kblincoln's review against another edition
4.0
Kestrel (actually Susan, but she didn't like that it meant "lily" and so changed it) is in Jurupa, California living with her Aunt Ariel, a hippy-dippy white witch after she is sent away because her father needs time to recover from a heart attack.
In Jurupa, Kestrel, black-wearing and a huge chip on her shoulder, immedaitely attracts the wrong kind of attention from the Richard Milhouse Nixon High School's in crowd.
Hazing and Bullying ensue. While Kestrel started out as a white witch, she is now tempted to ask the universe for bad things to happen to her enemies.
But when she follows Ariel's advice by looking underneath the bad behaviors for deeper motives, she finds the universe itself is there waiting to bring her friends: Jose, a tactiturn incredible artist, Laura a friend interested in witchcraft, and Blake Crump, bully-turned-protector.
Kestrel's voice is fun and engaging, her problems cringe-worthy, and her slow gathering of friends truly wholesome and psychology-wise new agey good.
However, I wasn't completely satisfied by the all story threads tied up neatly in a perfect package ending. I felt the happy ending didn't quite do justice to the unfair and difficult relationship she had with her parents, or the wonderful and romantic relationship her Aunt develops with her friend Jose's older brother.
In otherwords, the ending was rushed and I wanted all these wonderful characters to have time to play out their stories.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: Bread and Butter Pickles for the compulsive fun of reading the story, but for feeling a little bit like something wasn't quite satisfied by the ending.
In Jurupa, Kestrel, black-wearing and a huge chip on her shoulder, immedaitely attracts the wrong kind of attention from the Richard Milhouse Nixon High School's in crowd.
Hazing and Bullying ensue. While Kestrel started out as a white witch, she is now tempted to ask the universe for bad things to happen to her enemies.
But when she follows Ariel's advice by looking underneath the bad behaviors for deeper motives, she finds the universe itself is there waiting to bring her friends: Jose, a tactiturn incredible artist, Laura a friend interested in witchcraft, and Blake Crump, bully-turned-protector.
Kestrel's voice is fun and engaging, her problems cringe-worthy, and her slow gathering of friends truly wholesome and psychology-wise new agey good.
However, I wasn't completely satisfied by the all story threads tied up neatly in a perfect package ending. I felt the happy ending didn't quite do justice to the unfair and difficult relationship she had with her parents, or the wonderful and romantic relationship her Aunt develops with her friend Jose's older brother.
In otherwords, the ending was rushed and I wanted all these wonderful characters to have time to play out their stories.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: Bread and Butter Pickles for the compulsive fun of reading the story, but for feeling a little bit like something wasn't quite satisfied by the ending.
dukesangel002's review against another edition
3.0
Majix is the engaging journey of a teen girl. She's being forced out of her home and into the home of an aunt she never met before. She's angry and frustrated, and tries to use her magic to get revenge. But through-out her journey in this new city, she will soon discover that the universe has another plan in mind. This was a fun light-hearted tale, that will teach Kestrel that the universe really does have her best interests at heart, and that even the most unexpected people can end up doing a lot of good for your life.
This book was definitely written for a younger target audience, but I still really enjoyed going back to those awkward days of high school, and I can't help but wish that I had an awesome aunt like hers to help me along the way. There really was some great characters in this book. There was fun references to the occult, other religions, and other's practices, but all handled tastefully.
There was times the book seemed a little bland to me, but I was still engaged with what was happening to the characters, and it all came together well in the end. It was a quick read that would be fun for middle school aged children to dive into.
This book was definitely written for a younger target audience, but I still really enjoyed going back to those awkward days of high school, and I can't help but wish that I had an awesome aunt like hers to help me along the way. There really was some great characters in this book. There was fun references to the occult, other religions, and other's practices, but all handled tastefully.
There was times the book seemed a little bland to me, but I was still engaged with what was happening to the characters, and it all came together well in the end. It was a quick read that would be fun for middle school aged children to dive into.
fojee's review
5.0
First of all I had a witch phase in high school which could have made this cringe-worthy. I wasn’t impressed with the title because Majix sounds like those pretentious names teens use to sound different. But I trusted in Douglas Rees and I was not led astray. Even at her whiniest, the main character is likeable. Trust in Douglas Rees and try this book.
hdbblog's review
3.0
Going into this book I knew that Kestrel (a.k.a Susan) would be one of those characters that tends to see the negative side of things, and therefore ends up sounding whiny. The synopsis showed me this before I even had a chance to open the book. Let it be known that this generally puts me off a book. I know it's awful, but I often can't find the power to see from that person's point of view. In this case, however, I decided to go ahead and give Kestrel a chance. I reminded myself that often when a book starts out this way there tends to be an ending where the character grows and learns.
Lo and behold, I was right! Although I won't spoil the ending for anyone who has this book on their TBR list, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with it. Once I was able to get past Kestrel's rather bleak outlook on things the book really picked up. Kestrel learns quickly that her negativity won't solve anything in her life. The reader also gets to see more into her past and why she feels the way she does now. Within the pages are lessons about life, about optimism, and about the simple adage that you "reap what you sow".
The characters in this book didn't necessarily fall flat for me, but they didn't really allow me to become invested in them either. I did enjoy reading from Kestrel's point of view after a while, especially once I saw what a wit she actually had. However the other characters were just in existence to revolve around Kestrel. I thought of it as a painting, where everyone else was flattened into the background and Kestrel was the only item in the foreground. Even though they were a central part of her life in Jurupa, there wasn't really too much revealed about Laura, Jose and Blake. I'm sure the length of the story probably contributed to this fact, but it made the reading difficult for me. I am the type of reader that needs to be invested in my characters.
In the end, I did enjoy Majix: Notes from a Serious Teen Witch enough to finish it and actually ended up teary eyed at the ending. The biggest struggle was definitely learning to look at things from Kestrel's point of view. It is a quick read, and I would definitely recommend it as a library book!
Lo and behold, I was right! Although I won't spoil the ending for anyone who has this book on their TBR list, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with it. Once I was able to get past Kestrel's rather bleak outlook on things the book really picked up. Kestrel learns quickly that her negativity won't solve anything in her life. The reader also gets to see more into her past and why she feels the way she does now. Within the pages are lessons about life, about optimism, and about the simple adage that you "reap what you sow".
The characters in this book didn't necessarily fall flat for me, but they didn't really allow me to become invested in them either. I did enjoy reading from Kestrel's point of view after a while, especially once I saw what a wit she actually had. However the other characters were just in existence to revolve around Kestrel. I thought of it as a painting, where everyone else was flattened into the background and Kestrel was the only item in the foreground. Even though they were a central part of her life in Jurupa, there wasn't really too much revealed about Laura, Jose and Blake. I'm sure the length of the story probably contributed to this fact, but it made the reading difficult for me. I am the type of reader that needs to be invested in my characters.
In the end, I did enjoy Majix: Notes from a Serious Teen Witch enough to finish it and actually ended up teary eyed at the ending. The biggest struggle was definitely learning to look at things from Kestrel's point of view. It is a quick read, and I would definitely recommend it as a library book!
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