California Bones

In this story, the author has come up with a novel mechanism for magic. At least, I don't recall anyone making magic work like that before. I try not to visualize the action while reading those sequences, because it's truly disgusting.

The descriptions of the viper serum and the firedrake scales are a little over the top. They're sort of like the unstoppable force meets the unmovable object. The logic of the two items is not consistent. At one point, the viper serum can only be contained because it's in a container strengthened with firedrake. Later, the firedrake walls can only be dissolved with the viper serum. How do you take a liquid described as so powerful that it spilling it would cut all the way to the other side of the earth - and use it to burn through a few feet of cement - which you're bound to brush up against when you crawl through the hole?

I guess that's why they call it “Magic” . . . it doesn't have to make sense.