in the at least semi-happyish way I was hoping for, but it manages. All of the characters, including some old favorites, get their due. All that stressful stuff is resolved in such a way that it's made clear that there are no easy answers and that things will continue to evolve after you close the pages of the book, but it also ends in a way that makes you not want to kill yourself. Ringing endorsement! (No, but seriously, it's great.)

If you haven't tried this series yet, I highly highly recommend that you do. It's fun, it's nerdy, and it sneaks up on you with the deeper topics when you're not looking. I can't wait to see what Jim C. Hines does next!

Original pre-review: Did this series switch cover artists? I'm liking the nerd glasses on Isaac, but who is that woman with him? Is that supposed to be Lena?

ETA: It's Lena! See comments for explanation from the author.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isaac Vainio, Lena Greenwood the Dryad, Smudge the fire-spider, and the gang are back in a brand new adventure! When Isaac reveals to the world that magic exists, an evil plot from the government starts a magical war and people within Isaac's workplace New Millenium are involved. Can Isaac and friends stop them before it is too late? Read and find out for yourself.

This is the fourth installment of the Magic Ex Libris Libriomancer series and it is a pretty good read. If you like the TNT show the librarians, you'll love this series about magic and books. I cannot wait to see what happens next to Isaac and friends in the future. Look for this book and the rest of the Magic Ex Libris Libriomancer series at your local library and wherever books are sold.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revisionary is the fourth book of the Magic ex Libris series by American author, Jim C. Hines. When Isaac Vainio announced the existence of magic to the world, he was hopeful and optimistic: magic had enormous potential for good in the world. He was totally unprepared for the negative backlash, the paranoia, and the endless government regulation. What Isaac would really like to do is get on with business as the Director of Research and Development at New Millennium.

Then a series of attacks on people opposed to magic, attacks carried out by inhumans, has Isaac and his dryad lover, Lena Greenwood, and her lover, Dr Nidhi Shah working to discover who is behind the violence. Could the inhuman resistance group, Vanguard, be involved? Vampire and ex-libriomancer, Deb deGeorge is bound to know something. Their investigations lead them into the Atlantic Ocean and then to a prison (or is it a lab) in Virginia.

While the book starts off with an excess of politics, there is a purpose to it, and readers who persist are rewarded with another action- and magic-filled tale that leads to an exciting climax. There is lots of magic from different genres, sirens feature prominently, and Isaac’s team have developed a host of clever magical tools. An in-tooth phone, pearls from magic-resistant oysters, invisibility cloaks, and a magic crow are just a few examples, but with a wealth of fiction and fantasy books to draw from, the potential is almost endless.

Once again, Hines uses a series of emails, promotional fliers, hearing transcripts, press releases, news reports, web posts, news items and letters between the chapters, as a device to detail behind-the-scenes events and public opinion. Each chapter starts with a conversation between Isaac and the now-truly-deceased Johannes Gutenberg: advice, reflection and wry commentary.

Using the premise of magically extracting objects and creatures from the printed page, this novel is a tribute to the imagination of fiction and fantasy writers everywhere. As always, Hines provides plenty of humour, but readers are warned that Smudge does suffer a disfiguring injury in this instalment. With apologies for the pun, this is another magical read.

[Sandra (LadyGrey Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don’t do what’s right because you know it will work out. You do it because you know it’s right.

Magic is real - and people are going crazy.

We saw the signs of what would happen to our world if magic was suddenly revealed to be an actual thing in the last book. Now it has become a reality. Governments crave control over magic and creatures born out of magic. There are laboratories set up - not all of them ethically correct - and Isaac Vaino finds himself juggling his ambition to integrate objects from science fiction into reality, to help his niece, going head to head with greedy politicians, and getting involved in a revolution.

A normal workday, right?

I loved the realism of this book. If magic was revealed to be real, I am certain this would be what happened. It's a bit like Civil War in a way, where people who try to help and do the right thing but aren't using normal tools are people that the government wishes to control and study. Isaac is just as awesome a character as in the previous books. Him having to juggle a lot of new tasks and a large amount of leadership gives him a lot of new challenges - and sometimes he does what I would have done, which is avoiding them completely. Which doesn't always end up well.

The book is a perfect conclusion to this series - and I highly recommend people read it!

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revisionary (Magic Ex Libris #4) by Jim C. Hines is the perfect finale to an all time favorite series. I feel like I don't talk about just how much I love the entire series. The story and its cast are just so geeky and bookish that it's hard to resist. I can't recommend this series enough. I hope we get see more of Isaac some day in the future.

