Magic Dark and Strange by Kelly Powell #bookreview #YA #fantasy

On By Teri PolenIn Book Reviews

The Bone Witch meets Sherlock Holmes in this thrilling historical fantasy about a girl with the ability to raise the dead who must delve into her city’s dangerous magical underworld to stop a series of murders.

Catherine Daly has an unusual talent. By day she works for a printer. But by night, she awakens the dead for a few precious moments with loved ones seeking a final goodbye. But this magic comes with a price: for every hour that a ghost is brought back, Catherine loses an hour from her own life.

When Catherine is given the unusual task of collecting a timepiece from an old grave, she is sure that the mysterious item must contain some kind of enchantment. So she enlists Guy Nolan, the watchmaker’s son, to help her dig it up. But instead of a timepiece, they find a surprise: the body of a teenage boy. And as they watch, he comes back to life—not as the pale imitation that Catherine can conjure, but as a living, breathing boy. A boy with no memory of his past.

This magic is more powerful than any Catherine has ever encountered, and revealing it brings dangerous enemies. Catherine and Guy must race to unravel the connection between the missing timepiece and the undead boy. For this mysterious magic could mean the difference between life and death—for all of them.

This cover immediately caught my attention, but it was the comp titles and a main character with the ability to raise the dead that made me request this book from NetGalley.

I especially enjoyed the time period and setting of this novel – it has the feel of a Victorian mystery.  The opening scene in the cemetery when Catherine awakens a dead women is absolutely gripping and had me excited to dive into the story.  Then I was disappointed that she never uses her magic again throughout the book.  The magic system isn’t explained, which left me with a lot of questions.  Although it’s mentioned several times in the description, it actually plays a small part in the overall story.

The characters are very charming, and the hints of romance between Catherine and Guy are sweet and accurate for the time period.  I liked how they became friends, bonded over the mystery, and helped Owen find his way.

At slightly over 200 pages, Magic Dark and Strange is a quick read and while I enjoyed this quiet mystery, I feel like a longer book could have offered more twists, higher stakes, and a deeper exploration of the magical system.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

27 thoughts on “Magic Dark and Strange by Kelly Powell #bookreview #YA #fantasy”

  4. I do like short works but am always disappointed when I feel they’ve left things out. There are so many well-executed short stories and novellas that leave me feeling it was just long enough, that I got everything I wanted from it. Overall, this sounds fairly good to me. I may give it a try.

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    1. Fall into *snort*. I couldn’t resist that one, Jacquie. A friend was telling me just last week about someone she knew whose job was to tend to headstones – cleaning, repair, etc. And I wondered the same thing about how you get into that line of work.

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  8. I like the stakes, Teri, (an hour of her life lost for each hour a ghost is brought back), but how odd that she doesn’t use the magic that’s presented at the start of the book. Hmmm. I think this one might frustrate me. Thanks for the thoughtful review.

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