Old Magic

Hi sorry about this being posted fairly late in the day :) I couldn't decide what to review today, and then I started watching the latest Bleach movie with my sister and we just had to talk about it for a couple of hours.

Anyway, I've ended up reviewing an old favourite from a few years ago, when I got this book for Christmas and it ended up in the middle of a big pile of TBR books. Eventually I got round to reading it and then the rest of the pile got pushed aside for a while as i read and re-read the book (my copy is a tad battered nowadays, as seen in the second picture) for a few months. As books go, it's not massively thick, (books have grown a bit I think) and as covers go it's interesting but unremarkable. It certainly doesn't give anything about the plot away, though when I saw the shack I started thinking along the lines of the Blair Witch Project, and the tag line only tells you that it's a love story involving a curse. So great, maybe it's a bit like Sleeping Beauty with witches. (Having said this about the old cover, which is on the copy I own, the new one looks much more romancy and magical, and in I'm not what you expected my opinion loses some of it's "surprise!" element.

Actually this book was a pretty pleasant surprise.  The story follows Kate, a girl living with her young Grandmother after being abandoned by her mother after giving birth at 16, who is known around town as a witch because of the shop her Grandmother, Jillian, owns which sells crystals and antiques. There's also the fact that she has a bit of a knack with magic and stuff like that.

Along comes Jarrod Thornton. Instantly a hit with the girls, this clumsy boy makes it into the popular crowd shortly after moving. Unfortunately Kate has it in her head that he's some sort of powerful witch with dormant powers and begins talking to him about his history and family. This does nothing for his street cred but despite his initial (and persisting) image of her being some crazy girl who believes in magic, the two begin a semi-friendship when they're alone and out of sight of their peers. This is part one.

Part one goes on to tell how Kate and Jarrod begin to unearth evidence of a family curse, and eventually Jarrod is brought around to believe that his friend may be right about the world holding more than he'd thought. And he gets a little bit of a crush on Kate, though she doesn't return it.

Part two is the real shocker. Suddenly, this good-but-not-unpredictable story about a boy and girl discovering magic together does this sort of... wacky flip about and ends up going not only in a whole other direction, but going into a whole other time as the curse begins to worsen and Kate persuades Jarrod to try letting Jillian take them back in time to stop the curse from originating. Yes folks, it's now a time travel story!

You'd think this would kind of ruin the story for the reader, but because it's so completely unexpected, and happens about halfway through, it somehow manages to make you say "okayyyy well we'll see where this is going..." and carry on. This go-along-with-it attitude actually allows the reader to totally enjoy watching as Jarrod and Kate blag their way into a noble's castle using their knowledge of Jarrod's family history and get tangled up in the weird state of affairs that leads to a confrontation with the illegitimate half brother who has turned to dark magic to claim what should be rightfully his.

All complicated enough, but the bad guy also takes a liking to Kate after discovering she's capable of magic, and kidnaps her. It's then up to Jarrod to realize his own powers and lead a siege against the fortified monastery where Kate is held.

As I'm typing this, I'm acutely aware of how bizarre the story seems, but the way it's written- simply and without any pretentiousness, manages to pull off what few other authors could, which is a magic-time-travel-love-story-with-knights-and-mtv and you know what? I still love the book now. It is a YA book, so the language is a little more aimed at teenagers than adults but far from putting off potential adult readers it should encourage them to give it a try, either as one of those books you like for seemingly no reason or as a nice light read to keep you entertained while sitting in the sun, or on the train, in the car (pref not driving) etc etc.

It's one of those books that's written so simply that the words don't seem to register, and the story simply unfolds as you turn the page. A really enjoyable book that I spent a full winter reading, and one of those that I'll never throw away.