Review: Magic By Any Other Name

Magic by Any Other Name

Written by: Alison Levy

SparkPress

2023

An emotional young adult fantasy, Magic By Any Other Name shows what it means to find your own family and the resilience to come out of trauma.

One of the more interesting parts of the story was the characterization and the way the story flowed. For me, the character dynamics was the strongest aspect of this story.

Gripping Characters

Magic By Any Other Name follows Georgette, whose original name was Ivy O’Reilly. Part of a magical family, she was subject to a lot of emotional abuse, especially by her narcissistic mother. When her mother arranges a marriage for her to a shady character, for lack of a better word, Ivy decides this is the moment that she’s had enough. In the middle of the night with her wood nymph friend, she sneaks out, flees the country, and changes her name.

I really like how the story breaks apart POV’s and slowly introduces more and more characters. You have a vampire, a werehyena, and a Valkyrie, just to name a few, and it’s exciting to see how they all put their differences aside to form a bond with Georgette as she builds her new identity and life.

As Georgette reflects on her past, you know you are seeing a lot of the trauma that she has to deal with, a lot of the abuse, emotional, sometimes physical, that she suffered at the hands of her mother. Through her relationships, she’s finding her strength because she has to put aside some of her own trauma to undo some of the damage her witch community has done to all these magical and fantastical creatures communities.

She sees so much beyond herself and is forming her own family and learning about real love. She’s learning what real family is all about, which is the story’s most powerful aspect.

And I really like how the other characters are seeing her as well. But you’re also seeing the way the other characters change. They all have this persona about them, but they are growing and evolving throughout the story, making for a thoughtful narrative.

Final Thoughts

The pacing, I will say, is a little slow, but the author makes up more than that with her solid characterization and character dynamics. Magic By Any Other Name is a really thoughtful and moving story about moving on from trauma and abuse and breaking that cycle to have a happy ending.

Cynthia Ayala

Cynthia Ayala-Bujnicki majored in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College. Editor-in-chief of Cyn's Workshop, she loves to read and write while tending to her pepper plants. She currently lives in South Florida with her husband, two kids Dante and Selene and two furbabies Mr. J the Kitten who Thinks He's Batman (yes, that is his full name) and Nyx.