... (Book one not being about vampires at all but werewolves!)
I tell you all this so that you can better understand my frustration at the novel I did in fact read: Dime Store Magic. Obviously if I had realised I would have started with Bitten but I didn't which goes some way to explain my ... Read review
On the surface,Dime Store Magichinges on a common domestic situation. Typically rebellious ... more
teen Savannah is constantly butting heads with protective guardian mother Paige Winterbourne. But the standard teen traumas pale in comparison to Savannah's diff...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
On the surface, Dime Store Magic hinges on a common domestic situation. Typically ... more
rebellious teen Savannah is constantly butting heads with protective guardian mother Paige Winterbourne. But the standard teen traumas pale in comparison to Savannah's di...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
On the surface, Dime Store Magic hinges on a common domestic situation. Typically ... more
rebellious teen Savannah is constantly butting heads with protective guardian mother Paige Winterbourne. But the standard teen traumas pale in comparison to Savannah's di...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
On the surface,Dime Store Magichinges on a common domestic situation. Typically rebellious ... more
teen Savannah is constantly butting heads with protective guardian mother Paige Winterbourne. But the standard teen traumas pale in comparison to Savannah's diff...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
On the surface, Dime Store Magic hinges on a common domestic situation. Typically ... more
rebellious teen Savannah is constantly butting heads with protective guardian mother Paige Winterbourne. But the standard teen traumas pale in comparison to Savannah's difficulties. To begin with, her mother Eve, a black witch, was murdered, and now evil telekinetic half-demon Leah O'Donnell is trying to gain custody of her, by means fair or foul. Standing in Leah's way is Paige, a rather typical twentysomething entrepreneur, trying to come to terms with this motherhood thing--that, and her status as leader of the American Coven. Welcome to East Falls, a sleepy small town outside Boston that turns out to be a hotbed of occult activity. Dime Store Magic is a thoroughly entertaining supernatural thriller. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dime Store Magic features a contemporary setting and outwardly normal characters. This device provides scope for humour and social satire, and Kelley Armstrong proves adept at both. For instance, there's Savannah's observation that "all the best sorcerers are lawyers. Well, until they get older and become politicians." In fact, a young sorcerer lawyer, Luis Cortez, becomes Paige's and Savannah's best ally in the fight against the evil forces terrorising them. In Dime Store Magic, the third in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, following Bitten and Stolen, she displays a nice ear for dialogue, an imaginative way of describing the differing characteristics of witches, demons and sorcerers, and skill in piling on the suspense, which adds up to one fun read. --Kerry Doole, Amazon.ca
Postage & Packaging:£2.75 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
On the surface, Dime Store Magic hinges on a common domestic situation. Typically ... more
rebellious teen Savannah is constantly butting heads with protective guardian mother Paige Winterbourne. But the standard teen traumas pale in comparison to Savannah's difficulties. To begin with, her mother Eve, a black witch, was murdered, and now evil telekinetic half-demon Leah O'Donnell is trying to gain custody of her, by means fair or foul. Standing in Leah's way is Paige, a rather typical twentysomething entrepreneur, trying to come to terms with this motherhood thing--that, and her status as leader of the American Coven. Welcome to East Falls, a sleepy small town outside Boston that turns out to be a hotbed of occult activity. Dime Store Magic is a thoroughly entertaining supernatural thriller. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dime Store Magic features a contemporary setting and outwardly normal characters. This device provides scope for humour and social satire, and Kelley Armstrong proves adept at both. For instance, there's Savannah's observation that "all the best sorcerers are lawyers. Well, until they get older and become politicians." In fact, a young sorcerer lawyer, Luis Cortez, becomes Paige's and Savannah's best ally in the fight against the evil forces terrorising them. In Dime Store Magic, the third in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, following Bitten and Stolen, she displays a nice ear for dialogue, an imaginative way of describing the differing characteristics of witches, demons and sorcerers, and skill in piling on the suspense, which adds up to one fun read. --Kerry Doole, Amazon.ca
Postage & Packaging:£2.75 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
On the surface, Dime Store Magic hinges on a common domestic situation. Typically ... more
