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Modern Magic
John and Liz Prospero come from a long line of magical renegade hunters. John’s one of the strongest sorcerers his family has ever produced. Liz is a sport, born without magic. Which one was lucky? You’d think Liz at least could live a normal life. But for a Prospero, confronting renegades is normal. Wherever she goes, her magical heritage follows, and it usually brings danger along for the ride. Oh, and don’t forget keeping half her life secret from all her friends. John always knew he was expected to become a warrior, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. Working all day and fighting crime nights and weekends can wear a guy out. Especially with magical crime rising sharply, and fewer sorcerers willing to take on the renegades. One man has a plan to bring sorcery and modern justice together, but can it work? Does it go too far, or not far enough? How can anyone decide, when no one knows what the problem is? John and Liz each play a pivotal role in finding and defeating the underlying villains, during a decade of adventures which transform modern magic in the U.S.A.
- GenresFantasy
360 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2009
28 people want to read
About the author
Anne Cordwainer
1 book1 followerAnne Cordwainer has been writing fiction since the age of eight, when she began a series of closet dramas. These starred her collection of teddy bears as cute, furry extraterrestrials with anger management problems. She produced seven space operas in this series, as well as one Western spin-off, before abandoning the spacefaring teddy bear genre in favor of dreadful Pern fanfic.
She continued writing fiction as an adult, but never showed it to anyone outside her family until an overpowering need for intellectual stimulation led her to institute "Story Time" as a daily feature on a social forum. Other forum members became accustomed to the entertainment, even relying on it to help them get through tough days. Anne eventually ran out of fables and fairy tales, but hated to disappoint, so she finally allowed others to see her original work.
Reaction was so strongly positive that Anne reconsidered her amateur status and began offering full-length stories to magazines. Soon an editor gave her the kiss of the crown, confirming that she really was good enough, and she's never looked back.
Well, hardly ever.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 15, 2009
When I first started reading this book I thought it might be a Harry Potter clone, but I learned otherwise. What's different about Modern Magic is the family structure for magic practitioners as opposed to a coven structure, and the thoroughly technological approach to magic. I found it refreshing. I loved Liz Prospero. She is so indomitable and resourceful. I would like to read more in this universe. Fortunately, there is more on Anne Cordwainer's website.
My only problem was a minor one. It's difficult for me to imagine Orthodox Jewish sorcerers. I was taught that the verse translated "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," is actually about sorcerers. In Judaism, sorcery is defined as black magic. Of course, the Orthodox Jewish characters in Modern Magic would be sure to point out that they don't practice black magic. So perhaps such characters would be feasible, but I would think they would be reluctant to be known as sorcerers.
Shomeret
My only problem was a minor one. It's difficult for me to imagine Orthodox Jewish sorcerers. I was taught that the verse translated "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," is actually about sorcerers. In Judaism, sorcery is defined as black magic. Of course, the Orthodox Jewish characters in Modern Magic would be sure to point out that they don't practice black magic. So perhaps such characters would be feasible, but I would think they would be reluctant to be known as sorcerers.
Shomeret
February 18, 2009
This book eventually grew on me but it took a while. While I did ultimately enjoy the book, there are a lot of problems with it.
One of the biggest problems is the structure of the book. For whatever reason, Cordwainer decided to have "episodes" instead of chapters and there's always a significant gap in time between one episode and the next. Sometimes it's a period of years, sometimes months.
Each episode follows a basic pattern with the mundane Liz (and boyfriend) being magically threatened and having to muddle her way through it while John fights another group of magical combatants.
The way it's set up it reads like a series of action sequences without much to connect it to the next scene and unfortunately it makes the episode structure feel like lazy writing to avoid having to do transitions.
It gets better toward the last third or so of the book when there's actually a sustained effort to find the person or persons behind the magical attacks rather than just Liz and John reacting to being attacked and then jumping forward in time again.
I'm really not sure why there's a constant jump forward in time. It's not really necessary to the plot and it takes a lot of the urgency away from finding the people responsible. Even the characters don't seem to feel any real urgency to find the perpetrators after the immediate danger has passed, or if they do, it apparently takes place in the downtime between episodes and so is left to the reader to infer.
It also makes for sloppy storytelling. There's a mention in one episode that Liz works in a hospital but it's not mentioned until the next episode what it is she does there. We're told a lot of things but not shown them. For example, we're basically told that each sibling is in love with someone but we never see the courtship or indeed, more than a day's interaction before the next crisis.
