Mini Review – Magic or Madness

/ posted in: Reading Magic Or Madness by Justine Larbalestier
on 2005
Pages: 271
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy & Magic
Format: Paperback
Source: Owned
Buy on Amazon (affiliate link)
Set in Australia

For fifteen years, Reason Cansino has lived on the run. Together with her mother, Sarafina, she has moved from one place to another in the Australian countryside, desperate not to be found by Reason's grandmother Esmeralda, a dangerous woman who believes in magic. But the moment Reason walks through Esmeralda's back door and finds herself on a New York City street, she's confronted by an unavoidable truth—magic is real.

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Reason has been taught from a young age to believe in numbers and logic.  She has also been taught that her grandmother is a dangerous woman.  But, when she is 15, her mother has a mental breakdown and custody is given to her grandmother.

While trying to escape the house like she has been trained to do by her mother, she goes through a door that opens into New York and then can’t figure out how to get back.  She’s taken in by another girl who is magical and now Reason has to decide whose stories to believe – her mother’s or her grandmother’s.

I liked this book mostly because the Australian influence is very strong and I don’t read a lot of books like that.  Reason uses Australian slang and can’t get used to a New York winter.

The magical system is different than other books I’ve read.  Every time you use magic you are using up life force.  Magic users die young.

This is the first book of a trilogy.  As of now I’m not intrigued enough to read the rest.