[Lady*M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am sad that Revisionary is the last book in Magic Ex Libris series and, while the ending is satsfying, it leaves room for the author to come back to it if an awesome idea strikes him.

The year passed since the events of Unbound when Isaac Vainio revealed the existence of magic to the world. To say that things aren’t going as his idealistic self hoped would be an understatement. Johannes Gutenberg is dead, Juan Ponce de Leon disappeared and Porters no longer control the magic or are as free to use it. In fact, the world has reacted the same way it reacts to anything it doesn’t understand – with fear or desire to control it. And, while Isaac is trying to navigate the political waters, a group of magical beings seemingly unleashes a series of terrorist attacks that threaten to escalate into all out war between the magical community and the rest of the world. Haunted by Gutenberg’s spirit, Isaac has to employ all his ingenuity and magical prowess to stop the war and ensure safer and better future.

The book may cause some serious stress to the fans of the series, because things are bad, so bad in fact that I wondered how will Hines manage to finish book on any kind of positive note. The parallels with the real world – both historical and contemporary – didn’t help. I can’t count how many times during the reading I thought “This is exactly what would happen!” because we are, unfortunately, very predictable. It was satisfying that the author still managed to subvert some expectations.

Most of our favorite characters are back, though I missed Ponce de Leon. It’s great to see them all mature, especially Isaac who has to face the consequences of his actions and new responsibilities. I also enjoyed magical action, especially seeing Lena, the future superhero, in all her badass glory. And, as serious as this novel is, Hines provides enough humor and warm human moments to balance that out. Still, I liked it a bit less than Unbound hence the rating. The ending doesn’t provide – pun intended – the magical happy solution and requires further work and effort, but it’s realistic and satisfying.

Libriomancy may be the geekiest of magic systems (who wouldn’t want their own lightsaber or fire spider as a pet?) and Magic Ex Libris series is a perfect series for young-at-heart open-minded optimists. Let your nerd flag fly high and read this series! You won’t be disappointed.

[Anya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my heart! This audiobook is excellent, though I don't like Lena's narration. The plot is fantastic and heart-wrenching and nicely wraps up the series while leaving fertile ground for another series. This series gets better and better and is completely worth it for any fantasy fan.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. It was ok. I started to get annoyed about how all of Isaac's powers made everything so very convenient. Not sure that makes sense - but I definitely didn't get sucked into this one.

[Saphirablue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I didn't like it as much as the other books.

Why? Because it's been too realistic and too "current" in some regards. The way the world and the US reacted to magic and all people made of and with magic? Yeah, that's realistic but it kind has been too realistic for me at this point of time. :/ I really wanted all of them to react better. But, then there wouldn't have been a book to read. *sighs*

I still love the characters a lot and I'd never have thought to love a spider as much as I do.

I like how badass everyone was in the end and how Isaac & friends managed to solve everything. :)

All in all, a good and enjoyable book which unfortunately hit one of my "do not want"s.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published at Reading Reality

I dove into Revisionary the second I finished Unbound. I’ve been wondering why I waited so long to read Unbound and now I know. It was so I wouldn’t have to suffer through a seemingly interminable wait to find out how the story continued. Unbound was marvelous, but the ending fairly clearly indicates that the story as a whole isn’t over.

Now it might be. It’s not that the author couldn’t continue to tell more stories in this world, but that the arc begun in Libriomancer feels like it comes to a logical conclusion in Revisionary. So if you are thinking of diving into the series (recommended enthusiastically if you love urban fantasy), Libriomancer is definitely the place to start.

The story in Revisionary deals with the impacts of Isaac Vainio’s act at the end of Unbound – he reveals the presence of magic to the world. The world, as one might expect, has reactions varying from thrilled to appalled, with most of the politicians and power-brokers weighing in on the “appalled”, or possibly “fake appalled” side of the equation.

If the fear-mongering and brinksmanship remind readers of present-day politics and the extreme Islamophobia being presented and encouraged by political leaders on one side of the spectrum, I suspect it is intentional.

The reaction of the mundanes to the knowledge that there are magic users among us also has its antecedents in modern fantasy. Sonya Clark’s recent (and awesome) Magic Born series (start with Trancehack, lousy cover but great book) deals squarely with both the result of discovering that some people have magic and the social and economic fallout when the U.S. goes full-oppression and religious fanaticism against a small but growing population.

