Book of the Week: Rogue Magic by Kit Brisby #Review

Author: Kit Brisby
Book: Rogue Magic
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Publication date: January 30, 2017
Length: 81,000 words
Cover by L.C. Chase

Synopsis

While trapped in a stalled subway train on his morning commute, PR rep Byron Cole flirts with Levi, a young waiter with adorable curls. But Byron's hopes for romance crash and burn when Levi saves him from a brutal explosion—with outlawed magic.

When Levi is imprisoned, Byron begins to question everything he's ever believed. How can magic be evil when Levi used it to save dozens of lives? So Byron hatches a plan to save Levi that will cost him his job and probably his life. If he doesn't pull it off, Levi will be put to death.

Byron discovers that he isn't the only one questioning America's stance on magic. And he learns that Levi is stubborn, angry, and utterly enchanting. Time is running out, though. Byron must convince Levi to trust him, to trust his own magic, and to fight against the hatred that’s forced him to hide his true nature his entire life. The more Levi opens up, the harder Byron falls. And the more they have to lose.

Buy Links

Riptide Publishing

Amazon

Review

Magic is a wonderful thing. We’ve all wished to have powers at some point in our lives. Maybe you wanted to be able to move things without touching them so you vacuum without getting up from your comfy seat, or influence how they think so they’d let you in front of the super long line at the coffee shop… or even a power that would allow you to change your appearance so that costly hairdresser bill disappears. But what if magic isn’t seen as a fun awesome thing but a power that the government and society feel is sin or something that can get you sentenced to death? Would you still want to have magic? Would you hide it to stay safe or stand and fight for the rights of those that are born with it?

This story takes place in a world where magic is known and the people born with it are seen as subhuman and can even be sentenced to death for concealing it. There’s registrations, and children being taken away from parents who are known mages, and a company profiting off of their suffering. The struggle and the fight that each main character goes through in this book is not easy, each for different reasons, but all just as compelling.

Byron Cole goes through an awakening in this book. He has this set path in the beginning but meeting Levi and seeing him suffer through being caught hiding magic is one thing he can’t get off his mind. Levi is a mage with immense power that he’s been hiding his whole life. Never one to take the easy way out; he suffers for the one moment his power comes out to save others from death. Their relationship didn’t move fast but Byron’s feelings did. He was enamored with Levi from the moment they met and fighting to save him brought those feelings to the surface with a rush. I loved it, it gave him a heart and warmth that I didn’t immediately see from the start coming from him.

I love that this story, minus the magic as the thing that makes them subhuman, resembles our country right now. No, it’s not political or preachy but the parallel was one that was easily seen. I loved the secondary characters like Eleanor and Victoria who were both fierce and needed for this story to be what it was. Sam, Levi’s ex-boyfriend, was one character I felt wasn’t as fleshed out but I still loved his part of the whole thing because it added a little heart and humor to it.

The evil character(s) were purely psychotic and way more off their rocker than most bad guys are. But the real danger to mages they represented was important. Showing how there is only profit or fanatical beliefs at the center of everything that was done in the name of...yeah some tense moments were had when it looked like the bad guys were going to win. There were losses on the good side and some gains on the bad but in the end it was a HEA! I would love to read more not just from this author but even from this world...maybe Sam can find he forever?