"Magic for Liars" by Sarah Gailey (BR)

[Meredith]

Welcome to the buddy read for Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey.

Except for general comments, please use spoiler tags and indicate chapter/percent so folks can follow the discussion as they read.

[Christopher]

I read this over the summer so will hold off on saying anything until most of the chat has finished.

[Lesley]

I’ll be starting this as soon as I finish Strange the Dreamer, hopefully this weekend!

[Ariana]

This just came in from the library, so I started a few days early. Not really a spoiler, just a first impression: (end of Ch. 3) (view spoiler)[This was not promising start for me. I am finding the main character super irritating, and I'm not loving the writing style (why use one simile when you could use three?). The whole business with being a PI feels really trope-y. On fence about whether to bail. (hide spoiler)]

[Christopher]

YMMV, but I (view spoiler)[ overall enjoyed the book and so if you're on the fence I'd encourage you to continue! That said, I wasn't too annoyed by the narration right off the bat, so maybe this just isn't to your taste. It is a bit trope-y, but I didn't mind too much and I thought the magic element added enough difference to the story to make it feel original. (hide spoiler)]

[Ariana]

Christopher wrote: "YMMV, but I [spoilers removed]"

Thanks! Glad your enjoyed it. I will push on!

[Kaa]

@Ariana, to offer a different perspective from Christopher, my first impression was similar to yours. (view spoiler)[I never warmed up to the main character and found the whole book pretty forgettable. I didn't hate it, but I didn't get much out of it, either. (hide spoiler)]

[Meredith]

I'm through 4 chapters and liking it so far. I thought it took a little time to settle down and find its footing at the start. (view spoiler)[ I didn't mind the trope-y aspects of the beginning, I felt like that was deliberate, establishing the typical bitter private detective before plopping her into a different kind of investigation. (hide spoiler)]

[Jordan]

Seconding Kaa's opinion (view spoiler)[ I disliked the narrator and that dislike just became stronger for me as the book went on. I thought the outsider perspective on magic would be cool, but the jealousy just grated on me way too much to be enjoyable. This was a book that conceptually I felt like I should have loved, but it just fell so flat for me. (hide spoiler)]

[Ariana]

Jordan wrote: "Seconding Kaa's opinion [spoilers removed]"

Ch. 10: (view spoiler)[As were getting into the details of the investigation, I'm finding it a bit more palatable, but the incessant self-pity is nauseating. Ugh. (hide spoiler)]

[Christopher]

Hmmm.... (view spoiler)[ I didn't mind the narrator so much -- if she's grating on you now it probably won't get much better as the book progresses. (hide spoiler)]

[Lesley]

Just started this last night, about 25% in, and I seem to have a wildly different opinion from most everyone else in the thread. I will admit that I have a soft spot for noir murder mysteries, like Dashiell Hammett. (view spoiler)[ I really like the voice of the narrator, and I’m finding the writing just tongue-in-cheek enough that it’s not ridiculous or silly because it could certainly go there. I think the PI trope, and the magic high school trope too, works well, mainly because it’s not taking itself too seriously, or maybe that’s just how I’m reading it. (hide spoiler)]

[Ariana]

Lesley wrote: "Just started this last night, about 25% in, and I seem to have a wildly different opinion from most everyone else in the thread. I will admit that I have a soft spot for noir murder mysteries, like..."

I appreciate this perspective! (view spoiler)[I didn't get any sense of humor from this book, which is probably part of what bugged me. I have no problem with tropes per se, and I also really like noir mysteries, but it felt for me like it was just two well-known tropes thrown together without much added.

Or maybe it was just my intense irritation with the protagonist that kept me from appreciating the rest of the book as much. (hide spoiler)]

I liked it a bit more once we got into the meat of the mystery, but in the end I still felt pretty "meh" about the whole thing, which was disappointing since, like Jordan, it seems on its face like something I would really enjoy.

