Magician Rising: A Divination in Darkness, Renée Des Lauriers, (2021, 197 pps.)
Reviewed by: Patricia M. Muhammad
Date: May 25, 2021

*I received this ebook in exchange for an honest review*

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Magician Rising is a new adult, magical realism novel where the fear of magic and those who possibly wield it are the source for the loss of innocent lives. The story begins with the introduction of Nikolai , a magician bounty hunter who attempts to save a store clerk from imminent death. The convenient store employee body is partially removed as he continues to sink further into the ground. Despite the hunter's efforts, the clerk dies. He works with a team though it is unclear throughout the story what his motives are. Nikolai claims that his job is to prevent innocents from harm or death at the hands of magicians. However, his seemingly altruistic intent is marred by his carelessness in properly identifying his potential targets and his casual and merciless approach to killing a supposed magician as he depends on the unreliable intel from his cohorts. They work for a society only once referred to by name in the novel as the "Order".

Jun Bear is the main character. She is Asian female co-ed on scholarship who works part-time at a pizza parlour as a delivery driver. It is clear that she understandably hates her job. She is subject to harassment, being short-changed and encountering road rage as part of her daily work. However, Jun has a good scholastic and work ethic and must ignore all of those who continuously attack, harass and berate her, including her wealthy roommate, because they all believe they can. Though the co-ed initially has a crush on one of fellow students, a guy name Bailey, her luck continues to be lacking. Jun is close to her ailing father and makes weekend trips to spend time with him.

One day an earthquake strikes the area while she is in class. The tremors and its aftermath is focused on one area, one room of the building. The only potential casualty is Professor Cartwright, her instructor for Business Analytics. Nikolai 's hears of the strange happening and decides to enroll in the class to assess which one of the students is the magician. He mistakens one student whom his cohorts pummel to near death, only to find out later in the book that they killed Evan, just as they did everyone else. The assassin searches for clues and continues to overlook Jun, until one day he reviews a paper that their professor marked late. It was Jun's. Nikolai kidnaps her and tosses her into an estuary, nearly drowning her. Jun denies that she has any magical powers. She is confused at all of the attention and violence she suddenly finds herself the center of. After she nearly dies in the water, Nikolai saves her. He thought she would use her powers to survive and prove to him that she was the proper target. She failed his 'test'. Jun is rightfully fearful. They are both stuck on the side of the road now that the car fails. It is when they begin to walk that they noticed that they are stuck in time. Someone has stopped time while both Jun and Nikolai are able to move about although at an extremely slow pace. Nikolai seems to be an overweight male with no insight for his future and only focused on his hunger throughout their trek. The author provides a glimpse into his true appearance when a friend of Jun's, Alexa teases her about Nikolai . He is actually handsome and muscular and admittedly Jun is attracted to him. Jun and Nikolai hunt for food at various stores and gas stations where people and motion are still. When the bounty hunter suggests that they take a break, Jun escapes from him while Nikolai sleeps. She finds a hotel to rest in and eat for a while. Strange things keep happening. Nikolai searches for Jun and waits for her at her job at the pizza place while devouring anything he can find. He senses that he is not alone. Eventually, Jun does seek refuge at the pizza shop. This is where she involuntarily reunites with Nikolai . He confronts her about her abilities again and tells her to undo whatever she did to cause time to stop. She denies that she is the cause of it and seems to be genuinely unaware of her capabilities. Jun summons a winged creature and inquires as to why this is happening. She refers to it as a sphinx. It responds to Jun cryptically then flies away. Nikolai expects for her to understand what she has done and to reverse it. Jun sees a white rabbit at some point. She hears a voice telling her to 'catch the rabbit', reminiscent of an 'Alice in Wonderland' moment. Jun catches the rabbit and then asks without specificity to be taken back to time before this all happened. Jun and Nikolai are now stuck in the 1960s. She is able to correct her request. However, magician bounty hunters are not the only ones after her. Darkness in the form of shadowy hands continue to reach for her and Nikolai . They are now in the present. Nikolai does some research on his co-assassins and confirms that they betrayed him. They were killing innocents, the very acts that they falsely accused the magician of, in order to have a higher claim once they actually captured and killed the supposed magician. Nikolai was not part of this scheme was partially responsible for the deaths of some innocents, which were some of Jun's classmates. He seeks to redress this and begins to kill his co-assassins one by one; none of whom knew that Jun was the actual 'magician'. Nikolai tells Jun to run as she was next on their hit list. Jun refuses in order to complete her finals. Jun calls her father. Roman, one of Nikolai 's associates holds him hostage. She informs Nicholai. He is torn from his initial quest to kill Jun and save many and the young woman he had come to know as harmless but with exquisite capabilities that she was not even aware of. Jun goes to her father's home and confronts the bounty hunter who taunts Jun. Roman kills Jun father anyway. This trauma breaks the door between Jun's unconscious defenses of magic into her awareness of potential destruction she may wield at her hands. She kills the man who killed her elderly father. Jun crouches to the earth and summons forces. Shadows still try to capture her. However, they change in appearance from clawing shade into a black rabbit. Nikolai reaches her as the ground is broken and it appears that she is to upend all that surrounds her. When he kisses her, all else stops (except time). The tremors, the destruction the potential liabilities are no more. It is unclear whether the black rabbit (darkness) and the white rabbit (light) are one in the same. When it appears the other seems absent. Perhaps this was the balance that Jun needed as she only killed who Nicholai sought to assassinate. Jun hadn't killed anyone else. She was able to control her powers. The powers she denied. The forces she had no conscious idea that she was able to manipulate. Jun intends to finish her finals. She arrives to the classroom. The co-ed sees all the familiar faces—including Nikolai . After all that they have undergone, she is still suspicious of his being there. As she takes her exam, she lets out the rabbit from her bag. Afterwards, she is visibly upset. Nikolai takes her to the sushi place she was supposed to go to with her father to celebrate completing her finals. Nikolai and Jun start a new future. They read their fortune cookies. Nikolai 's read that he has to protect Jun, more as "Others come to kill her in three months".

Magician Rising is written in accessible language. What the novel lacks in narrative compensates with continuous action and realistic dialogues. Nikolai's character was mostly one dimensional with tunnel-vision. This may have been a purposeful literary device as it was he, one who did not seem to feel much at all, who was able to express a "true love's kiss" moment which took Jun's pain away. This gave her greater control of her magic in the moment, allowing what was necessary to be done and the innocents to be unharmed. Though a few scenes are graphic, yet the author balances the storyline with some humour. Overall I enjoyed the book. ( )