Title: A MINOR MAGIC
Author: Justin Macumber
Genre: Young Adult (16+)
Tour Host: Lady Amber’s Tours
Synopsis –
Over the course of a single night, mystical fires tore through the sky and reduced most of Earth to ash. Ten years later magical fire burns again, but this time it’s in the hands of a young girl named Skylar. Exiled from her adoptive home, Skylar must now struggle through ruined lands and religious zealots who believe she’s an agent of the Devil. An even greater threat exists in the form of shadowy sorcerers from another world who covet her blood. Along her journey, she meets a motley band of outcasts who not only know the secret of what happened to Earth, but also of Skylar’s true origin. Will Skylar be able to accept this fantastical truth? But more importantly, can her powers and raging heart be tamed in time to stop those who once burned the world and now seek total domination?
Book excerpt –
Skylar’s eyes filled with a flickering blue light as ghostly flames jetted from her palms, and her screams were lost over the roaring of the blaze. Instinctively, she shook her hands, slapped them against her legs, and then clapped them together to try and extinguish the fire. As her hands touched, the flames vanished. To her astonishment her skin wasn’t burned. It wasn’t even warm. Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for Buster. The dog was a smoking ruin at her feet, one more pile of burnt remains in a world already covered in ash. Her heart broke as she stared down at him. Oh god, she thought. What’s happened? What have I done?
“Oh my Lord, girl,” a man said behind her. “What did you do?”
Skylar whirled around, her eyes widening in guilt even though she didn’t understand what had happened, or how. “Henry, he jumped at me! I don’t know why he did it, and I tried to stop him, but…” She fell silent, her thoughts too scrambled to know what more to say. Buster was a dog she’d loved and cared for ever since coming to live on the farm years ago, and without warning, he had attacked her. When she’d held her hands up to ward him off, blue fire had erupted from them and consumed him as though it was a living, ravenous thing. Nothing like that had ever happened to her before, and she couldn’t rightly explain what she didn’t understand.
My review:
This book was definitely for the older young adult. I probably wouldn’t let my 13 year old read it quite yet. A Minor Magic is a paranormal dystopian mystery/thriller set in a post-Burning world. Men are basically savages or religious zealots and women are pretty much property. The survivors of the burning are cut off from each other, no one has any idea what caused the mass destruction. Some claim God wiped out the sinners, others think aliens or asteroids ruined the earth with fire. Skylar is living in her adopted home with a family that took in her and her mother. Skylar’s mom’s body gives out from the stress of living on the road so Skylar then stays with her new family. When she starts to show preternatural behaviors her foster father kicks her out on the pretense that she’s a witch.
The story evolves from there as Skylar tries to make it on her own and figure out how to use her new found powers to survive. She stumbles upon a few different crews of people, along with a scary priest who seems to be a bit of a sadist. Shocking part is most of theses people know more about Skylar’s past than she does!
I love dystopian stories so I really got into this book. I love Skylar’s spunk and her adaptability. It’s a definite read if you are into dystopian and the supernatural.
Author Bio:
Justin R. Macumber is the author of HAYWIRE and A MINOR MAGIC. When not hard at work on his next story he hosts the popular Dead Robots’ Society podcast, which is a podcast made by writers for writers. He and his lovely wife live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex along with a rampaging pack of dogs and cats that they think of as their children. He is also a co-host on The Hollywood Outsider, a weekly podcast about movies and television. Currently he is working on two novels – the horror story STILL WATER, and the sequel to A MINOR MAGIC entitled A BROKEN MAGIC.
Links
http://www.justinmacumber.com/
http://www.facebook.com/JustinRMacumber
http://twitter.com/JustinMacumber
http://www.thehollywoodoutsider.com/
Kindle buy link – http://amzn.to/TTof0x
Print book buy link – http://amzn.to/Yk8eyp
B&N buy link – http://bit.ly/138JTPl
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