Review | An Unkindness of Magicians – Kat Howard

An Unkindness of Magicians has been on my want to read list for a while. And all of a sudden I came across the audiobook again and decided to just go for it. Every now and then I just pick a book and go for it! And I actually finished it in just a three days. So today I want to talk about it for a bit. Let’s dive in!

Cover

I think this is such a cool cover. It’s a bit of a bold choice because it might get overlooked but once people notice it I think they would really like it. The details are also gorgeous and I just love any type of white cover. For me this is a big hit and I would love to add it to my shelves.

Magic, at its heart, starts with sacrifice. You have to give up something to get something, and because magic is big, with all that it allows you access to, what you give up has to be big. It has to be meaningful.

Review

We get multiple POV in this adult fantasy set in New York City. First off all, I really liked the setting. It’s fun to have this world hiding in plain sight, like it might all be actually true. The magic system was also interesting! I like that the magic required a sacrifice and it wasn’t unlimited. Magic is starting to fail and magicians from different houses are going to battle each other to decide who’s going to lead them next. As you might know, magical competitions are one of my favorite tropes ever.

The magical competition was part of the plot but there was also a bit of a mystery element. Like I said, magic is starting to fail for the magicians and no one seems to know why that is. Most of the characters we get a POV from have a bit of a mystery going on themselves and I loved finding out more about all of them. Sydney was definitely my favorite character and I really disliked one of the other POV’s right away. I won’t say who I disliked because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think you’ll know who it is if you read the book haha. It was also fun finding out how everyone would come together and how the stories would connect to the overarching plot. I think that was very well done!

There were some fun twists and I definitely didn’t see them all coming! While I did really enjoy the story and the world, it didn’t wow me. It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly I didn’t absolutely loved it and I think it were just a couple of smaller things. While I liked the characters, I didn’t fall in love with them and will probably forget about most of them pretty soon. I was also hoping for more focus on the magical competition. For a standalone, I really enjoyed the story but I’m also very glad we’re getting a sequel. I can’t wait to spend more time in this world!

I feel like this review is all over the place haha. But I just wanted to touch upon all the elements I liked and the one I didn’t like as much. For me this was a very enjoyable read and I guess I don’t have that much to say about it. I would definitely recommend this one and think it’s a good book to read if you want to transition from YA fantasy to Adult fantasy. It’s not as dense as adult fantasy can be and for me it was a fast read!

I really enjoyed this adult fantasy novel. Once again I’m reminded I need to pick up more adult fantasy reads. I’m also extremely happy there will be a sequel! Have you read this book yet? Or do you plan on reading it? Come talk to me in the comments.