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tshepiso 's review for:
Spellbook of the Lost and Found
by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
3.5 stars
Spellbook of the Lost and Found has been a book I've been meaning to read for ages. This atmospheric contemporary fantasy about friendship and magic sounded like the perfect book for me. Unfortunately, I didn't connect with Moïra Fowley Doyle's storytelling as much as I thought I would
Spellbook of the Lost and Found follows the perspective of three teens wrapped up in the mystery of a magical spellbook. The first, Laura, uses the spellbook with her friend to recover their lost diaries. The second Olive finds herself [] and finally Hazel []. The three's stories interweave as the consequences of using the spellbook mount and their live are
The biggest hurdle with getting into Spellbook for the Lost and Found was its abundance of characters. The story has three points of view and each pov character has an entire worlds of close friends siblings and other people mkinging it initially hard to keep track of everyone and their relationships with each other.
Another road bump in this book's storytelling was how Moïra Fowley-Doyle framed romance. Romance is a huge part of the story and the plot relies on teenage insta love and intense dramatic emotions to fuel a lot of the character conflict and intrigue. While this occasionally works especially the darker more fantastical edge of the romance Laural and her friends have with the mysterious Jude. In Olive and Hazel's chapters, the rushed and melodramatic nature of their romances filed to connect with me. While our characters were feeling all these massive emotions about the people they liked I never felt swept away in that maelstrom of teen romance.
Despite those hiccups, I did enjoy aspects of the story, especially in its second half. While Fowley Doyle's romances didn't do much for me the friendship and sibling relationships explored in this novel were very well done. This book explores the ways relationships drift can apart overtime and how people fight to stay with each other in spite of that.
The individual character arcs were also solid. Seeing Hazel deal with her grief and anger at her mother for abandoning her and her brother for their abusive father was sharply written and Doyle captured the guilt and ultimate catharsis of that dynamic really well
I also adored Olive and Rose's friendship. Olive's passionate love for Rose and her willingness to fight anyone in her name.
This book also had great small reflections on life. Like the way Olive reflects on how much closer she's allowed herself o get to her sister after Rose became distant and the newfound connection she had with her because of that
I will say while the lightly speculative paranormal magic central to this book wasn't exactly my thing I could see anyone fond of which stories that see the magical in the mundane and use magic as a metaphor and storytelling device rather than something tangible or literal will enjoy this book. Fowley Doyle's ability to evoke a creeping dark magical atmosphere was brilliant and added d to the tension of the story well.
Overall I think I liked moments in Spellbook of the Lost and Found rather than its totality. I think its characters were well rendered and themes well executed but with we got more about the platonic relationship that were often overshadowed by uncompelling romance.
Spellbook of the Lost and Found has been a book I've been meaning to read for ages. This atmospheric contemporary fantasy about friendship and magic sounded like the perfect book for me. Unfortunately, I didn't connect with Moïra Fowley Doyle's storytelling as much as I thought I would
Spellbook of the Lost and Found follows the perspective of three teens wrapped up in the mystery of a magical spellbook. The first, Laura, uses the spellbook with her friend to recover their lost diaries. The second Olive finds herself [] and finally Hazel []. The three's stories interweave as the consequences of using the spellbook mount and their live are
The biggest hurdle with getting into Spellbook for the Lost and Found was its abundance of characters. The story has three points of view and each pov character has an entire worlds of close friends siblings and other people mkinging it initially hard to keep track of everyone and their relationships with each other.
Another road bump in this book's storytelling was how Moïra Fowley-Doyle framed romance. Romance is a huge part of the story and the plot relies on teenage insta love and intense dramatic emotions to fuel a lot of the character conflict and intrigue. While this occasionally works especially the darker more fantastical edge of the romance Laural and her friends have with the mysterious Jude. In Olive and Hazel's chapters, the rushed and melodramatic nature of their romances filed to connect with me. While our characters were feeling all these massive emotions about the people they liked I never felt swept away in that maelstrom of teen romance.
Despite those hiccups, I did enjoy aspects of the story, especially in its second half. While Fowley Doyle's romances didn't do much for me the friendship and sibling relationships explored in this novel were very well done. This book explores the ways relationships drift can apart overtime and how people fight to stay with each other in spite of that.
The individual character arcs were also solid. Seeing Hazel deal with her grief and anger at her mother for abandoning her and her brother for their abusive father was sharply written and Doyle captured the guilt and ultimate catharsis of that dynamic really well
I also adored Olive and Rose's friendship. Olive's passionate love for Rose and her willingness to fight anyone in her name.
This book also had great small reflections on life. Like the way Olive reflects on how much closer she's allowed herself o get to her sister after Rose became distant and the newfound connection she had with her because of that
I will say while the lightly speculative paranormal magic central to this book wasn't exactly my thing I could see anyone fond of which stories that see the magical in the mundane and use magic as a metaphor and storytelling device rather than something tangible or literal will enjoy this book. Fowley Doyle's ability to evoke a creeping dark magical atmosphere was brilliant and added d to the tension of the story well.
Overall I think I liked moments in Spellbook of the Lost and Found rather than its totality. I think its characters were well rendered and themes well executed but with we got more about the platonic relationship that were often overshadowed by uncompelling romance.