Magic's Child, by Justine Larbalestier

[keilexandra]

Magic's Child
by Justine Larbalestier
291 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy/YA

This is the last book in the Magic or Madness trilogy, which I've grown to like but still remains fluff. Not a bad thing; my brain is fried right now for concentrating on anything serious. The magic system and talents are original--Tom's magic is with clothes, for instance. Reason, who underwent a major change in Book II, must deal with the repercussions, and the nature of magic is finally revealed (in part). I felt like the revelation should have had more impact than it did, but the ending is surprising with realistic choices. However, I also felt that it was too open for the end of a trilogy--too many loose ends made it not completely satisfying.

Perhaps my strongest impression of this series is how Larbalestier plays with the usual YA rules on morality. Teenage relationships and pregnancy are starkly portrayed but not in an obivously negative light. Instead of telling her readers "Don't have sex!" Larbalestier shows the consequences of the act, both negative and positive. Although I don't support it personally, it's great to see someone at least acknowledge the happy side of teen pregnancy.

Comments

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

That trilogy exemplifies a major difference in YA and non-YA fiction for me: look how long the entire thing takes. The entire trilogy, except for the epilogue, is something like three weeks long. I think it works, and it certainly eliminates the problem of the rest of the world, but that is a lot of plot to happen.

[keilexandra]

Yeah, the compressed time jolted me a little. It'd be periodically mentioned and I'd go, "Wow, only that long?"