Katherine Kurtz’ classic epic fantasy of the Deryni, who were also magic-users in a mundane society that found themselves on the receiving end of religious oppression, said it best in her book High Deryni, “Beware, Deryni! Here lies danger!…The humans kill what they do not understand.”

In Revisionary, the humans, the non-magic users, are indeed killing what they do not understand. Even worse, they are pitting groups of magic users and magic beings against each other in vicious experiments to learn the best ways to either suborn or murder each group. Even more insidious, they have orchestrated events to blame all the attacks on the magic users, thereby reaping the political benefits of increased anti-magic laws and regulations.

Magic users and magical beings are being successfully “othered”, in the exact same way that Japanese-Americans were “othered” in WW2 before sending them to detention camps for crimes that not merely they did not commit, but for crimes that were not committed. The magic users are “othered” in the exact same way that too many politicians are currently “othering” members of the Islamic faith, and refugees from war-torn countries, and immigrants. And anyone else they do not approve of, or who is not a member of their race and class.

The political parallels, while difficult to miss, do not detract from the story. In fact, they add depth to it. We’ve seen all of this happen before. It’s happening now. That makes it all too easy to believe that it would happen in this just-barely-different-from-now future.

Revisionary is also the story of an accidental hero, and that is a big part of its charm. Isaac Vainio was content to be a magical researcher and occasional field agent, in that seemingly long ago future where Johann Gutenberg was still ruling the Porters with an iron hand, and knowledge of magic among the mundanes was suppressed by any means necessary, which generally meant a LOT of memory wipes.

In Revisionary, the magical genie is out of the bottle, and Gutenberg is dead. Isaac finds himself at the center of the oncoming storm, as politicians use and abuse magic users for their own nefarious ends, and the remnants of the Society of Porters turn against each other.

Power corrupts, the attempt to grab absolute power corrupts absolutely, and one man who never intended to lead anyone at all finds himself racing to save his life, his friends, and the future.

Escape Rating A+: Revisionary feels like the end of the Magic Ex Libris series. It might not be, but the end of this story does not leave our heroes hanging over a cliff in quite the same way as the previous books. It is possible, based on the ending of Revisionary, to believe that Isaac, Lena, Nidhi and Smudge the fire-spider might be heading into an adventurous and eventful happy ever after. They’ve certainly earned it.

Isaac spends a lot of this book dodging one bullet after another, and tracing the ever darker threads of one nefarious scheme after another. The action is non-stop, the pace is relentless, and the parallels to our contemporary world heighten the tension of the story. While I would love to discover that there is magic in the world, I fear that the world-wide reaction would be much too much like what happens here. The humans all too frequently do kill what they don’t understand, and usually after lying about it first. As happens in Revisionary.

It’s also kind of a delayed coming-of-age story. Isaac has been an adult throughout the series, but in Revisionary he finally becomes the person he was meant to be. Where Gutenberg was the leader of the Porters in the world he effectively created, Isaac is the leader needed now, someone who makes friends and builds alliances instead of creating sycophants and enemies.

The subthread through this story is about the burden of leadership. Isaac is communing with either the ghost of or the book of Gutenberg, and together they ruminate on just how difficult it is to be the person that everyone is looking towards. All the decisions are hard ones, and it never ends. Unless you fail. And in Gutenberg’s case, apparently not even then. The counseling of the old man to the younger one is often wistful, and certainly makes the reader think.

That a story about the magic in books makes its readers think about the consequences of the characters’ actions, and their own, is a fitting end to this terrific series.

[Amy Braun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the exact finale I was hoping to read for the MAGIC EX LIBRIS series! It was full of everything I loved: Action, adventure, drama, betrayal, magic, monsters, and an epic conclusion. The story was more akin to a political thriller than anything else as Isaac tries to deal with the fallout now that he let the world know that magic and monsters are real. This led to a lot of tension and aggression and fear from all walks of life, and a handful of people who found it exciting.

This story turned out to be one of my favourites and left me guessing right up until the end. It felt like a season's worth of TV packed into a single book! The characters continued to astound. Lena will always be my favourite, but Isaac definitely had the biggest growth. He went from being a nerd to a revolutionary (who's still a nerd). The boundaries of magic in this universe continued to be pushed, and it was fun to see more books used in action and spy-like scenes. The villain's goal was also beyond dastardly. I didn't really know it was coming, but when it was revealed... wow. It was terrifying!

