A review by teastarsandbooks
What Became of Magic by Paige Crutcher

3.0

First and foremost, Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! These are all my thoughts and personal opinions!

The story is a cozy and fun fantasy read - a perfect book for taking breaks between more intensive epic reads. It’s a journey of growing up, and finding your real friends, family, and purpose.

This book is definitely a deviation from my normal reading. The premise is interesting and is what drew me to trying out the book. So, with understanding this ended up being a 3 star book for me. Since it’s a deviation from my normal reads, it was a bit rough to get through - but that’s just me!

Pros: The author created a detailed world with clear effort into laying out exactly how Magic works in her world. Everything from start to finished, is explained in immaculate details that being drawn into the story and visualizing her world is rather easy. Her writing is on a master artist level when it comes to details and descriptions and bringing everyone and everything to life.

She has characters with wide ranges of personality, from quirky witches to mysterious visitors - all portrayed incredibly well and never deviating from their assigned role or acting out of character. The author is incredibly skilled with introducing and building up these characters and weaving them into the realm of the book.

The premises is so intriguing and the set up is strong. There’s questions that need answering and the author teases you with them so well that you find yourself excited to uncover the answers alongside the FMC.

Cons:
The voice the author chooses to use to narrate the story is rather interesting. I can see it being a bonus for some and a con for others. It was a bit of a con for me, but only due to this book being a deviation from my normal reads. She’ll also swap POVs randomly which always throws me for a loop.

If you like riddles and puns, this book is for you! If you’re like me and riddles just leave you more confused… then yea, the riddles will be enough to pull you out of the story. It was for me. Just when I’d finally get back into the story, more riddles which just yanked me right back out.

While the premise of the story is incredibly intriguing and the desire to uncover the secrets and mysteries of the world alongside the FMC is strong, the story does have a tendency to drag at times, especially in the middle. The beginning is strong and the ending is good and satisfying, but the middle is a bit of a rollercoaster.

All in all. This was a fun 3 star read for me! The journey is fun. Watching the FMC grow up and grow into herself and accepting who she is makes this a wholesome and cozy read on self-discovery.