Review: The Magi by Kevin Turner

Title: The Magi
Author: Kevin Turner
Publisher: Smashwords
Publish date: October 2011
Source: I received a copy from my author. This did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a young adult fan.
• You like magic.
• You like adventure.

What's the Story?: 

From Goodreads.com: "Thirteen-year-old Elijah Hawk has never heard of the Magi. He doesn't know about the secret power they have. He has never been to Savenridge, the Magi city hidden deep inside the northern forests. Most of all, Elijah is unaware of the dangers hunting him, in search for something he has. After one terrifying night, however, all of that changes!

On a quest to solve the murder of his parents, Elijah stumbles upon the land of the Magi. Learning their secrets and training with their power is the least of his problems. In order to find out why his parents were killed, Elijah learns that he must confront the dangers that are hunting him. What's more terrifying is learning that stumbling upon this new world of the Magi may not have been an accident afterall."

My Two Cents:

Let me just start out by saying that you all need to read this book. If you're a fan of books like the Harry Potter books or just a fan of a good story, you need to read this book. I really, really enjoyed this book. The Magi is the first book in a planned 5 book series. This book is a young adult book and would probably be enjoyed by readers as young as 12 or 13. The book is wonderfully accessible for so many levels of readers.


The world building in this work is great. The world is very familiar with an element of magic interwoven throughout the story in a way that makes it believable. The people in this book have amazing powers but Turner does a really wonderful job of sort of "normalizing" the magic and making it really believable. 


Elijah is a character that I really found myself drawn to. You have to feel bad for him. His parents and his sisters are mysteriously killed even though Elijah is allowed to escape. Then the uncle that takes him in is mysteriously arrested. Elijah is then sent to a boarding school in Canada, where everything isn't what it seems. Elijah has a lot to learn about this new world that he is forced to live in. He dives right in and doesn't seem to be scared at all. That's a lot to say for a 13 year old!


I think that anyone who is looking for a book that will really pull you in, this is a great pick! I can't wait for the other books in the series!