Anne Cordwainer

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 rel="nofollow" target="_top">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.… (plus d'informations)

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 ;)… (plus d'informations)

I love this book! I mean L-O-V-E this book! Reminiscent of the story-cycles of Charles deLint, Cordwainer captures a unique urban fantasy setting throughout the series of stories. 'Modern Magic' tells the tale of two siblings- one (John) with magical powers, the other (Liz) without. The viewpoint changes between the two, giving the reader a great look into the minds of both siblings. The magic in this book is not your fluffy kid's magic- it's dark and dangerous! The evil wizards and spells encountered by John and Liz are frightening and powerful- and poor Liz doesn't even have magic to protect her! One thing I loved especially about 'Modern Magic' is all the cool magical gizmos that John and his friends use. These devises set Cordwainer apart from most urban fantasy authors I've read. However, I do think she could have explained their uses more thoroughly. I think if the magic system is exlpained a little better to the reader that this could be a very popular series of books (it had better become a series!!). As a reader I felt a little confused over the limits of the magic. Exactly what can magic do? We get some great examples, but no one ever sits us down and gives us the rules. What CAN'T magic do? What do all the magic devises do- and how? Cordwainer could easily take a character like Liz's non-magic boyfriend and have magic explained to the readers through him. Even with the workings of magic a little fuzzy, this book was great. As a huge fantasy fan I devoired 'Modern Magic' in two sittings. I hope that Cordwainer gets a chance to see her book on bookshelves at stores all over the country, because I feel it deserves to be there- and that people would be missing out on something great if it wasn't.… (plus d'informations)

It's an interesting idea. It's not well-executed. The over-arching story is quite interesting, but the "story cycle" format means the reader is forced to change gears just when the story starts really going somewhere. Instead of a cohesive tale, one is left with a disjointed but definitely connected pile of almost-story.

Cordwainer appears to have come up with the nifty outline of a story, but apparently she never felt up to the transitions that would actually hold the outline together into an actual novel. This might work in episodic TV; it doesn't work in novel format.

Did Cordwainer never hear "show 'em, don't tell 'em"? Because she's very high on the telling, very low on the showing. We're told where the siblings work, but we don't actually see them at work. We're told they're in love with various people, but there's precious little evidence of any love. (The major exceptions are in the little behaviors behind John and his wife, but those don't appear until the last few episodes.)

Overall, I'm giving it two stars for an interesting concept. The execution keeps it from any more.… (plus d'informations)