taisie22's review
4.0
Leilani is a Common, only able to use the Strains for the simplest of Beggar Magic. She becomes friends with a Highmost, Zebedy, a girl who the Strains talk to. Together, they must solve the mystery of what is happening to cause the Strains to disappear.
This is an enjoyable YA or maybe MG fantasy, perhaps a little too young for me. The book has a slow start and action doesn't pick up until the middle of the story. I also wish it had been made clearer what the Strains actually were and how they worked; it's an interesting concept that was never really fleshed out.
Leilani is a great character, feisty and compassionate, but I never warmed up to Zeb. She came across as spoiled and whiney. I never felt she helped solve the mystery of the Strains; indeed, she often held Leilani back. I liked both Brick and Vickers, the two male characters who end up helping the girls.
I give this 3 and 1/2 stars.
This is an enjoyable YA or maybe MG fantasy, perhaps a little too young for me. The book has a slow start and action doesn't pick up until the middle of the story. I also wish it had been made clearer what the Strains actually were and how they worked; it's an interesting concept that was never really fleshed out.
Leilani is a great character, feisty and compassionate, but I never warmed up to Zeb. She came across as spoiled and whiney. I never felt she helped solve the mystery of the Strains; indeed, she often held Leilani back. I liked both Brick and Vickers, the two male characters who end up helping the girls.
I give this 3 and 1/2 stars.
petersont4's review
4.0
This is another great book by H. L. Burke. I liked the idea of the magic in this world being biased toward one group of people. Normally I’m stories with magic, the magic is always unbiased and has no character. Burke used this novel to explorer the idea that the magic itself has personality. She doesn’t go into much detail with their personality, but she has setup a world to build a story around the magic itself. She also does a great job building the other characters in the book. Zeb and Leilani’s relationship grew significantly throughout the book, and I liked how they had a lot of real feelings toward each other. It wasn’t always perfect, but showed conflict between them with the friendship holding together throughout.
thomasray's review
3.0
This book only disappointed me in one way, and that was the magic. But as far as the rest goes, it was pretty great.
snaomiscott's review
5.0
It's quite rare for me to give a book five stars, so when I tell you that this one deserves all five of them I'm not messing. I've previously read (and enjoyed) indie author H. L. Burke's fantasy series, The Dragon & The Scholar, so I already had some strong expectations when I started Beggar Magic, and it's fair to say that her latest work has exceeded those expectations.
This novel is set in a world where a form of magical energy known as the Strains exists, and can be manipulated by the citizens to varying degrees. The Highmost have the most control over the Strains, while the Common can only use the Strains to a much lesser degree, referred to as the Beggar Magic of the title. And then there are the Wordless, those who never had (due to deafness) or have lost (as a result of causing a violent death) their ability to hear the Strains. This disparity has led to a society of two layers, with the Highmost occupying a more privileged position, while the Common and the Wordless are treated almost as vassals by their apparent superiors.
The story follows the adventures of a Common Weaver's daughter (Leilani) and a Highmost student (Zebedy) as they meet, form a friendship and work together to uncover and attempt to stop a plot that threatens to silence the strains forever. Along the way the two girls find love, help to break down the barriers of social standing and overcome a number of challenges to their friendship.
Overall I found this to be a fun read, with likeable characters and a well-paced and easily read story that kept me hooked from start to finish. The fact that the main characters are bound to win out and get through their adventures in one piece is almost guaranteed from the start, simply due to the style and genre of story being presented; I personally think it would be shocking beyond belief if the author killed off any of her protagonists because her writing (so far) simply hasn't shown any of that sort of darkness. That isn't to say there aren't any surprises or deaths, but for me the surety that the good guys will prevail is a welcome relief from all the dystopian, tragedy filled YA works doing the rounds at the moment.
With Beggar Magic H. L. Burke once again shows that self-published fiction can be an absolute pleasure to read, and I genuinely recommend this and the author's earlier works to anyone who likes their fantasy with a subtle hint of humour, a strong sense of fast-paced adventure and an unwritten promise that the primary good guys are almost certainly going to make it to the end in one piece and live happily ever after.
This novel is set in a world where a form of magical energy known as the Strains exists, and can be manipulated by the citizens to varying degrees. The Highmost have the most control over the Strains, while the Common can only use the Strains to a much lesser degree, referred to as the Beggar Magic of the title. And then there are the Wordless, those who never had (due to deafness) or have lost (as a result of causing a violent death) their ability to hear the Strains. This disparity has led to a society of two layers, with the Highmost occupying a more privileged position, while the Common and the Wordless are treated almost as vassals by their apparent superiors.
The story follows the adventures of a Common Weaver's daughter (Leilani) and a Highmost student (Zebedy) as they meet, form a friendship and work together to uncover and attempt to stop a plot that threatens to silence the strains forever. Along the way the two girls find love, help to break down the barriers of social standing and overcome a number of challenges to their friendship.
Overall I found this to be a fun read, with likeable characters and a well-paced and easily read story that kept me hooked from start to finish. The fact that the main characters are bound to win out and get through their adventures in one piece is almost guaranteed from the start, simply due to the style and genre of story being presented; I personally think it would be shocking beyond belief if the author killed off any of her protagonists because her writing (so far) simply hasn't shown any of that sort of darkness. That isn't to say there aren't any surprises or deaths, but for me the surety that the good guys will prevail is a welcome relief from all the dystopian, tragedy filled YA works doing the rounds at the moment.
With Beggar Magic H. L. Burke once again shows that self-published fiction can be an absolute pleasure to read, and I genuinely recommend this and the author's earlier works to anyone who likes their fantasy with a subtle hint of humour, a strong sense of fast-paced adventure and an unwritten promise that the primary good guys are almost certainly going to make it to the end in one piece and live happily ever after.
ebdawson's review
4.0
This book had a lot of good things going for it. The writing, while never exceptional, is very clean and strong and the story glides along easily. The whole concept behind the story is fascinating, but while Burke flushes out a lot of implications of the magic system she created, I felt like she missed opportunities to explore the subtle implications.
It's a fun, clean YA story with characters who feel real. But I did not enjoy it as much as I wanted to. From the book description and the first chapter or two, I confess I thought the story would go in a much different direction. But I fully admit that I am probably not the target audience for this book.
If you are a fan of clean YA fantasy you should definitely check this one out!
It's a fun, clean YA story with characters who feel real. But I did not enjoy it as much as I wanted to. From the book description and the first chapter or two, I confess I thought the story would go in a much different direction. But I fully admit that I am probably not the target audience for this book.
If you are a fan of clean YA fantasy you should definitely check this one out!
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