rebellious teen Savannah is constantly butting heads with protective guardian mother Paige Winterbourne. But the standard teen traumas pale in comparison to Savannah's difficulties. To begin with, her mother Eve, a black witch, was murdered, and now evil telekinetic half-demon Leah O'Donnell is trying to gain custody of her, by means fair or foul. Standing in Leah's way is Paige, a rather typical twentysomething entrepreneur, trying to come to terms with this motherhood thing--that, and her status as leader of the American Coven. Welcome to East Falls, a sleepy small town outside Boston that turns out to be a hotbed of occult activity. Dime Store Magic is a thoroughly entertaining supernatural thriller. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dime Store Magic features a contemporary setting and outwardly normal characters. This device provides scope for humour and social satire, and Kelley Armstrong proves adept at both. For instance, there's Savannah's observation that "all the best sorcerers are lawyers. Well, until they get older and become politicians." In fact, a young sorcerer lawyer, Luis Cortez, becomes Paige's and Savannah's best ally in the fight against the evil forces terrorising them. In Dime Store Magic, the third in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, following Bitten and Stolen, she displays a nice ear for dialogue, an imaginative way of describing the differing characteristics of witches, demons and sorcerers, and skill in piling on the suspense, which adds up to one fun read. --Kerry Doole, Amazon.ca
Postage & Packaging:£2.75 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
...I did in fact read: Dime Store Magic. Obviously if I had realised I would have started with Bitten but I didn't which goes some way to explain my thoughts herein…
Firstly I can't for the life of me see the comparison between Kelley Armstrong and Anne Rice. Anne's novels are full of historical and geographical research transporting you backwards and forwards through land and time with ease and obvious knowledge. The 'ew' factor in a ... .../>
The ISBN on Dime Store Magic: 1-84149-323-6 My paperback copy was free (after a fashion) but is priced at £6.99 on the jacket. A quick browse on Amazon and eBay and it seems to go for roughly £1.50/£2.00 plus P&P on both sites.
Paige Winterbourne leads a normal life, holding down a career in her own small company, bringing up her orphaned niece Savannah. The pairs world is turned upside down when Paige has to face up to the possibility of losing custody of Savannah to her long lost father. For not only is he an all powerful sorcerer but he comes with the half demon who killed Paige's own mother in tow… oh did I forget to mention?
Paige is a witch. Not an old wrinkled, wart ridden hag of folklore - no, Paige is a wise cracking, butt kicking young witch for the noughties.
I discovered this novel when I ordered a set of four Kelley Armstrong books as part of my freebie offer when recently joining a book club. (Yeah, yeah I know. I'm paying for it now!) The other three books were entitled: Bitten, Stolen and Industrial Magic. The BC editors quote was: (…and I quote) "Praise for Kelley Armstrong. A cross between Anne Rice and Buffy." Being an avid Anne fan, I needed no further prodding to click the little box and order my set.
Going by the little write up on this set I had assumed that these books were comprising the first two novels of two separate series. One being on vampires - the other on witches. As this was what Anne Rice is also famous for I decided to start on what I had 'assumed' to be the first novel in the witch series. It wasn't until after I had finished the novel and subsequently visited Ms. Armstrong's website that I realised the books I had received were actually one whole series entitled Otherworld and that the book I had started with was in fact book three. (Book one not being about vampires at all but werewolves!)
I tell you all this so that you can better understand my frustration at the novel I did in fact read: Dime Store Magic. Obviously if I had realised I would have started with Bitten but I didn't which goes some way to explain my thoughts herein…
Firstly I can't for the life of me see the comparison between Kelley Armstrong and Anne Rice. Anne's novels are full of historical and geographical research transporting you backwards and forwards through land and time with ease and obvious knowledge. The 'ew' factor in a lot of A.R novels is just that, say it out loud 'EWWW!' There is a lot of insight into the occult and within this book but it is not really gorey to me, merely set the scene. The book I have just read is good in it's own right but is set in the here and now and honestly more comparable with the TV series Charmed than any Anne Rice novel I have read. I spotted somewhere that Armstrong took the name Paige from a character in Charmed so is obviously a fan and I have to say it shows. That's not a bad thing - I just wish that the people that write the recommendations for books didn't mislead people and just label anything remotely spooky as 'like Anne Rice.' It's deceiving and therefore wrong.
The tale itself is basically a custody battle with a twist - the twist being the sorcerer solicitors, the waking dead, the naked wiccans dancing on the lawn - usual custody battle stuff.
As I read this novel I found it a tad predictable in places. Not in a totally bad way just in the same way when you watch Buffy, Angel, Charmed or anything of that type. You just know that after a really good build up the baddie is going to be disposed of really easily and in impossibly and disappointingly quick way.