I'm so glad I got to read this series. Every book in it was a celebration of creativity, literature, science fiction, fantasy, and book love. I recommend it to any and everyone who loves reading and always wanted to take part in their favourite stories. With MAGIC EX LIBRIS, you get pretty close.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't help it, I'm still tickled pink by the concept behind this series. It's more than Heinlein's idea in The Number of the Beast, where our thoughts create fictons, and when enough people read the same books, enough fictons come together to create the worlds in the multiverse. Or something like that. Though I love that idea too. I love the idea in this series that the way we love of the worlds in our books, and read them over and over again, get our friends to read them, review them, blog about them and encourage strangers to read them too, can actually give people who can do magic the power to help and heal. Even if the readers aren't actually the libromancers themselves, reading the books we love gives the books the power the libromancers need to be able to pull from them. The whole concept is just cool for readers. Plus I love the idea of a kick-ass librarian and researchers. It's just fun. The whole thing is fun.

The book was exciting and clever. A little frantic and maybe over the top at points. But still great. It dealt with a lot of things we're dealing with in the real world, the government's fears and desire to control the access to new technologies over people's rights to privacy and the fruits of their own labors. Fear of the other, boy of boy is that relevant, in ways Hines couldn't have even realized when he wrote the book what must have been at least a year ago. The way that's spiraling out of control in the U.S. during the current Presidential election campaign is as frightening as it is in this book. We read these things thinking, hey, it's fiction, it couldn't really come to this, and yet here we are and yes it can. I love that the series didn't shy away from real life issues, like Isaac's mental heath challenges. Though I was as aggravated and concerned as Lena and Nidhi were that he was neglecting his treatment. It showed a backsliding that many people go through, hitting a point where they think they can handle it themselves because they have been feeling better, wanting to go off their meds to see what happens. Isaac was lucky to have a loving family to keep an eye on him and help steer him back toward healthy routines and the medical care he needed, in his case regular therapy sessions.

After I finished the book I glanced at the cover and thought, huh, they put Deb DeGeorge on it? OK, I thought, weird, maybe for the fourth book they decided to use a different character than one of the main three of Isaac, Lena and Nidhi. Then I saw her face and she looked more Indian than African-American, so I thought it was Nidhi. But she's carrying a sword and wearing a leather jacket, not things the psychologist usually does. Then I saw the Hug a Tree t-shirt and figured it was Lena, even though I didn't remember her skin color being so dark or her features being quite so much like her girlfriend's on the last cover she was on. (Ah ha, I just saw in someone's review where Jim Hines replied to her question about the cover and said that it is Lena and they had to change cover models because the previous one wasn't available. And that this is actually a little closer to how he imagined Lena.) But who cares, the interesting point is that a woman of color, any character of color, was on the cover, a big deal in this publishing market. AND she could have been one of a number of major characters in the book. In addition to those three, there was also Janeta, and her dad, and there were other characters who's backgrounds were either forgotten by me or were undetermined so maybe there were more people of color too. Plus gender balance in the book was heavily weighted toward the women, including several new characters. Isaac was pretty much the only active man, and he did also got the majority of the action in the book, despite all of the smart and tough women. Anyway, I'm glad to see that the publisher is representing the series appropriately with models who look like the characters. And I'm always glad to see POC on any cover, the idea that books won't sell unless the models are white is ridiculous. It is interesting though that when Lena was sharing a cover with Isaac she was represented by a darker model, but when she had her own cover for book two they used a caucasian model. I hate that my mind even goes there, but I do doubt that they would have ever chosen this model on the fourth book for the cover of the second book. I hope I'm wrong. I want to be wrong. I hope they start proving me wrong.

I'm excited that Hines quit his job to write full time finally, as he told us at the beginning of the book. I hope he'll be happier, and we'll also get more stories as well. I hope that some of those stories end up being in this universe, maybe with Janeta and her team on Mars. Probably not, he probably wants to move on to other new and exciting projects, but I can hope.

[Terri M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s over. My adventures with the coolest fictional librarian I’ve never known are over. Revisionary marks the end of the Magic Ex Libris series. No more pulling stuff out of books to save the World. Unless, of course, I find the time to re-read the series. And I hope I do. Because this series is just plain fun.

After finishing Unbound, I jumped right into Revisionary because I had to know how everything would all fall out. Issac was somewhat manic in the last book and I was concerned for his life. He’s did some crazy things in book 3 and it led to some pretty devastating consequences.

In the end, my copy of Revisionary is studded with post-it tabs. Eleven of them to be exact. This is a good sign that Jim had me feeling things and thinking deeply for most of the book.

