Review: Wonderstruck (Magic in Manhattan #3) by Allie Therin
Book Reviews / C Reviews / C- Reviewsfantasy m/m romance / Historical Fantasy4 Comments
Don’t miss the stunning conclusion to Allie Therin’s Magic in Manhattan series!
New York, 1925
Arthur Kenzie is on a mission: to destroy the powerful supernatural relic that threatens Manhattan—and all the nonmagical minds in the world. So far his search has been fruitless. All it has done is keep him from the man he loves. But he’ll do anything to keep Rory safe and free, even if that means leaving him behind.
Psychometric Rory Brodigan knows his uncontrolled magic is a liability, but he’s determined to gain power over it. He can take care of himself—and maybe even Arthur, too, if Arthur will let him. An auction at the Paris world’s fair offers the perfect opportunity to destroy the relic, if a group of power-hungry supernaturals don’t destroy Rory and Arthur first.
As the magical world converges on Paris, Arthur and Rory have to decide who they can trust. Guessing wrong could spell destruction for their bond—and for the world as they know it.
Magic in Manhattan
Book 1: Spellbound
Book 2: Starcrossed
Book 3: Wonderstruck
Review:
Dear Allie Therin,
This appears to be a conclusion to “Magic in Manhattan” series. I say appears because blurb says so, I have no idea whether the next book will be coming in Rory and Arthur’s adventures and if it will be I am not sure if I will invest in it or not. I say it because unfortunately my enjoyment of this trilogy went down instead of up with every new book. I loved the first book, liked the second book quite a bit but not as much as the first one and this one I overall liked the least.
Initially I was bored, then when the story picked up the pace and was entertaining I was annoyed at “oh I need to tell you a very important thing, but of course I will not, because – I am afraid to lose you and it is not fair to you, etc, etc, etc”. I had been there, read that too many times and do not get me wrong sometimes this works, but, man, the character better have a *very* good reason to be quiet and here as far as I am concerned well, he really did not have that good a reason.
At least I understood why I was irritated with the “I am not talking ” plot development, but I could not understand why first quarter of the story I was bored and then the feeling of the boredom kind of returned at the end after the story climaxed and then it dawned on me. I did not feel like I got enough of the payoff. I mean hunting the magical relics was something that I found fun and very promising in the first book and do not get me wrong, all the villains got punished here and good guys fully prevailed, but I was not really seeing what effect this all had on the world as a whole. It is hard to explain, but I almost felt like saying “that’s it?”
It is quite weird that I felt that way, because last quarter of the story was quite suspenseful, but somehow I was still disappointed with the ending. I guess the relics themselves disappointed me. I know that those things became very destructive for paranormals in the world of these books, but it still did not quite work for me.
I was confused about Gwen and Ellis in the second book. Sadly I am even more confused about them after the third book ended. I guess they are supposed to have the shades of grey but still do the right thing, but I was still confused as to why they had to choose the means they chose in order to do the right thing.
I still like Rory and Arthur, although their chemistry somehow diminished for me as well.
C-/C
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I really wanted to like this series more than I did. It had all of the elements that I love – mismatched MCs, 1920’s setting, diverse cast, magic relics. But I agree with you that it just didn’t quite come together. I liked this book more than you did – I found the 2nd one to be the weakest, but I was frustrated by the MCs’ repeated dynamics of nobly keeping secrets that of course blew up in their faces. Also going places alone while people are trying to kill them, which never ends well either.
I hear there is a spin-off series in the works – not sure if I’m on board or not.
“unfortunately my enjoyment of this trilogy went down instead of up with every new book” — This was my experience as well. I haven’t actually finished the third book (yet?…) because I struggled to get into it despite liking the characters and overall premise. It was too easy for me to stop reading it and get distracted by other books instead. Maybe I’ll give it a few months and then try rereading the whole series together to motivate me to finish it, because I would like to know how the overarching plot concludes.
I enjoyed all the series, but did get aggravated by the stubbornness of the two. Then again, Rory had good reason to hide his secrets and not trust people, so perhaps I was a little more forgiving.
@SusanS: Oh. Depends on who is spinning I guess – which character I mean. Not sure myself.@JPeK: Absolutely. I mean when the book grabs me, I can disregard some things, or not disregard but still enjoy the story. First one grabbed me. This one did not mostly.@Random Michelle: I did not mind Rory keeping secrets all that much, but really minded Arthur doing so in this book, you know?