This would have been a much better story without all the jumping ahead in time. I'm guessing the author did it that way because she wanted to move certain relationships along but I think the trade off was a poor one. Instead of a gradual escalation of tension it feels like it starts and stops over and over again. Instead of a smooth flow everything seems separate and disconnected. (I can sort of see an argument for that being intentional but I think even if the characters don't know there's some grand conspiracy the readers shouldn't feel that way. Most readers can probably guess there's a person or group behind everything, because that's how these books tend to go). Because we never see the characters for more than a day before a crisis we only know them on a superficial level, particularly Liz.
The romantic relationships in the book are tricky, too. As with the main characters, we never see the couples when they aren't in the middle of a crisis. We don't see either couple fall in love and we don't really see that Liz and her boyfriend are in love. Aside from one act of bravery we really only see him at his worst, fighting with John. We're told Liz loves him but, like John, we don't really see him except when he's being a jackass so I'm not sure why she loves him. Presumably he has other good qualities but we don't actually see them or even hear about them much.
Having said all of that, the book did become more interesting in the last third or so when John finally spent most of the time trying to find out who was behind everything rather than just reacting to it. There's a lot to be said for characters that are proactive rather than reactive. I actually had the identity of the culprit right pretty early on, but some nice misdirection had be doubting my original suspicion.
It would have been interesting to know more about the various types of magic, particularly the more obscure ones. The major character's strengths are scrying and pyromancy, which are pretty standard fantasy/urban fantasy fare.
One of the biggest problems is the structure of the book. For whatever reason, Cordwainer decided to have "episodes" instead of chapters and there's always a significant gap in time between one episode and the next. Sometimes it's a period of years, sometimes months.
Each episode follows a basic pattern with the mundane Liz (and boyfriend) being magically threatened and having to muddle her way through it while John fights another group of magical combatants.
The way it's set up it reads like a series of action sequences without much to connect it to the next scene and unfortunately it makes the episode structure feel like lazy writing to avoid having to do transitions.
It gets better toward the last third or so of the book when there's actually a sustained effort to find the person or persons behind the magical attacks rather than just Liz and John reacting to being attacked and then jumping forward in time again.
I'm really not sure why there's a constant jump forward in time. It's not really necessary to the plot and it takes a lot of the urgency away from finding the people responsible. Even the characters don't seem to feel any real urgency to find the perpetrators after the immediate danger has passed, or if they do, it apparently takes place in the downtime between episodes and so is left to the reader to infer.
It also makes for sloppy storytelling. There's a mention in one episode that Liz works in a hospital but it's not mentioned until the next episode what it is she does there. We're told a lot of things but not shown them. For example, we're basically told that each sibling is in love with someone but we never see the courtship or indeed, more than a day's interaction before the next crisis.
This would have been a much better story without all the jumping ahead in time. I'm guessing the author did it that way because she wanted to move certain relationships along but I think the trade off was a poor one. Instead of a gradual escalation of tension it feels like it starts and stops over and over again. Instead of a smooth flow everything seems separate and disconnected. (I can sort of see an argument for that being intentional but I think even if the characters don't know there's some grand conspiracy the readers shouldn't feel that way. Most readers can probably guess there's a person or group behind everything, because that's how these books tend to go). Because we never see the characters for more than a day before a crisis we only know them on a superficial level, particularly Liz.
The romantic relationships in the book are tricky, too. As with the main characters, we never see the couples when they aren't in the middle of a crisis. We don't see either couple fall in love and we don't really see that Liz and her boyfriend are in love. Aside from one act of bravery we really only see him at his worst, fighting with John. We're told Liz loves him but, like John, we don't really see him except when he's being a jackass so I'm not sure why she loves him. Presumably he has other good qualities but we don't actually see them or even hear about them much.
Having said all of that, the book did become more interesting in the last third or so when John finally spent most of the time trying to find out who was behind everything rather than just reacting to it. There's a lot to be said for characters that are proactive rather than reactive. I actually had the identity of the culprit right pretty early on, but some nice misdirection had be doubting my original suspicion.
It would have been interesting to know more about the various types of magic, particularly the more obscure ones. The major character's strengths are scrying and pyromancy, which are pretty standard fantasy/urban fantasy fare.
June 10, 2009
I liked this story of John and Liz Prospero (brother and sister). John is a very powerful sorcerer, born into a very powerful sorcerer family and Liz is a mundane (non-magical), born into the same powerful family. I love that the story is a story cycle. This is what happens in real life-over many years, the events that happen in you life. I also liked that the story was told from the point of view of both Liz and John. You understand not only how Liz feels to be mundane and watch her come to terms with her own responsibilities in the family, but you also understand how John feels to know that he is powerful and the pressure that comes with being so successful.
There were a few things that I did not like or thought might be hard for readers:
1. The episodes could be distracting for some readers. You do get used to it, but if a reader is used to reading a book in a straight line, they will have issues with reading this book.