Throughout the course of the book, Jim touches on human rights. He touches on what happens when your passion consumes you and how that affects other people in your life. He touches on our need to go at it alone whether that’s in our best interest or not. Overall, Revisionary is about change—the good and bad.

Revisionary is definitely an emotional book. The political aspects of the plot gets lost and muddled behind Issac’s drive to rescue and set things right. And while, I am an emotional reader, I do wish the political arguments would have been stronger because I can see a direct correlation between the conversations happening our real world about diversity, human rights and the current political climate. (I live in Iowa. The caucuses just finished up. Need I say more?)

My favorite thing about this series as a whole is the amazing growth of the characters. I look back at my review of Book 1 compared to how I feel now that I’ve read Book 4. These are characters I want to have in my life. I want Issac to dazzle me by pulling things out of books and pop culture references. I want to spar with Lena (and perhaps pig out on junk food with her, too). I want to have a heart-to-heart conversation with Nidhi. There is no question that these three have an amazing, unique relationship that no one questions. It just is. They depend on each other yet they are individuals with their own strengths and weaknesses. To me, they are real.

So who should read the Magic Ex Libris series? Fans of pop culture will definitely get a kick out it. Fans of magic and paranormal worlds will definitely feel a connection. Bookworms, in particular, should pay attention because books are magic. And in Issac’s world there is an amazing truth in that statement. If you have ever dreamed of having access to Lucy’s healing cordial to help a loved one or Dorothy’s silver slippers to skip your commute, the Magic Ex Libris series is definitely for you.


This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I after to admit that I found this installment to be a little of a let down. Hines deserves full credit for actually, seriously, looking at what a revelation of magic could do, and considering how many Urban Fantasy novels skirt around this issue, its nice to see someone really think about it.

The problem is that thinking kinda goes out in the end after Lena's confession. Don't get me wrong, it is in keeping with her character, but in many ways, it speaks to some of the concerns that the various officers and officials are concerned about. And I understand that the central characters make true debate the issues raised in the conclusion difficult. And I even think that Hines is trying to get us, the readers to think about this, I just think it could have been done better.

[Dee Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diving into this latest installment was as effortless as an old friend that you rarely see but talk as though your conversation never really stopped. I love the world, the rules of magic, and that Isaac is inherently good.

[Maja Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Titus Fortner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this one nearly as much as the others, the plot felt like it got away here.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine sunny closer, with fiendishly clever bad guys (who mostly remain offstage, so you aren’t tempted into even a fleck of sympathy), good guys sailing in to the rescue, and lots of cute kids and animals.

Also some fine lines, such as:

“And you look like hastily resurrected shit.”

“What do you want me to do? Sit around and wait for more people to die?”
“I didn’t tell you to do nothing. I told you not to do anything stupid.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” I muttered.
“I have the New Millennium org chart, and it turns out I am.”

I hugged Lex, shook hands with Angie, then walked over to where Deb was sitting on the porch swing, dipping crickets into a small tub of ketchup. “You ready?”
She flicked another cricket into her mouth and chewed noisily. “I’ve been ready, hon.”

Lex tugged her mother’s hand. “Can I go play tag with the werewolves?”

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story, full of action and imagination.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume brings the Libriomancer series into that stage like X-Men when the public knows about magic. I enjoyed it. It's fun, action-packed, and optimistic :)

[Giriniss · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series managed to surprise me yet again (not in a bad way for a charge). Author managed to scrape something decent this time, after last two complete flops. Main plot line if not original is entertaining enough to keep me (can’t be certain of other readers) interested, little less whining (artificially “deep” inner monologues of characters that sound completely braindead babble and waste of paper). Even some traces of logic are present.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thankfully, the addition of political plots in no way slowed down the action or prevented Isaac from getting himself into waaaay too much magical trouble. As usual, it’s delightful to see what sorts of magic he and his allies pull out of their hats–I mean, books–when needed. It’s such a clever magical system, and I love the geeky librarian-as-hero protagonist. There are some parallels with real-world problems, of course, but the story doesn’t beat you over the head with them. Isaac faces betrayal from within and without. There’s a politician who’s apparently making all the bigoted, horrible mistakes that politicians in fiction always make under these circumstances–whoops, sorry, politicians in reality. But Hines doesn’t let the politics take over from the magic.

Isaac ends up having to break into his own New Millenium campus, as well as a magical prison. While he has plenty of help (you didn’t think dryad Lena was going anywhere, did you? Or Smudge?), these are still very dangerous actions. The pacing is wonderful. The buildup of trouble on top of trouble proceeds beautifully. There’s also plenty of thought put into Isaac and Lena’s (and Nidhi’s) unusual and lovely relationship.

