A review by kiwi_00
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sarah Gailey cooked. There is such a good balance of romance, mystery solving and magic related issues that keeps the plot moving so it doesn't get boring. The characters that Ivy interacts with are such interesting representations of tropes around school settings such as
the popular and unpopular sibling duo, teen pregnancy, the creepy male high school teacher, the older female teacher who's seen it all
, it's so interesting how Ivy manages discussions during the investigation to push or pull an individual to say the right amount of information. Even though there are a lot of moving parts, Gailey does a really good job of keeping everything neatly tied together.
  • Romance aspect of the story-
    I enjoyed the flirtations and dates of Rahul and Ivy and I wish that they had one final discussion about how she messed up and a possibility of fixing it (I wanted them to end up together), it was a shame that her inferiority complex towards her sister got in the way
    .
  • Mystery- Brilliantly done especially because the investigation is not some Sherlock Holmes/Hercule Poirot investigation where only they could have solved it. Since everything is so realistic and Gailey takes care to make sure that the details in the story align well enough that when particular details stuck out to me, I was trying to solve the mystery alongside Ivy even though I ended up being way off. Once the perpetrator is revealed and gives an explanation, it makes so much sense why
    Tabitha did what she did but I was surprised that Ivy didn't say anything. Tabitha losing two people that she loves to cancer broke her mind and she was willing to do anything to save Sylvia even though she ended up killing her. Harbouring the feeling  (and then finding out that Ivy blamed her) that she was somewhat responsible for her mother's death and then conjuring a plan to remove all the cancer from Sylvia? Despite being the perpetrator, you can't help but feel sympathetic
  • Magic- I liked how realistic it was, it felt so different to other stories about magic on a school campus.
    It was more akin to science and even then just physics theory. I liked how in the background magic stuff was in comparison to the rest of the story especially the part about a prophecy and a 'Chosen One'
    . I think not
    being able to do magic
    is such an integral part of Ivy's inferiority complex towards her sister which helps to make Ivy feel more human than a perfect detective who solves every single case with no issues.
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