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A review by asterope
Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong
3.0
I had a craving for urban fantasy. I first read these books years ago when I was in school. They're super fun and witchy! Dime Store Magic is lot more low-stakes than I remembered, but I do like the focus on the found-family relationship between main character Paige and her ward, Savannah. I still haven't read the first two books in the series that introduce these characters, but honestly you can get by without them. There's quite an infodump at the beginning of this book to catch you up on previous events, however it does veer into overexplaining Paige's emotions a bit. It's written in the style of her internal monologue which is a little annoying at times, but I'm not really reading this for the writing.
The world in this series is built from the traditional magical beings like demons, necromancers, witches, sorcerers, shamans, etc but places them in present day. Paige's coven is constantly in fear of being discovered and the Cabals have complex regulations so they avoid human interference. Although you do have to keep in mind that this book was published in 2004 - the gender roles of the supernatural are a bit traditional for my current tastes.
I remember not liking Paige as a main character before, but I've changed my mind now. She's headstrong and determined without having that bland fantasy MC personality, and genuinely cares about her fellow witches. And considering the circumstances, you can forgive her for being overwhelmed and unsure she's making the right decision. When I was a teenager, I considered being 23 to be fairly 'grown up'. Obviously now I know better! The book has a great theme of Paige vs. the old establishment too. That being said, I did find it odd how she went from "this man is not my lawyer" to suddenly deciding to track Lucas down and pay him. Things kinda jump around in the first quarter of the book, but they're smoothed out after that.
I always liked Lucas - he's a calming and focused presence in the chaos of Paige's life. The book definitely picks up once she learns to trust him. Before that the mysterious parts of the plot are quite frustrating to read. He also introduces some very interesting elements of worldbuilding around Cabal politics, which if I remember correctly, will be picked up in the next book.
This first book in Paige's story is definitely focused on building up her relationship with Savannah and their new little family with Lucas. The plot is mainly there to define the characters and push them together in times of trouble. It's nothing overly special, but exactly what the series needs before things escalate even further in the next book. Looking forward to starting that soon!
The world in this series is built from the traditional magical beings like demons, necromancers, witches, sorcerers, shamans, etc but places them in present day. Paige's coven is constantly in fear of being discovered and the Cabals have complex regulations so they avoid human interference. Although you do have to keep in mind that this book was published in 2004 - the gender roles of the supernatural are a bit traditional for my current tastes.
I remember not liking Paige as a main character before, but I've changed my mind now. She's headstrong and determined without having that bland fantasy MC personality, and genuinely cares about her fellow witches. And considering the circumstances, you can forgive her for being overwhelmed and unsure she's making the right decision. When I was a teenager, I considered being 23 to be fairly 'grown up'. Obviously now I know better! The book has a great theme of Paige vs. the old establishment too. That being said, I did find it odd how she went from "this man is not my lawyer" to suddenly deciding to track Lucas down and pay him. Things kinda jump around in the first quarter of the book, but they're smoothed out after that.
I always liked Lucas - he's a calming and focused presence in the chaos of Paige's life. The book definitely picks up once she learns to trust him. Before that the mysterious parts of the plot are quite frustrating to read. He also introduces some very interesting elements of worldbuilding around Cabal politics, which if I remember correctly, will be picked up in the next book.
This first book in Paige's story is definitely focused on building up her relationship with Savannah and their new little family with Lucas. The plot is mainly there to define the characters and push them together in times of trouble. It's nothing overly special, but exactly what the series needs before things escalate even further in the next book. Looking forward to starting that soon!