Characterizations have lots of depth and interest to them. The plot twists and turns wonderfully. The magic is creative and fun, and the world is well-thought-out and interesting. I don’t know how many more things I can gush about. Okay, one more: there’s some wonderfully quotable passages in here; I probably drove my husband nuts reading him bits and pieces. I appreciate writers who can pull that off.

As I understand it, Revisionary is the final book of the series. The only thing I’ll say about that (other than, noooo!) is that Hines brings it to a wonderful close. There are still plot hooks and imaginative ideas that you can play with, but the conclusion is very satisfying. I can’t wait to see what Hines does next!


NOTE: Book provided free for review
Original review at my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2016/01/r...

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fourth book of the Magic Ex Libris series takes the story to its next logical place... what happens after you tell the world that magic exists? It delves into the topics of politics, leadership, fear mongering, power plays, ostracism, and a host of issues that touch on both large- and small-scale issues that would likely happen. I love series like this, where instead of solely continuing with action-plot story lines, the world develops in realistic ways. Sadly, we know this story is realistic, because the history of WWII and US internment of Japanese Americans and our current fear of all Islamic and Middle Eastern people tells us that this is real.

But for all of that, the politics and parallels don't detract from an outstanding story, and a fantastic balance between the big-picture machinations and the up-close-and-personal lives and decisions of the main characters we have grown to care about. There is still plenty of action, and more than enough opportunities for Isaac to use magic, reach inside a book, and pull something out to save the day.

A great book (ulp -- a great conclusion? This feels quite final!) in a great series. Start with the first one, though, if you can. You'll love the ride.

Update 2024 reread: Nothing much to add to my previous review. I still love that the conclusion of the series takes the story beyond the original “here’s the exciting/ surprising” part and into the “what happens after” part. Not enough stories do that, and Hines carries the throughline well. This series is so satisfying. Highly recommended for a fun, creative fantasy read.

[Dr. T Loves Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series continues to develop in interesting and unusual ways. I was worried Hines might call it a trilogy and be done with it, 'cause the books could have been set in the "real world" up until the third book, when the barn door got torn off and hidden magic was made known to the world at large. It would not have been inappropriate for Hines to walk away from this plot at that point and leave readers to fill in what might happen in such a world. But I'm glad he's come back to explore some of the implications of such a revelation.

I will say that if I had read this after Trump's election, I might have been concerned with the depiction of the government as a big-bad (since Nov. 2016, I'm a bit more sensitive to such ideas), but it's an interesting look at how difficult it can be to do the right thing and make the world better when there are plenty of folks who are perfectly happy with the status quo. So I suppose it comes down to how you want to interpret the depiction - in its way, one could see an anti-Trump message in how the story plays out, or a pro-Trump message. (I realize it's not either, and it's just my crazy brain retroactively adding this layer of insanity onto a book whose plot was conceived before Trump was even a candidate.)

[Al Tarancón · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buen punto y final a esta serie, con un enfoque algo diferente a los anteriores. En esta ocasion la historia se ha centrado más en las consecuencias de lo ocurrido en el libro anterior, y en como eso afecta al mundo y al futuro de la ambientación. Por ello los personajes principales en esta ocasion parecen haber quedados relegados a un segundo plano en cuanto a desarrollo personal. Tras varios libros donde ha hecho mucho hincapie en la evolucion de los mismos y en como los hechos les afectaban y transformaban, en esta ocasion estos han quedado en segundo plano. Aún asi la historia y las ramificaciones de la misma han hecho del libro un final estupendo para la saga... Que esperemos que no lo sea... las posibilidades que plantea la nueva situación piden a gritos ser explorada.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a near-perfect ending to a delightful series. Much like John Scalzi's Redshirts, I can almost hear the author cackling maniacally as he gets away with trope after reference after homage, flinging pop culture references left and right as the stakes escalate for his poor characters. It is a love letter to librarians and the craft of imagination. This book cost me sleep three nights in a row. I can think of few books that have earned that sort of praise from me (the aforementioned Redshirts and the first Magic ex Libris book being two of them). If you are new to the series, go start with Libriomancer. If you aren't new to the series, and have read the rest of them, go read this book.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a bit slow to get started but eventually had me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed the concept if libriomancy throughout this series.

Bonus points to Mr. Hines getting me a bit teary-eyed about Smudge...I hate spiders.