[Marie]

Ariana wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Seconding Kaa's opinion [spoilers removed]"

Ch. 10: [spoilers removed]"

I read the book about a month or so ago. I felt the same way about the lead character. (view spoiler)[She is constantly comparing herself to her magical sister, and she never feels good enough. The book was okay - I wouldn't recommend it. (hide spoiler)]

[Lesley]

I’m about 50% done and I’m still very much enjoying the story, the voice and plot development. I could do with less of (view spoiler)[ the romance angle between the protagonist and the hot teacher, but at least it’s mostly cute and not sappy. Something else I’m enjoying is that we see two distinct, but reconcilable, sides of Ivy, her private persona and the mask she puts on for the outside world. This dichotomy feels very real to me. (hide spoiler)]

@Ariana re: the writing up to Chapter 13 (view spoiler)[I just have to laugh out loud at lines like “I didn’t have time for an existential crisis.”

And even lines like the one after she’s healed by Mrs Webb: “In my mind, I took what had just happened to my shoulder, and I put it into a box. A box with a tight lid. I dropped the box into a deep brick-lined oubliette. It landed somewhere next to my mother's last words and my searing loneliness and everything else I needed to forget, and just like that, I was fine again.” I find these morbidly humorous, perhaps because I can relate to those sentiments. (hide spoiler)]

[Meredith]

I'm about 75% in and I am enjoying it. I'm with Lesley, (view spoiler)[ I like a murder mystery with a jaded PI and I enjoy the magical setting and Gailey's spin on it, with the students doing what normal kids would do with magic (like dick clouds and nasty graffiti that's impossible to remove) rather than more innocent or idealized like in other stories. I feel the other aspect of Ivy and her jealousy of her sister and trying tor resolve their past issues is handled well, especially Ivy seeing the magic school as a 'what might have been' for herself, imagining what she would have experienced had she been magic and using the case as a small chance to live like the other half lives. (hide spoiler)]

[Ariana]

Lesley wrote: "I’m about 50% done and I’m still very much enjoying the story, the voice and plot development. I could do with less of [spoilers removed]

@Ariana re: the writing up to Chapter 13 I just have to la..."

So I think this has to be an issue with the audio book. The way the reader read these lines they came off as just bitter and overwrought, not wry or sardonic. Because now that you point it out, I can see how with the right tone, these types of lines could be very funny. They just didn't seem that way to me when I was listening to them.

[Lesley]

Ariana wrote: "The way the reader read these lines they came off as just bitter and overwrought, not wry or sardonic."

This really makes me wonder how the author meant the text to be read. I understand your reaction now if it was read with that tone. I’d probably feel the same way. I think the set up with these two mashed together genres only works if it can poke fun at itself.

[Meredith]

I agree, I found a lot of humor, though it was often wry or understated. Sometimes I'd read a sentence a second time to realize it was a funny comment.

[Christopher]

I didn't think it got too bitter, (view spoiler)[ if anything my recollection of it it was that it more reflective and trying to work through various issues of the past all while struggling with imposter syndrome (like am I really qualified to be a homicide detective not just a PI who deals with people's affairs, am I smart enough to interact with these magic geniuses like my sister, etc.) And then the lying, testing the waters of "what if" her life had been more idyllic, what could she have been like. In the end though I feel like she comes to terms with who she is and is more comfortable in her own skin? ... I usually don't enjoy detective novels finding the procedural aspects too boring (i.e. track down one lead, then another, make a wrong hypothesis, find new evidence, track that down, etc etc until surprise ending) but I read this one quickly and enjoyed it so in some ways I gave it extra credit for overcoming my natural dislike for the trope. One more thought while I'm here was that I initially rated this 5 stars for the reason listed in the last sentence, but then when I clicked on the book I saw an author I follow gave it only 1 star and that made me feel like maybe I was wrong to give it 5 so I took it down to 4. Do any of you ever do that? A month removed from having finished it 4 stars seems fine, but I still am wondering about letting others affect how I rate something... (hide spoiler)]

[Marie]

Ariana wrote: "Lesley wrote: "I’m about 50% done and I’m still very much enjoying the story, the voice and plot development. I could do with less of [spoilers removed]

@Ariana re: the writing up to Chapter 13 I ..."
You are probably right about the audiobook effect. My version was an audiobook, and I don't remember any humor.