The character of Paige is herself quite a good one but as I said before there are obvious similarities to the girls in Charmed which I found quite hard to ignore. Paige is the narrator to the entire novel with the story being recounted as it were in past tense. This style is good in a way because you get to see the thoughts and feelings of this character that is going through so much. However it has the drawback of not allowing you to see what all the other characters are thinking and feeling which I thought was a shame - especially in the case of Savannah. Also in a scene where Savannah goes through a particularly distressing time Paige decides she is not going to describe it fully because "it broke my heart the first time, and even thinking about it now is enough to bring me to tears." Well excuse me but when I read this type of book I want all the gory details. Call me sick but I do and that statement just left me thinking 'WHAT?'
Annoyingly the death of Paige's mother, the desertion of Savannah's mother to the dark magic, her kidnapping and subsequent death are all touched upon by Paige within this novel but with frustratingly little detail however, upon perusing the website I realise that this is because it's all what happened in the previous novels. As I had been misled into reading this novel first - as I believe a lot of people would be going by the blurb and just picking this up in a bookstore - it left what would have been an unputdownable book with something lacking.
I have come across this problem often. For example I would love to read the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels but where do you begin? Would it be so hard for authors or publishers to simply put a number on the spine of a book?
So to conclude. I found this novel a good diversion from real life. It was an enjoyable bit of supernatural fluff but it lacked something as a stand alone novel. I am now going to go back and start from the beginning of the series so I must have enjoyed the book enough to carry on. Perhaps reading the first three will bring a whole new dimension to this one. However if you enjoy Anne Rice and buy this book solely on that recommendation I believe you will be disappointed. If you enjoy Charmed et al you will love this.
I can very easily imagine this being picked up by some American syndicate and airing on our screens on a Saturday night. It reads like a template for Buffy/Angel/Charmed - again not saying that's a bad thing but I'm glad I didn't pay full price.
www.kelleyarmstrong.com is well worth a visit - there is a lot of personal input and interaction is invited. Also previews of upcoming novels and release dates abound.
The ISBN on Dime Store Magic: 1-84149-323-6 My paperback copy was free (after a fashion) but is priced at £6.99 on the jacket. A quick browse on Amazon and eBay and it seems to go for roughly £1.50/£2.00 plus P&P on both sites.
Advantages: good as part of the series or as a stand alone book Disadvantages: has been compared to 'Charmed' a bit too often
I picked this book up on the off chance that it might be good, having never heard of Kelley Armstrong before (and therefore had never read any of her previous books), and I have to say, it was more than good.
The Book
***********
The story is told by Paige Winterbourne, a witch, but not your everyday, pointy-black-hat, haloween witch. No, Paige is a normal 23 year old girl with ambitions and hopes, faults and feelings just like everyone else, ... ...in her blood. Oh, and the pre-adolescent ward she has just accquired. Aside from the usual teenage riots that every parent/guardian has to go through, ("Can I have a cell phone?" "Yeah, when you have a job and can afford to pay the bills!") Paige also has to come to terms with the fact that Savannah's now deceased mother, (Eve Levine), practiced dark magic and was also a half-demon, giving the girl an interesting viewpoint on magic and how it should ...
aphenderson 03.11.2006 (24.11.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
Advantages: Develops other characters introduced in the second book Disadvantages: Not about the werewolves this time
I love it when an author decides to continue writing books based in a world already created, but takes the opportunity to develop other, previously secondary, characters and give them stories of their own.
In this, the third book in the series, Paige has returned to her life with the Coven taking Savannah with her to be trained, however the Coven Elders don't take to Savannah, despite her Aunt being one of them. So when Leah appears on the scene ... ...to take custody of Savannah, Paige is told by the Elders that she should let her go.
Paige finds out that the person suing for custody is claiming to be Savannah's father but she is suspicious and vows to fight the battle. However when the Cabals get involved and bring in a couple of half-demons and a necromancer to take custody of Savannah, Paige's home town suddenly gets a rude awakening to her nature and everything starts to go horribly wrong.
...
dracoiratus 31.12.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
Advantages: book 3 of 6 Disadvantages: not as good as the first two
i have to say i was realy looking forward to reading this book as the first two in the series, "Bitten" and "Stolen" were very good.
i was disappointed to discover that this book mostly sets the scene for book 4 "Industrial Magic" and only has a few of the original characters from the first two books in it.
the first two books in the series concentrate for the most part on werewolves which i really enjoyed and had a very strong lead female role ... ...was quite wishy washy and actually a bit pathetic.
i would recomend this book if you are planing on reading books 4-6 and i have to say that the characters from this book do get better in the future books and a lot more of the characters background is explored and explained in the other books.
its a not a book i'll be rushing to read again but i have kept it as part of my collection. ...
jillys29 06.09.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
