An Unkindness of Magicians

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard, 354 pages

Unknown to the mundane world, there's an enclave of wealthy magicians living on the Upper East Side of New York City. Every 20 or so years, an event called The Turning takes place, ostensibly to shake up the magicians' power structure by allowing magicians from different Houses to challenge one another to progressively harder duels. While it has the chance to change, generally speaking it doesn't shake things up too much: the Merlin House has been in power for decades and relatively unchallenged in each Turning. But when The Turning comes early, it also brings the arrival of Sydney, an uber-powerful outsider who is bent on truly changing the way magic works.


Something seemed missing from this novel. It went quickly and was similar to a YA book in that sense, but it seemed like Howard skated over the surface when there was SO MANY depths that could have been plumbed. The backstory of The Turning, the role of the magicians in the wider world, how they all passed along their knowledge... and those are just the ones I can mention without spoiling anything. While I enjoyed the light page-turner (it brought to mind what Gossip Girl might be like if Blair Waldorf was a magician), I would have loved to see more depth. That said, this was an interesting concept for a novel, and there's plenty of fodder for discussion at the next Orcs & Aliens book group.