Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom #1) by Devon Monk Introduction I read Magic to the Bone for my Urban Fantasy Book Club and, though it has flaws, I enjoyed it more than most books I’ve read for the club. Genre /Intended audience Urban Fantasy / Adult Narration First person past tense from Allie’s POV, mixed with third person in Cody’s POV Characters Allie Beckstrom - a Hound with an ability to Influence people Nola - Allie’s best friend; she works a non-magical chicken / alfalfa farm in Burns, Oregon Daniel Beckstrom - Allie’s father, owner of Beckstrom Enterprises, rich and powerful both magically and politically Violet - Daniel's latest wife, only a few years older than Allie Peter Hoskil - claims he was cheated by Allie’s father of his share of magical patents Zayvion Jones - a mysterious man who keeps turning up in Allie’s life Mama Rossitto - runs a restaurant in the St. John's neighborhood of North Portland, a part of the city with no magic Boy - what Mama Rossitto calls all her sons, adopted or biological; it is annoying and confusing James - Mama Rossitto’s oldest biological son, very slimy Cody - a Hand in prison for forgery; child-like but often refers to his ‘older smarter self’ who helps him cope; unclear if his apparent mental illness is the result of magical manipulation or an original condition Kitten - Cody’s kitten Bonnie Sherman - a Hound who has clashed with Allie Setting Portland, Oregon, a version of our modern world where magic has been used for about 30 years Theme Trust and fate Plot Allie thinks her estranged father, whom she hasn’t seen in seven years, has illegally Offloaded a magical price on a five year old boy, almost killing him. After confronting her father, Allie ends up on the run as she tries to figure out what is going on and who she can trust. About the Author Devon Monk writes urban fantasy. Magic to the Bone is the first in a nine-book Allie Beckstrom series. Find out more on Goodreads or the author’s website. My Opinion Much of what I liked about Magic to the Bone were the overall concepts and world building. In this book, unlike most urban fantasy, magic has a heavy price and is somewhat industrialized, collected and distributed with technology invented and patented by Daniel Beckstrom. Still, it seemed odd that this had only occurred about thirty years prior. It seems too short a time for magic use to be so widespread with an elaborate infrastructure to support it, especially given the high human price of using it. The author doesn’t reveal any clear advantage of magic over technology. It doesn’t seem cheaper, safer, or more reliable, so I’m left liking the concept more than the execution of it. I did like the idea of Allie, twenty-five and a powerful magic user, with a memory riddled with holes caused by magic use. That’s not explained in this book. Perhaps it will be later in the series, but the lack of an explanation left me (again) liking the concept more than the execution. Then there was Allie’s constant poor decision making and illogical behavior. Most of all, why does she keep using magic if it comes at so high a price? I didn’t see a compelling case for it. When Mama Rossitto calls to ask Allie to come because her Boy has been hit with magic, Allie spends her last $10 on a cab ride to get there. Why? She can’t do anything but identify the source of the hit. She can’t actually help the Boy, other than telling Mama to call an ambulance and get the child to the hospital — which Mama should have already done. Later that day, Allie spends $20 more (which she has because her friend sent her money) on another cab ride back to St John’s and ask Mama for a place to sleep because she ‘can’t stand the smell’ of her apartment building. I was left scratching my head over that one. Cab rides were a recurrent theme. From there Allie continues to behave in ways that made no logical sense (to me at least) through about 50% of the book. I started enjoying the book more about half way through — partly because she finally takes a shower. Making out, driving for four hours, and eating after she had rolled around in garbage was grossing me out. In addition to Allie’s illogical behavior, I was confused at times by the rules of magic. Allie wanders down to the garbage laden river bank ‘to cover her scent’ — but how / why does that work against a magical Hound? Allie says after Zayvion Grounds her, “I don’t need you to do that, you know. I could do it for myself.” One page later she says, “The way magic worked, you couldn’t Ground yourself.” Interspersed through Allie’s first person narrative are intriguing chapters from Cody’s POV. We didn’t see much of him, but it left me wanting to know more about his story. When Cody is kidnapped, I spent the rest of the book wondering what happened to Kitten. Maybe it says more about me than the writing, if Kitten was the most important character in the book to me. I was relieved when I found out that Kitten was at the farm and perfectly fine. Logical flaws aside, Devon Monk is good at building dramatic tension and getting me emotionally invested in the characters and their story. Unfortunately, there was enough I didn’t like about specific plot points to bring my overall rating down a little. Conclusion I enjoyed Magic to the Bone enough to want to read the sequels, and I recommend it to Urban Fantasy readers. I give it three stars mainly for the world building ideas and Cody — and Kitten! There is so much potential, and I want to see if the rest of the series delivers.