Line's Reviews > Mafia and Magics

BR with the lovely Beth<3

It is no secret that I've enjoyed the 'Aberrant Magic'-series immensely!
The first book was tough, yes, but it was REALLY clever and Darren and Kavon were fucking, FANTASTIC MCs.
Book 2 to 4 cemented it for me, and the humor and the worldbuilding and the skills/grit of the MCs and Bennu made me a big fan.

It was a surprise when I actually noticed that this book is not about Darren and Kavon.
I'm not really upset though, since their relationship is definitely solid, and I thought it would be cool to see other people navigate in this really comprehensive world.

And yes, I would love more stories with these two, but I do see the point in introducing another couple after 4 books, again: because this world really is so comprehensive!
They ARE solid, but let's be honest, sometimes it's nice to 'stop at the top' or take a break or whatever, so we won't get fed up with the 'same' stories again and again.

And let me just start by saying that I was a fan of Angel from the get-go!
This dude had 'Streep-smarts' (seriously I have Sandy from The Queen & the Homo Jock King on the brain, and I kept calling it that, since it was SO damn accurate!) coming out his wazoo...
He was funny, strong and self-aware in a way that we rarely see -IMO.

My biggest issue with him was his 'dilly-dallying', when he agreed to work for both the FBI and Luschese.
We have a situation at one point, where Angel (view spoiler)[uses magic to torture a 50-year-old called Vin, who has brain damage, because Luschese asks him to.
And you could argue that in the situation Angel couldn't do much, since he would be killed if he didn't do what he was asked. BUT Angel had the opportunity to help the FBI, and instead he kept telling himself he just needed to find an escape, while at the same time being more and more entangled in the mob-side of things. (hide spoiler)]
If you have triggers of the violent kind, I think you should check the spoiler.
But all in all, Angel won me over by being (mostly) smart and hardcore.

Matt was great in another way. His beliefs and idealism hit JUST the spot for me. It cannot be easy being the son of a mob-boss, when you don't believe in, or support any of that lifestyle.
Matt was yet another character that was incredibly self-aware, which I really loved.
*Edit: And as Beth pointed out to me: Matt going lawyer-crazy later on was kind of great! This dude had cojones!

The reason this was not a 5-star read for me, was the length of this book and some of the things skipped.
Like Vin's reactions later on, and I would have loved to actually 'see' Angel's training with Rima (and Luschese?). But it wasn't part of the story and I missed that, since Angel's affinity for magic -supposedly- is something special.
This book was around 170 pages and adding 25-30 pages describing -for example- the training would have cemented it for me.
Especially because some things were perfectly described, while others were mentioned, but not used.
It was this weird combiation of TOO much detail sometimes, and SUPERFICIAL story-telling at other times.
The 'love-story' was another example of 'a tad too superficial' for me.
I do not understand when Angel and Matt had time to fall in love (and WHY since they didn't really talk). And their smexy times happened at really weird times (especially towards the end).

My final rating hovers around 3-4 stars, and I'll leave it at 4 since this world is incredibly clever, but I did have some issues with the abovementioned things and the 'spoiler' that dragged it down for me.

Overall though, this was a very SOLID addition to the 'Abberant Magic'-series. I loved seeing Darren, Kavon and Bennu through someone else's eyes.
And the next one (no matter the couple) will be a one-click buy for me!