MAGIC TO THE BONE, Devon Monk – Review
MAGIC TO THE BONE is the first book of the Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk. It is also Monk's debut novel, and has the rare distinction of having a cover that stays relatively true to the novel while still being visually alluring. The cover artist was Larry Rostant, and he did a great job. I bought the paperback some time ago, before the second book came out, but in honor of book three coming out November 3rd, I thought it would be a good idea to take the opportunity to re-read the series.
Allie Beckstrom is a Hound, able to trace a spell back to its caster, and while she may be one of the best there is at what she does, that doesn't make her home any less crummy or her bank account any less meager. This despite the fact that her father is a rich, powerful businessman, because she left that world long ago. But when she comes across a little boy dying from an illegal magic Offload, which is a way of avoiding the price of magic, she's drawn back into that world--because the Offload bears her father's magical signature. And then her father turns up dead, and she's the lead suspect, which complicates things quite a bit.
My favorite element of this series is the price of magic that Monk has chosen to have her characters pay. The first line of the back-cover blurb was Everything has a cost. And every act of magic extracts a price from its user... and that drew me in immediately. I come from the school of thought that insists that magic shouldn't be a get-out-of-jail-free card for a character; it doesn't exist to make things easy or just for the shiny coolness factor.
I remember when I first came across Holly Lisle's eleven Rules for Better Fantasy. I won't say they changed my life, but they certainly changed the way I read fiction. If a particular kind of magic is a way out of trouble for a character, or doesn't come with consequences, chances are I'm never even going to get past the book's back cover.
Monk handles the consequences of magic portion very well, and quite cleverly. I liked the way the backlash was unpredictable, but that you could take the time to direct what kind of price you would pay--headache, arm bruises, etc. But if you forgot, or didn't have time--as happens frequently to Allie--you could end up losing chunks of your memory, or the bruising could be internal and life-threatening. Allie has to carry around a book to record her life in, and if she doesn't have time for that, well, the author doesn't forget about those kinds of consequences either.
Another great thing about MAGIC TO THE BONE was the presence of a functioning friendship between two female characters, which is something all too rare in the genre. The two best friends aren't close geographically, as they lead very different kinds of lives and are very different people, but that doesn't interfere with the strength of their friendship or their ability to rely on, and to know, one another, which I thought was wonderful, as I have several long-time friends who I see only rarely, and that doesn't diminish our relationship when we do see one another. Also, Allie's relationship with her (most recent) step-mother was incredibly refreshing to see unfold.
I was a bit iffy about the romantic entanglement, particularly because of the way the sex and magic intertwined to be a sort of power-boost, but also because of the swiftness of how their relationship evolved despite the major secrets they seemed to keep from one another. However, because I've read the second book, my long-term view of the "happy ever after" ending isn't as negative as it used to be. Since I don't want to spoil MAGIC IN THE BLOOD, I'll leave off discussing that for now.
All in all, it's not the best book I've read recently, but it's enjoyable and interesting, and the series has a great deal of potential. I'm glad I picked it up, and feel no compunctions about recommending it to friends.
4/5: A good, solid lead-in to a promising series, but I'm not raving about it yet.
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