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320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2020
“If you believe it, you can achieve it,” Denver said, ridiculously. “That’s like the number-one rule of magic.”
“Sometimes, Sam, we fight with people because we care about them too much to give up on them.”
‘You don’t judge your friends by what they do one time’? I guess that only applies to boys you think are cute.”
Sam is a high school senior who struggles with feeling a bit uneasy in a conservative Georgia town, being gay and a magicker. He is a member of his school Magic Club - three-people strong and called the Fascinators. The other two members are Sam’s best friends: Delia, who is ambitious and smart and non-nonsense, and James, who is talented but reckless and a budding alcoholic at seventeen, and who Sam has had a crush on for as long as he can remember, and who may even kinda like Sam back just a bit, despite what appears to be more than friendship with a new club member Amber. And there is a new kid Denver who seems to like Sam quite a lot. Feelings galore.
I mean, look at all this adorable cuteness!
“Sam, he went to a party hoping to do drugs with a bunch of strangers and ended up robbing them. How many more red flags can I fit into one sentence?”Then James stupidly steals a magical artifact from a local evil magical cult, and everyone is in danger. And there’s a state magical convention coming up. For some, the allure of magical power proves hard to resist. And more than anything, there are confused romantic feelings and misunderstandings, and new friendships and relationships are formed, and old friendships are strained and tested, and then it all ends in a bit of unsatisfying way that seems to be primed for a sequel.
“I guess this is the problem, right, when your friendships are based around what you do instead of who you are? Or maybe it’s the problem of being friends with anybody for as long as I’ve been friends with Delia and James.”In its cute sweetness the book reads quite young, perhaps more middle-grade level. The characters motivations are easily visible early on, the twists are amply foreshadowed, and everyone acts very young for people a year or two from legal adulthood. Evil stuff is off-page, evil cult seems more annoying than menacing, and never ever is there a sense of real danger for any of the characters.
“What’s the problem?”
“You’re not allowed to change.”
I’m starting to think I should’ve spent my summer on something simpler, like time travel or mind control.”- Sam
Denver said “One simple levitation spell to reach the top shelf at Publix, and suddenly everyone’s looking at me like I summoned a lesser demon.”
“Sometimes, Sam, we fight with people because we care about them too much to give up on them.”-Mrs. Fisher
“I’m as surprised as you are. I guess this is the problem, right, when your friendships are based around what you do instead of who you are? Or maybe it’s the problem of being friends with anybody for as long as I’ve been friends with Delia and James.”
“What’s the problem?” asked Denver
“You’re not allowed to change.” replied Sam