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mellhay's review
4.0
It's the next year with everyone back at the Wandless Academy. A girl, LaTasha, runs screaming from the Library. To Thea she looked like she had no skin on her face just the muscles. Thea finds the spam email LaTasha read still on the computer screen; guaranteeing clearer skin than you can image. Could there be a spell involved? Here at the Wandless Academy where no one can do magic. And from through the computers where magic can't affect any one... Is Thea going to be the one blamed for all these spellspams since the principle knows what she can do?
This book is an excellent second book. It focuses on the wonderful story more than the setup of the characters and magical world. I felt there were two additional climaxes to the storyline that went with the main story, almost like two bonus short stories added in. The spellspams were fun as the way they were worded made me chuckle and as the story went on I wanted to figure out what the spell would affect before I knew the results of it.
Thea and her friends are curious about what they did with the computers last year, as they are a group on magicless kids in a world full of magic - and last year seemed like magic. They start to investigate more into the unique computer magic. Thea had thought she was the only person that could touch computers in a magical way, but these new spellspams leave her wondering if there is someone else out there like her.
In this book Thea's powers start to grow. It is also very nice to see Thea stand on her own two feet when it comes to her magical abilities. She is starting to get better control of what she can do, when to ask for help, and who to ask. Thea is a young girl starting to grow up. We also take Thea out of her safe zone of the Wandless Academy which opens up a door to more danger. The Alphiri are still a shadow in the back of Thea's mind that could jump out and take her at any time.
I enjoyed the characters in this book as well. Thea's aunt is one of my favorites for the way she talks and her magic. But I enjoyed the way all the characters interact with each other. Alma is great at picking up children's views of happenings around them.
This book is great for Young Readers and Young Adults as there is no gory violence and not sexual content.
This book is an excellent second book. It focuses on the wonderful story more than the setup of the characters and magical world. I felt there were two additional climaxes to the storyline that went with the main story, almost like two bonus short stories added in. The spellspams were fun as the way they were worded made me chuckle and as the story went on I wanted to figure out what the spell would affect before I knew the results of it.
Thea and her friends are curious about what they did with the computers last year, as they are a group on magicless kids in a world full of magic - and last year seemed like magic. They start to investigate more into the unique computer magic. Thea had thought she was the only person that could touch computers in a magical way, but these new spellspams leave her wondering if there is someone else out there like her.
In this book Thea's powers start to grow. It is also very nice to see Thea stand on her own two feet when it comes to her magical abilities. She is starting to get better control of what she can do, when to ask for help, and who to ask. Thea is a young girl starting to grow up. We also take Thea out of her safe zone of the Wandless Academy which opens up a door to more danger. The Alphiri are still a shadow in the back of Thea's mind that could jump out and take her at any time.
I enjoyed the characters in this book as well. Thea's aunt is one of my favorites for the way she talks and her magic. But I enjoyed the way all the characters interact with each other. Alma is great at picking up children's views of happenings around them.
This book is great for Young Readers and Young Adults as there is no gory violence and not sexual content.
telemwill's review
3.0
I enjoyed this one so much more than the first book in the series. It was set in modern times, albeit in an alternate universe. The first book felt like two separate stories in one novel, one modern and one fairy tale. Mythology was very prevalent in this book too but much more integrated into the story as a whole. It is largely about the choices the characters make and where those choices lead them. It does bring into play the factors of family life and friendships and the part those play in the character's choices, but, at the same time, they bear the blame and the consequences of those choices themselves. The main character, Thea, is able to pity and even love her antagonist, but she doesn't allow herself to be blinded by her feelings. That alone is pretty refreshing in a young adult novel.
cmbohn's review
3.0
A cool idea - magical spam email that gives the term virus a whole new meaning - but it didn't quite live up to the first in the series. Still, I have already started book 3.
meredith_gayle's review
5.0
This book was so good. It was such a fast paced book, I harldy was able to set it down for more than a few hours at a time.
bookshopcat's review
5.0
Alma Alexander fuses together magic and technology in this great sequel to gift of the unmage. I love the facets of the alternate universe she creates, set in a world much like our own, yet one in which magic conexists along with modern technology with out touching. Well, except in the case of the protagonist, Thea. The concept of using magic through technology, like sending curses through the email for instance, was so different from the way magic works in the other books I've read that after reading the first few chapters, I was hooked. I also loved how the story incorporates magic in everyday circumstances from those that can happen in reality (like parking a car) to things that we still dream of like instant transportation using technology. We also get to meet creatures from other world which they call "polities", an interesting take on the whole alien contact idea.
The plot was pretty interesting too, though not as exciting as I had hoped it would be. The whole thing seemed to lead up to a confrontation and a decision for Thea, that came and went so quickly. Also, most of the story occured within the school or the Professor's house, so while I was able to catch glimpses of the magical world, which is what had initially garnered my interest, it was severely limited. I wished for a more extensive foray into the outside world. I also sort of wished for more of a conflict, as the problem and its resolution seemed to go way too quickly.
Overall the book was pretty good, but it became one of my favorite books because it introduced such a new idea of magic use. I actually picked this book up after reading the Harry Potter series and craving a new type of fantasy series and this book became a great find. After reading this I wanted to see the first book (which I hadn't read yet) and enjoyed that too. It offered a new perspective on magic and actually put magic in the modern day without having to put it in such a medieval like setting (like Harry Potter). I wished that it was longer and we could see more of Thea's world, but I loved reading it, and still do, and so in my biased opinion, gave it 5 stars.
The plot was pretty interesting too, though not as exciting as I had hoped it would be. The whole thing seemed to lead up to a confrontation and a decision for Thea, that came and went so quickly. Also, most of the story occured within the school or the Professor's house, so while I was able to catch glimpses of the magical world, which is what had initially garnered my interest, it was severely limited. I wished for a more extensive foray into the outside world. I also sort of wished for more of a conflict, as the problem and its resolution seemed to go way too quickly.
Overall the book was pretty good, but it became one of my favorite books because it introduced such a new idea of magic use. I actually picked this book up after reading the Harry Potter series and craving a new type of fantasy series and this book became a great find. After reading this I wanted to see the first book (which I hadn't read yet) and enjoyed that too. It offered a new perspective on magic and actually put magic in the modern day without having to put it in such a medieval like setting (like Harry Potter). I wished that it was longer and we could see more of Thea's world, but I loved reading it, and still do, and so in my biased opinion, gave it 5 stars.
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