My Name Is Magic
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
Taika Turunen has no magic. Despite coming from a long line of powerful Finnish mages, and their name literally meaning magic, Taika can't perform the simplest of spells. Forced to attend Myrskyjärvi International School for the Magically Gifted on account of their mom being principal, Taika has a hard time fitting in. Sometimes, they wonder if not having magic has something to do with the fact they're neither a girl nor a boy and if they're fated to be Taika the Talentless forever. Life goes from bad to worse when Taika sees a liekkiö and recognizes the spirit's voice begging for help as that of their former BFF and major crush, Natalie Khumalo, whose recent absence from class hadn't gone unnoticed. When more students go missing, Taika must take the lead in a race against time to save friends old and new before a powerful cabal of chaos mages can unleash the legendary Sampo, an artifact capable of either renewing the world's waning magic or destroying everything Taika holds dear. To rescue Natalie, Taika will have to journey to the liminal space between worlds where they'll be forced to battle mythical monsters and their own flagging self-esteem. In doing so, Taika might just discover that magic-and love-comes in many different forms. For fans of witchcraft and wizardry looking for a new, inclusive story, My Name Is Magic, is a story about finding strength from within and potential where you least expected it.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book was cute! I liked the non-binary representation a lot, and felt that Taika often felt like a very real person. I enjoyed their relationship with Morgan a lot as well, though I did feel it got pushed out of the way near the end in favour of Taika's relationship with Natalie, who I struggled to care about during this book since she was in literally two scenes. I wish we could've seen more of her and Taika to actually set up all of the character dynamics at the beginning before the story started.
This is the same for Natalie's friends as well, since they never really get developed enough for their characters to be interesting enough to be present in the climax of the book. Also, I found it strange that Sini just got cut out of the story near the end.
The universe created in this book was great. It felt like the author had put a lot of effort into the fantasy elements of the book, though they felt quite crammed into the story; at one point needing to be conveyed to the reader in a literal list, though I didn't mind this too much.
Basically, I just wish that the book had been longer, because there was so much brilliant potential in the book that didn't have enough time to be set up or explored, which left the story feeling quite empty. This could've helped the ending and the reveal be more exciting rather than simply confusing and a little disappointing, as Taika's big romantic goal is with someone we never really got to know at all.
