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paragraphsandpages 's review for:
When We Were Magic
by Sarah Gailey
I really really wish half stars existed because this book is a total 3.5. I enjoyed it and I loved a lot of it but I was just missing something. I honestly just entirely agree with Jaye's review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3143922374).
There is a lot of good and great about this book. The magic in this book is so loose and unrestrained and that's honestly so rare to see these days, as everyone's trying to outdo each other with increasingly complex magic systems. It was nice to see magic just exist and for the cast to have absolutely no idea what was going on either, and to see them learn more about it together/with the reader. It means there's not that much to guide readers' understanding of the magic, but honestly that wasn't too big a problem. I also just loved the group's friendship, from how they found each other to how in tune they were to each others emotions and needs, you could tell they all really cared about each other. This is what we mean when we say we want more positive, female friendships! Follow this example!
This book was also so gay and I loved and needed that so much. I also love that not everyone is labelled and boxed off either, and there's lots of room for unsurety and exploration and just, love, I guess? For that matter, I really loved Alexis's dads, and how their relationship and parenting styles were portrayed (having two dads doesn't mean you have two identical parents! and that's shown so well here), and then there was Alexis and Roya and their endless pining. It wasn't always super cute but I loved it and it was just, really good rep overall. Also... Paulie. I just love her so much (and honestly see a lot of myself in her? both in terms of personality and... general confusion about identity). I just loved reading about her so much, and how she wasn't just boxed into some identity and that was it.
But then the whole book also felt like it was missing something. The conclusion came on really fast and the resolution/climax didn't seem to fit the amount of build-up. I'm fine with the whole magic system not really being explored further or explained, but it honestly felt like it was building up to some sort of explanation, and I just felt a bit lost and confused at the end, thinking "that was it?"
Anyways, even though this wasn't perfect, it was gay and it was magic and I highly recommend it! (Though, definitely big on the gore, especially in the beginning. So keep that in mind!)
There is a lot of good and great about this book. The magic in this book is so loose and unrestrained and that's honestly so rare to see these days, as everyone's trying to outdo each other with increasingly complex magic systems. It was nice to see magic just exist and for the cast to have absolutely no idea what was going on either, and to see them learn more about it together/with the reader. It means there's not that much to guide readers' understanding of the magic, but honestly that wasn't too big a problem. I also just loved the group's friendship, from how they found each other to how in tune they were to each others emotions and needs, you could tell they all really cared about each other. This is what we mean when we say we want more positive, female friendships! Follow this example!
This book was also so gay and I loved and needed that so much. I also love that not everyone is labelled and boxed off either, and there's lots of room for unsurety and exploration and just, love, I guess? For that matter, I really loved Alexis's dads, and how their relationship and parenting styles were portrayed (having two dads doesn't mean you have two identical parents! and that's shown so well here), and then there was Alexis and Roya and their endless pining. It wasn't always super cute but I loved it and it was just, really good rep overall. Also... Paulie. I just love her so much (and honestly see a lot of myself in her? both in terms of personality and... general confusion about identity). I just loved reading about her so much, and how she wasn't just boxed into some identity and that was it.
But then the whole book also felt like it was missing something. The conclusion came on really fast and the resolution/climax didn't seem to fit the amount of build-up. I'm fine with the whole magic system not really being explored further or explained, but it honestly felt like it was building up to some sort of explanation, and I just felt a bit lost and confused at the end, thinking "that was it?"
Anyways, even though this wasn't perfect, it was gay and it was magic and I highly recommend it! (Though, definitely big on the gore, especially in the beginning. So keep that in mind!)