2. If a reader is reading this book as in introduction to fantasy, more explanations should be given to some of the 'technical' terms used in the book. For instance, explain what a kinetomancer is. Some readers may not be familiar with the term.
3. I did not like that every idea or sentence of conversation was separated as a paragraph.
Overall, it's a great book.
There were a few things that I did not like or thought might be hard for readers:
1. The episodes could be distracting for some readers. You do get used to it, but if a reader is used to reading a book in a straight line, they will have issues with reading this book.
2. If a reader is reading this book as in introduction to fantasy, more explanations should be given to some of the 'technical' terms used in the book. For instance, explain what a kinetomancer is. Some readers may not be familiar with the term.
3. I did not like that every idea or sentence of conversation was separated as a paragraph.
Overall, it's a great book.
January 20, 2009
Siblings John and Liz Prospero are two very different people. John takes after most of his ancestors as a very powerful sorcerer and Liz was born without an ounce of magic in her. She’s what the magical community calls mundane. Surprisingly this combination works well for the pair as John is constantly called upon to fight renegade sorcerers who are out to murder both mundanes and other sorcerers while Liz pitches in with her mundane perspective on all things magical.
With a rise in renegade sorcerers the magical community has to band together and figure out a way to move into the modern world when banishing renegades to their family heads is increasingly becoming another problem rather than the solution.
Modern Magic is a story cycle which is several short stories spanning 11 years with the Prospero family. This was my first book written this way and I absolutely loved it. It made for quick reading and pretty much every chapter is jammed packed with the action because there’s not a lot of extra story line needed to fill pages. I love that you get to know both main characters and quite a few secondary characters in detail even with these quick stories arcs. You even get to see most of them grow into adulthood and their respective responsibilities.
Each of the twelve stories all tie together neatly at the end with plenty of surprises throughout. The ending was a complete shocker that I never figured out. It had me so amazed that I almost felt like going back and re-reading just so I could see if there were any clues I missed. This book was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to read more from Cordwainer. I recommend it to anyone who loves Urban Fantasy or a great surprise ending.
With a rise in renegade sorcerers the magical community has to band together and figure out a way to move into the modern world when banishing renegades to their family heads is increasingly becoming another problem rather than the solution.
Modern Magic is a story cycle which is several short stories spanning 11 years with the Prospero family. This was my first book written this way and I absolutely loved it. It made for quick reading and pretty much every chapter is jammed packed with the action because there’s not a lot of extra story line needed to fill pages. I love that you get to know both main characters and quite a few secondary characters in detail even with these quick stories arcs. You even get to see most of them grow into adulthood and their respective responsibilities.
Each of the twelve stories all tie together neatly at the end with plenty of surprises throughout. The ending was a complete shocker that I never figured out. It had me so amazed that I almost felt like going back and re-reading just so I could see if there were any clues I missed. This book was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to read more from Cordwainer. I recommend it to anyone who loves Urban Fantasy or a great surprise ending.
January 18, 2009
John and Liz Prospero are siblings from a powerful magical family. Liz has no magic while John is destined to become one of the most powerful sorcerers of his time. Together they must face one of the largest threats the magical community has ever known.
Modern Magic is a story cycle - essentially a novel made up of shorter stories. This format worked really well for this book as it allowed the author to take us through a large amount of time while only focusing on the most important events. Each story is clearly labeled with a title and general date. Narration often alternates between Liz and John and Cordwainer labels this clearly as well.
Each story is independent and yet they all work toward the larger conclusion of the book. The stories are generally short and fast paced with great dialogue. Alternating between John and Liz gives the reader a chance to get to know and understand both main characters. The early stories provide great insight into the actions of the characters during the stressful situations they must face in later stories.
I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to fans of fantasy stories. It was a quick and enjoyable read. To get a feel for the book check out some of the sample stories available on Anne Cordwainer's website.
Thank you to Melissa at Clotho Press for sending me an Advance Reader Copy of Modern Magic. It will be officially released in February 2009.
Modern Magic is a story cycle - essentially a novel made up of shorter stories. This format worked really well for this book as it allowed the author to take us through a large amount of time while only focusing on the most important events. Each story is clearly labeled with a title and general date. Narration often alternates between Liz and John and Cordwainer labels this clearly as well.
Each story is independent and yet they all work toward the larger conclusion of the book. The stories are generally short and fast paced with great dialogue. Alternating between John and Liz gives the reader a chance to get to know and understand both main characters. The early stories provide great insight into the actions of the characters during the stressful situations they must face in later stories.
I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to fans of fantasy stories. It was a quick and enjoyable read. To get a feel for the book check out some of the sample stories available on Anne Cordwainer's website.
