| From Amazon: In Abby’s world, magic isn’t anything special: it’s a part of everyday life. So when Abby learns that she has zero magical abilities, she’s branded an "Ord"—ordinary, bad luck, and quite possibly a danger to society. The outlook for kids like Abby isn’t bright. Many are cast out by their families, while others are sold to treasure hunters (ordinary kids are impervious to spells and enchantments). Luckily for Abby, her family enrolls her in a school that teaches ordinary kids how to get around in a magical world. But with treasure-hunting kidnappers and carnivorous goblins lurking around every corner, Abby’s biggest problem may not be learning how to be ordinary—it’s whether or not she’s going to survive the school year! Full disclosure dictates that I reveal my dislike for the "magic" genre. I'm not a fan of Harry Potter or the Percy Jackson books, but both of those series seem much better than Ordinary Magic. Early on, this one felt like a reverse of Harry Potter, which might have been an interesting premise, but it never lived up to what I thought it would be. |
Author Caitlen Rubino-Bradway also had an opportunity to experiment with discrimination in these pages, but the social aspect of that topic was never developed as I expected, either.
Instead, the story follows the same process as most others in this genre: it simply takes the main character through a series of problems, and never really comes to the climax that it should. The ending, which admittedly may be the most difficult part of a novel to write, lies flat and comes quickly and quite matter-of-factly, obviously establishing a foundation for a (please, not another) sequel.
Instead, the story follows the same process as most others in this genre: it simply takes the main character through a series of problems, and never really comes to the climax that it should. The ending, which admittedly may be the most difficult part of a novel to write, lies flat and comes quickly and quite matter-of-factly, obviously establishing a foundation for a (please, not another) sequel.
