A review by lilifane
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The premise of this one was SO good: A violent death in a magical school. The protagonist Ivy, a private detective without any magical powers, whose estranged sister is one of the magical teacher, gets hired to find out what happened. This could have been such a cool murder mystery. 
Instead, it was just really weird and kind of boring? 
Beside the premise, I also loved some characters, like Rahul and Mrs. Webb. I also liked a tiny portion of the magic (the healing parts were so cool! I think these were the most exciting and thrilling scenes of the whole book), the queer rep and the setting kind of. 
But that's basically it. The whole investigation was random and full of boring teenager drama I didn't care for at all. The clues and red herrings were ridiculous, especially because it was kind of easy to guess who done it pretty early on. The decisions Ivy makes are the worst ever. The magic system is weird. I mean there are some cool parts to practical magic but the theory? The book lost me there. It just felt weird. And don't get me started on the romance plot...
I'm really torn because it felt like a more realistic take on a magical school, not another romanticized version. With teenagers acting like actual teens and a school which provides sex ed and contraception. I liked this a lot. It felt like the book was written for everyone who waited for their Hogwarts letter to arrive for half their life and finally gets to experience a magical school as a non-magical adult. And it's kind of disenchanting. Also, the way the Chosen One trope is handled here was actually really refreshing. 
But I was expecting SO much more from the actual mystery plot. 
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