Categorized | Fiction

Magic Lost, Trouble Found Fiction Review

Posted on March 9, 2008 by alanajoli


Available at Amazon.com

A sorceress with attitude manages to get her hands on a powerful artifact, which suddenly makes her the most popular (read: most hunted) girl in town. It sound like a great set up, right? That’s how Raine Benares begins her adventures in Magic Lost, Trouble Found, narrating the entire adventure with wry commentary and snarky remarks. For fans of contemporary fantasy, the narration style is a familiar one. Throw it into a high fantasy setting where the narrator is an elven seeker–a sorceress who finds things–and it makes for an odd combination.

There’s a lot to enjoy about the novel. The city of Mermia is well developed (though it’s described in sections that sometimes feel like info dumps). Raine’s family relationships are particularly well drawn: her relationship with her guardian is full of loving father-daughter interactions, and the young spellsinger she’s adopted as a younger brother feels like a teen coming into his own, despite Raine’s attempts to protect him from having to grow up. The plot of the story is engaging, and the pacing never lags.

If you’ve sensed a “but” coming here, it is. The first person narration that serves to heighten the stakes in urban fantasies undermines the urgency here. Though Raine spends the whole book being hunted by one of the scariest villains Mermia has ever seen, she rarely feels scared. She claims to be, but her wise cracks and wry narration make the fact that she’s connected to an artifact that feeds on souls appear as an inconvenience rather than a true crisis. The same is true for her true love interests: there’s plenty of physical attraction to both, but no inner crisis about who she actually cares about, or whether her actions with one will influence her potential relationship with the other. Mind you, she’s got more urgent things to think about, but her seeming lack of inner conflict the very little vulnerability she shows in her inner monologues makes the reader’s relationship to Raine stay very surface level. Her sardonic voice may be a self defense mechanism to push away her fear–but it also might push away her readers.

Despite these flaws, the lead in to the sequel has me intrigued, and I’ll probably pick it up. There’s a lot of potential in Magic Lost, Trouble Found that Shearin might realize in subsequent novels. I’m definitely willing to give her another shot to see if she comes through.

Review by Alana Abbott

Look for more fantasy fiction at the Flames Rising Amazon Shop.

Tags | , ,

Print This Post

Leave a Reply

Email Newsletter Sign Up

Click Here to Sign Up for FlamesRising.com's Weekly Newsletter.

You will receive horror and dark fantasy updates, news, and more once a week!


11 Tales of Ghostly Horror

    Reviews Wanted!

    The new Review Guidelines have been posted on the Flames Rising website. We are currently seeking a few good reviewers to help us expand our collection of horror and dark fantasy reviews. RPGs, fiction, movies, video games and more are all welcome on the site...

    What do you get out of it?

    Beyond helping out fellow Flames Rising readers by letting them know what you think of these products, we're giving away some pretty cool stuff. Regular Reviewers can earn free products to review, which is their to keep after the review is submitted to the site.

    Note: We are especially looking for folks interested in reviewing eBooks (both Fiction & Comics). We have lots of great titles in digital format and even get advance copies sometimes.

    Use the Contact Page to submit reviews or let us know if you have any questions.

    The Devil’s Night WoD SAS

    Free Devil's Night | White Wolf