An Unkindness of Magicians (The Unseen World #1)

by Kat Howard

The truly odd thing is that the girls who’ve been killed are all lesser magicians from lesser Houses. They barely have enough magic to remain in the Unseen World. Now, what I don’t understand is, if you’re going to go through the trouble of killing someone for their magic, scraping it from their bones, why go after someone who has so little?” Miles picked up his fork and tapped it against his plate, causing capers to roll from the top of his bagels and lox. Grey pushed his chair back slightly, giving himself room, just in case. “I’m not sure why you’re asking me this.” “An academic discussion, nothing more.” Merlin smiled and draped red onion on his salmon. “We spend so little time fully considering the sources of our power. If this is one, we owe it to ourselves—to magic—to think about the best way to use it. Because, as you know, there have been some recent problems with magic. Indeed, last night there was a complete failure of magic at a challenge.”

Okay I'm confused. Miles wants an academic discussion of magic and the sources of power how to properly use it. Is he implying that they should all start stealing finger bones but from more powerful magicians? It's not like they're discussing Shadows.. they're discussing the magic stolen from barely-magical women. Huh?