Blue Magic by A.M.
Dellamonica
Published: Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC, 2012
Series: Blue Magic
Series, Book 2 (Sequel to Indigo Springs)
This is the second
book in a series, and therefore this review will contain spoilers of the first
book, Indigo Springs.
The Book :
“In Indigo Springs, Astrid
Lethewood and her friends discovered a well of vitagua—liquid magic—that
changed them all forever. Vitagua,
which has been cursed and sealed away in the ‘unreal’ by Fyremen, has the
potential for incredible power and equally incredible destruction. Now Astrid is the world’s only
‘chanter’, the only person who can control the vitagua and enchant magical objects
for use by others. She has decided
that her role will be to usher magic back into the world, and to do the least
harm to the least number in the process.
Many others don’t
share Astrid’s vision of the future. Beings who were trapped in the unreal are
eager to make their way back into the world as quickly as possible, regardless
of the cost in human life. Astrid’s former friend Sahara has gone insane from
vitagua contamination and has created a destructive cult. The ancient magical cult of Fyremen is
determined to burn all magic.
Furthermore, the world’s governments see magical contamination as
terrorism, and they intend to stop both Sahara’s cult and Astrid’s magical well. Can Astrid help the world reach the
‘happy after’, or is her optimism just a dream?” ~Allie
I loved the
world and magic of Dellamonica’s debut novel, Indigo Springs, so I was happy to see that she was continuing the
story in this sequel, Blue Magic. I’m
not sure if there will be more novels in the future of this urban fantasy
world, but I think the setting still has a lot of potential for interesting
tales.
My Thoughts :
Blue Magic builds on
the story and characters of Indigo
Springs, so it’s a good idea to have read the first novel recently when you
get started on this one. There are
some reminders of who’s who, what has happened so far, and the rules of
vitagua, but I think it would have helped if I’d had all of that fresh in my
mind. Blue Magic is much more
action-oriented than Indigo Springs,
and I felt that it relied on the reader already having an emotional investment
in the main characters. Indigo Springs took place in a small
town, and it put a lot of focus on the development of a few main characters and
their relationships with one another. By necessity, Blue Magic is a much larger story, with many more characters and
locations. This seemed to affect
the depth with which each place and character could be explored.
Unlike Indigo Springs,
Blue Magic’s story was told
chronologically, through four viewpoint characters. Both Astrid Lethewood, the well witch, and Will Forest, the
criminal negotiator, were carried over from Indigo
Springs. Astrid’s parent, Ev
Lethewood, gave the reader eyes into the ‘unreal’, where contaminated people
waited impatiently to be freed. Another
interesting addition to the story was Juanita Corazon, who provides a
perspective on the trial of cult-leader Sahara Knax and the government response
to vitagua contamination.
I most enjoyed Juanita and Ev’s viewpoints, but for different reasons. Ev’s story was interesting to me
because it showed a relatively elderly character still exploring his own identity. I thought it was especially interesting
to see a character deal with an apparent conflict between his past behavior and
current self-knowledge. Juanita,
on the other hand, I found interesting due to her proximity to almost every
powerful group in the story. She was
everyone’s favorite pawn, so she had the opportunity to see a bit of the
workings of each group. I was
interested in learning more about the Fyremen through Juanita, but the
organization seemed to be frustratingly one-dimensional. The other two characters
were slightly less engaging to me. I loved Astrid as the heroine of Indigo Springs, and I still love her
personality. However, the
increasing power of magic and prophecy put me off of their interactions a
little.
I think that vitagua magic in Indigo Springs was close to the edge of being too powerful, and it
may have crossed the line in Blue
Magic. I liked the idea that
objects had inherent magical tendencies, and you could only enchant an object
to do a particular thing. However,
as Astrid grew more powerful, she became able to enchant any object to do
essentially anything. In Indigo Springs, magical power was still
limited by the need for energy to produce magical results. This requirement was loosened early in Blue Magic, when Astrid’s team developed a technique to wind energy into
magical batteries. When you add in
Astrid’s determination to remove the ‘taint’ from magic, it seemed like those with
the ability to use vitagua were basically becoming omnipotent. In that same vein, Astrid’s knowledge of
the future was becoming more powerful and reliable as well. In a sense, Astrid “spoiled”
several plot points of her own story by talking about the future. However, Astrid did not know
everything, and there were several major surprises, good and bad, both for both
her and the reader!
My Rating :
3.5/5
Blue Magic was an
exciting, magical story. I think
it would be best read shortly after Indigo
Springs, in order to have the rules of the world and the major characters
still close in mind. It was
a much larger story than Indigo Springs,
with many characters and locations, and lots of wide-scale action. The story was told through four point
of view characters, each with a unique position or perspective. Though I still
enjoyed the idea of the magic system, I’m not sure if I liked how close to
all-powerful vitagua magic was starting to become. Also, I was not really fond
of the role Astrid’s knowledge of the future played in the story this time
around. While I might not have
liked it quite as much as Indigo Springs,
I am eager to see what Dellamonica will write next.
