A Touch of Magic

A Touch of Magic by Gregory L. Mahan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another book I got for free as a Kindle download and surprisingly quite good. All you really need to know about the storyline is this: At the age of fourteen, Randall Miller receives the shock of his life when he discovers that he has the talent--for magic! Unfortunately for him, on Tallia, magic is illegal and the penalty is death.

As for why I liked it, but what prevented it from getting 5 stars. This is a well written book that flows nicely. I read it in two evenings. I really like the character development of Randall - he feels very real. And he is just like a teenager. When he does something wrong, he goes into the depths of despair (with quite a bit of humor). When he does something right, he tends to go overboard and cause chaos. As the story progresses, he does a lot of growing and maturing. Yet it never feels forced, it all flows very naturally as a consequence of his experiences. I also enjoyed the author's humor. Not to over powering, but enough to make the book very enjoyable and cause me to chuckle out loud several times. I also enjoyed how Mahan (the author) made an old subject (boy discovering he has magic powers) into his own and created a believble world with it.

One thing I didn't enjoy overly was the gore. Thankfully, nothing too graphic. But definitely geared more towards boys than girls. And Randall's ability to walk away from some of these encounters so nonchalantly stretches belief for me.

I also didn't like the lack of depth to other characters. I'd like to know more about what Berry is. I'd like to know more about Randall's mother and Erliand. I'm hoping that some of this depth will be explored in future books.

Kindle Edition: A Touch of Magic