Series: Magic Born #2
Published by Carina Press on 2014-06-30
Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, UF
Pages: 214
Format: eBook
Goodreads
Book two of Magic Born
In 2066, the Magic Born are segregated in urban reservations. The laws do not protect them, or their allies.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Marsden is a powerful player in New Corinth politics, but a closely guarded secret could destroy her life—she's a hidden Magic Born. Her family has gone to great lengths to erase all her magic-related records, until a trancehacking outlaw discovers the last remaining one…
Vadim Bazarov smuggles Magic Borns through the underground railroad and threatens to reveal Elizabeth's secret unless she helps him access blank ID cards. Elizabeth wants to hate him for having a stranglehold on her life, but can't help being attracted to someone so sure of who and what he is.
Vadim initially sees her as a political ice queen, but is intrigued by her suppressed magical abilities. He trains Elizabeth to use her magic, and before long finds himself falling for her. But their newfound love may be shortlived; an anti-magic ordinance forces one of them to make a choice that will change both their lives for good.
86,000 words
FTC : I requested this from Net-Galley for a fair and honest review.
So, I requested this one as soon as I finished the first in the series and then life got in the way and I forgot about it. After reading this, I immediately went and got the next one. I loved it.
This is the story of forbidden love. Lizzie and Vadim are from two different social classes, separated by laws that would forbid their union. She doesn’t want to be magical and he initially wanted to blackmail her into helping his cause; it certainly doesn’t start as a traditional love story. Over the course of this book, I fell in love with them as a couple. I wanted them to work but there were evil forces at work that want to make their lives even more difficult (seriously, the majority of the “normals” in this book are arseholes). I couldn’t see how it would end well …
The first in this series is a must read if you want to read this book. It sets up the world, the social issues and the characters … basically, this book starts as if you can walk into knowing whats going on. For those not aware of it, I’ll sum it up. The Magic-Born are stuffed into caged cities, restricted by laws that see them as a different class to the “normals” and basically are treated as if they don’t matter. The “normals” have restricted their movement, their employment and their magic. Basically, “normals” suck. Magic-born and “normals” are not supposed to fraternize and so the premise of this series is clear. Yes, ladies and gents… star-crossed lovers all over the place!
Lizzie is a woman with a steel core. Shown from an early age how to suppress her magic with self-harm, she reacts badly to the appearance of Vadim. She sees him a threat to all that she knows, a threat to her safety and social status. Once he shows her how to own her magic, how freeing that part of herself that had been trapped for so long felt natural, she embraces his “lessons” with open arms. She turns his attempts at control to a business arrangement (I freaking loved that move) and dives head-first into magic and love. She was a vibrant character with depth; I liked her.
Vadim is a robin-hood character. He steals from the rich normals to feed the magic-born and will do anything he has to to ease some of their suffering. Lizzie was just another pawn to play at the start but she makes him hope for things that he never thought he could have. I always enjoy reading about more mature characters, their history always making them a little bit more fun to read about. Vadim was especially interesting due to the amount of layers he had… in my head, he is the ultimate bad-boy hero/silver fox/billionaire playboy (even though he isn’t a billionaire).
The story arc is a development from the first book, the richer, “normal” part of the population becoming more and more aggressive in their attempts to suppress the magic-born. I want to know where Sonya Clark is leading this world, what the end game is. I want them to tear those class dividing walls down but the end of this book leads me to think that that might not happen…I am hooked!
If you love dystopian fiction, PNR or just stories that have a sci-fi twist, I think you should give this a try. With its forbidden love central theme embedded within a wonderfully build magical world, I enjoyed this one from start to finish. I think I liked it more than book one but I loved that one too.
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