Don't let my 3.75 star dissuade you from picking this up. It was an enjoyable journey full of magic, friendship and mystery with a slight steampunk element to it.

I enjoyed the fact that one of the MCs was Muslim and the other gay. The characters all brought something to the table and there was a nice element of found family. I liked the magic system and the fact that it was set in 1905/06 in Ireland - a setting you don't usually see as it's usually London. The plot was interesting - that the secret society of Magus was split down the middle, with its own politics and factions. 

However I did feel that most of the big things were happening off screen and it was more or less the main cast reacting to things after they had happened - with no real reason to? And sometimes i felt things were forgBut my biggest issue was that I personally didn't feel a connection or resonate with any of the characters and would have liked more backstory and angst between Jonas and Diego. I didn't feel like they were two people who had romantic feelings for each other because they didn't act like it at all. 

Sometimes I felt this was a  middle grade story as Ezra seemed younger than he was supposed to be, but there were also moments when it obviously wasn't middle grade. 

But overall it was still a fun read, and I enjoyed the story and the world it was set in  and I'll be sticking around for the sequel.