Review: Magic Bitter Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg

So this is a lovely book that I got on a daily deal, and although I read this a while ago, I decided to re-read it because it was so intriguing!

Its such a sweet book, that mixes tiny little bits of fairy tales in as well, which made it all the better.

Here it is:

Maire is a baker with an extraordinary gift: she can infuse her treats with emotions and abilities, which are then passed on to those who eat them. She doesn’t know why she can do this and remembers nothing of who she is or where she came from.

When marauders raid her town, Maire is captured and sold to the eccentric Allemas, who enslaves her and demands that she produce sinister confections, including a witch’s gingerbread cottage, a living cookie boy, and size-altering cakes.

During her captivity, Maire is visited by Fyel, a ghostly being who is reluctant to reveal his connection to her. The more often they meet, the more her memories return, and she begins to piece together who and what she really is—as well as past mistakes that yield cosmic consequences.

From the author of The Paper Magician series comes a haunting and otherworldly tale of folly and consequence, forgiveness and redemption.

This is actually the first book that I'd read from Charlie Holmberg, but after this I went out and bought some of her others - and now her Paper Magician series is one of my favourites. After re-reading it made me adore the book even more than I did before! I picked up a lot more things than I did the first time round, and some of the things I picked up had me wondering how I didn't notice them.

One of my favourite parts of this book was the fairy tale references dotted throughout - I didn't catch that on the first read until part-way through but the second time round I really picked up on it and it was so much better because of that. In case you were wondering, some of the ones included were Hansel and Gretel and the Gingerbread Man tales.

I admit, the plot did frustrate me a bit the first time I read this - but only because you couldn't guess where it was going, and it did leave you a while before explaining what exactly happened to Maire, but it was actually a well written book - I just get frustrated when I can't guess what will happen.... but I guess that's actually a good thing for most people! I think I preferred the re-read because I knew what was happening and it gave me time to really pick up on things I may not have the first time around.

Most of all though, I loved how it all wrapped up in the end and I adored the epilogue the most of all. It really let you guess what had happened to Maire and fill in the gaps the way you wanted to, which is my favourite way of ending books.

Overall, 4.5 cats to this book!

Have you read this? Do you agree with me about it/did you guess what would happen? Comment below!

ARC Review: The Plastic Magician by C. N. Holmberg

I got an advanced e-copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review that will follow.

I absolutely adored the Paper Magician series by this author, and as soon as I saw this available on Netgalley I just knew I had to have it - and luckily I was accepted!

Here it is:

Alvie Brechenmacher has arrived in London to begin her training in Polymaking—the magical discipline of bespelling plastic. Polymaking is the newest form of magic, and in a field where there is so much left to learn, every Polymaker dreams of making the next big discovery.

Even though she is only an apprentice, Alvie is an inventor at heart, and she is determined to make as many discoveries—in as short a time frame—as she can. Luckily for her, she’s studying under the world-renowned magician Marion Praff, who is just as dedicated as Alvie is.

Alvie’s enthusiasm reinvigorates her mentor’s work, and together they create a device that could forever change Polymaking—and the world. But when a rival learns of their plans, he conspires to steal their invention and take the credit for it himself.

To thwart him, Alvie will need to think one step ahead. For in the high-stakes world of magical discovery, not everyone plays fair…

I absolutely loved jumping back into the world that Charlie Holmberg created, as I adored the Paper Magician trilogy when I first read it, in fact after this I'll probably go back and re-read them. However, it was definitely nice to get a spin off with a whole lot of new main characters and to learn about the totally different field of Polymaking - atleast compared to the Folding magic we learnt about in the original trilogy. I did like the little cameo Ceony made though, only small but it was great to see a little glimpse of her in this book!

While starting this I did worry about meeting a new MC after I loved Ceony so much, but I ended up loving Alvie just as much - she was such an interesting character. She constantly gets lost in her thoughts and gets random big theories pop into her head at some inopportune moments, but she was definitely her own character and built some amazing relationships.

I admit, I guessed quite early on who the antagonist would be in this book - but quite a lot of the time I do have a sixth sense for that kind of thing in both books and TV shows. This character though gave me the heebie-jeebies right away so I was always going to be wary of him. It was also quite obvious who the love interest would be to me, but I was happy about that! Everyone deserves a romantic interest, and this pairing was so cute that it had me routing for them from their first meeting. I also liked that the romance fit in nicely with everything and didn't overshine the main plot of the book.

Overall, definitely a great foray back into the world of magicians, and I was so glad to have got an advanced copy. I give this book 5 cats!

Have you read any of the books in this series? Comment below!