Thank you to Melissa at Clotho Press for sending me an Advance Reader Copy of Modern Magic. It will be officially released in February 2009.
March 17, 2009
Liz and John Prospero are sister and brother, born into a powerful family of sorcerers. John is highly intelligent and a powerful sorceror. Liz has no magic and has never quite fit in with her family and their friends. The story is told over many decades and each chapter is told from a different perspective. In the course of the novel, you see the world of sorcery change as it tries to keep up with the changes going on in the rest of society. There are parallels between the non-magic and magic worlds as each culture tries to deal with the increase in crime and violence and it becomes evident that the two cultures aren't really that different.
This is a very unique book. I haven't read anything quite like it before. It was very intriguing and it makes me wonder if there aren't sorcerors all around us, practicing their magic.
This is a very unique book. I haven't read anything quite like it before. It was very intriguing and it makes me wonder if there aren't sorcerors all around us, practicing their magic.
June 15, 2010
Set in a clunky episodic story-frame and very heavy with the dialogue, plus I found the characters inconsistent and unbelievable. The whole book reads like tiny vignette peeks into the head of one or another point-of-view, with no grounding at all into the world the book is set in, and no backbone to span the stories. It read like a college student's first attempt at building a novel. Weak weak weak.
The author has posted the first five chapters of this story up on her website, and I'd recommend giving them a read to see if this writing style suits you before obtaining a copy of the book. I feel a bit bad about disliking this book so strongly; the author seems really cool.
It's worth noting that I read an ARC edition. It's possible that the final publication has been improved.
The author has posted the first five chapters of this story up on her website, and I'd recommend giving them a read to see if this writing style suits you before obtaining a copy of the book. I feel a bit bad about disliking this book so strongly; the author seems really cool.
It's worth noting that I read an ARC edition. It's possible that the final publication has been improved.
May 20, 2009
It's unfortunate that the book cover is missing (what's up with that?), because it shows that this is a story cycle rather than a novel. For the uninitiate, that means it's a collection of related short stories which together also tell a larger tale. I happen to love story cycles (Mike Resnick's Kirinyaga is an all-time favorite), so I wasn't put off at all. If you've never read one, don't be worried; it's not as weird as it sounds from some of the other reviews.
I enjoyed the setting. These magic-users live with and among us--a subculture, albeit a secret one, rather than a separate and parallel culture. I also liked the character development and the twisty-turny plot spanning a decae.
I enjoyed the setting. These magic-users live with and among us--a subculture, albeit a secret one, rather than a separate and parallel culture. I also liked the character development and the twisty-turny plot spanning a decae.
February 23, 2009
As a reader whose experience with fantasy is limited to Harry Potter, I approached Modern Magic with interest, but some trepidation. This was an enjoyable story, with consistent characters. It assumes you know the meanings of magic words, but even if you don't you still can figure out what is going on. The story moves forward, jumping ahead as much as a year between each chapter to show how siblings Liz and John move through young adulthood, one as a sorcerer, the other as a mundane (or muggle, in Harry Potter's world). As the action increased, it was not easy to figure out who the bad guys were. I enjoyed this book, and would read more from this author.
November 12, 2012
The first chapter of this book had me wanting to rip my eyeballs out. It was horribly written, the characters were annoying (especially Liz) and it seemed too much like the author was trying to create an Americanized Harry Potter. DO NOT WORRY, it gets MUCH better throughout the book. Modern Magic takes on its own personality and is able to separate itself from any Harry Potter similarities. Half-way through the book, you'll probably think you have everything figured out...keep reading, trust me; it's worth it ;)
March 29, 2009
I don't really know what to think of this book. It spans 11 years and goes back and forth between the two main characters, Liz and John, a brother and a sister. I didn't really connect with the characters though. The story had a lot of action in it but for some reason, it didn't keep me hanging. All of the action throughout the years tied together in the end, and the villain was someone I definitely didn't suspect. The ending left me thinking that there might be a possible sequel but I'm not sure I'd read it. I think the story needed a touch more humor and warmth to get me hooked.
June 9, 2009
Reminiscent of both Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and the Harry Potter series, this book kept my interest from start to finish. It was written in chronological form--almost as diary entries--by its two main characters. If magic is your cup of tea, put down your wand and pick up this book...it's a good read!
June 13, 2009
This book was really enjoyable, easy to read, and the characters all came together to make smooth. I really enjoyed reading about brother and sister Liz and John, both of whom take more than they should on their shoulders yet come out ready for more.
August 7, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. It's about a family of sorcerers, and how they fight against the renegade sorcerers trying to destroy the magic community.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews