Grabbed another SPFBOX participant from my group and, while Magic on the Cards was unfortunately cut, I wanted to highlight that this book is Fun. Fun. FUN.
It is pure, urban fantasy fun. Urban Funtasy? Whatever. I had a blast reading it.
Sunday is a witch putting down roots in the Blue Mountain town of Kurranderra, Australia. Called to aid two vampires in their hunt for a local elder wreaking havoc (see: murdering) locals, we learn the rules of this world in a clean and quick opening chapter. Witches work their magic through tarot. Their magic aligns with the cards of the Minor and Major Arcana and the elements they represent. Following? Good, because it goes deeper from there.
This is witches versus werewolves, sassy, full-of-themselves vampires, elemental magic, and quirky neighbors rolled into one helluva summer read. While the focus is on the plot: hunting down the elder (a centuries-old vampire gone mad/feral) terrorizing the Blue Mountains, there are the beginnings of a romantic sub-plot between our sworn enemy MCs, Sunday the Cartomancer, and Conal the werewolf, that I’m sure is further developed in the next book.
Beyond the stellar cast of characters, each as unique as a fingerprint, the most impressive feat was how clearly and well Finlayson lays out a rich, developed magical world in 382 pages. Many of the tropes are here: a Vamp Queen, leather-clad femme fatales, a hive in a big city, and opulent wealth countered against our FMC witch scraping by to build a home and a life for herself.
This is a world where the preternatural is known and fitting itself among the mortal pieces into as close of a symbiotic existence as you can get with all these critters mucking about.
Need a quick, enjoyable read that doesn’t skimp on the world-building and magic rules? Magic on the Cards is that book. I’m definitely sliding book 2 onto the TBR for a post-heavy-read brain binge.
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