An Unkindness of Magicians

DNF at 14%

Wow, I didn't even make it to my usual 30% DNF rate. I picked it up because 1) the cover is gorgeous and 2) Neil Gaiman recommended?? But honestly, I don't see why Gaiman raved about it. The pacing is all over the place, the magic system isn't explained all that well, heck the competition isn't even explained.

There are too many characters/POVs, and I really dislike the names in the book. I take offence that great literary magicians like Merlin and Prospero are associated to this book. Did the author run out of ideas in terms of naming her characters? Or was it deliberately done to attract high fantasy readers and rope them into this urban setting? Either way, I think it was a terrible choice, and I'm surprised no other reviewer has mentioned this.



Also, a lot of reviewers mention the writing/language as being spectacular and I really don't see it. The author reuses the same vocabulary over and over again to create an eerie/unsettling atmosphere, but it gets redundant very fast. Furthermore, the writing really isn't that fabulous. The amount of fragmentary sentences and run-ons is staggering, and while I can appreciate that it might be part of the author's style, it is not what I would qualify as “spectacular.”

Unfortunately, the pretty cover is the only good thing about this novel, but it's not enough to keep it on my shelf.