Cheap Magic or Madness (Magic or Madness Trilogy) (Book) (Justine Larbalestier) Price

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Customer Reviews of Magic or Madness (Magic or Madness Trilogy)

Urban Fantasy treat
MAGIC OR MADNESS by Justine Larbalestier is book one of a trilogy. Reason Cansino lived the past fifteen years of her life with her mother Sarafina in the Australian outback, away from her witch grandmother Esmeralda. But when her mother suffers a nervous breakdown, she is sent to the very house she's feared the most--Esmeralda's. Reason's mother has told her horror stories about her grandmother and that magic doesn't exist. <
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>Esmeralda is nothing what Reason has expected. But one day she opens a door and finds herself in New York City. And realizes that magic is real. But not only that, but she's magic as well. <
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>I loved this book! I especially loved how the author shows that using and abusing magic comes with a price. A very heavy price at that. Reason meets others in New York City who seem to know more about her ability than she does. Jay-Tee, another girl who befriends Reason with ultimate motives of her own. And a strange man who reveals a secret that changes everything. <
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>MAGIC LESSONS is book two. This story continues with Esmeralda helping Reason, Jay-Tee, and Tom, a boy next door with his own gift of magic. Reason once more finds herself in New York City but with a presence after her. Is this presence evil or good? Reason finds help from the brother of Jay-Tee, while she struggles to not fall prey to the curse of her family. <
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>I enjoyed this book too but not as much as book one. What happens to Reason toward the end of the book I found hard to believe but hope the author will tie up the loose ends in book three MAGIC'S CHILD that comes out next year. <
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Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Reason Cansino has always been taught to fear her grandmother, Esmeralda. Reason's mother, Sarafina, has taken them all over Australia, mostly to remote Aboriginal settlements. Reason has only been to a real school once, but Sarafina has taught her lots of things, mostly math and some science. <
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>Reason has been happy with her life, but when Sarafina goes crazy--really crazy, as in trying to kill herself instead of her usual craziness consisting of things like making them walk in straight lines for days--all of that comes to an end. Reason is sent to live with Esmeralda in Sydney. She's expecting the dark, scary house of her mother's stories. The one where Sarafina's cat was murdered. The house where dark magic takes place--imaginary magic, of course, as Sarafina has always said that magic isn't real. It's too illogical. <
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>What Reason finds, however, is a spacious, light house, not at all witchy. There are no animal sacrifices in the living room, no bubbling cauldrons in the kitchen. That can't undo the belief that years of Sarafina's stories have created, though. Reason is sure that something is going on underneath the surface, and she's got to run away and get out of Sydney as soon as possible. She's got to rescue Sarafina from the loony bin where she's been locked up. <
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>Sydney's not all bad, though. Reason meets Esmeralda's neighbor, a boy about her age named Tom. She'll be sorry to leave him behind, but it looks like he's working with Esmeralda, and she's got to get away from the witch. <
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>Reason's escape from Sydney doesn't exactly go as planned. Instead of escaping with her mother and all of her supplies, Reason finds herself on a winter street in New York City, barefoot and with nothing, after stepping through Esmeralda's back door. <
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>She doesn't know how she ended up there, but she's grateful to Jay-Tee, the teenage girl who rescued her from the freezing, alien streets. She thinks that Jay-Tee is just a friendly passerby...But could there be more to it than that? What is going on? How did Reason step through a door from Sydney to New York? That's just not possible. What secrets are being hidden from her? <
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>MAGIC OR MADNESS is a wonderful novel from Justine Larbalestier, who's married to one of my favorite authors of all time, Scott Westerfeld. It's a fascinating story, and the way it's told is a little unconventional: some chapters are told in a first person point of view, in Reason's voice, and others are told in a third person limited point of view, from inside either Jay-Tee's or Tom's mind. These three different points of view could be confusing, but Justine Larbalestier pulls it off wonderfully. <
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>The story itself is quite a page-turner. I read this book when it first came out, and reread it after getting my own copy in paperback, and I loved it both times. The characters are all wonderfully realistic and interesting. Each answer Reason finds only leads to more questions, keeping suspense throughout the story. The writing is fantastic, and I'm really looking forward to the third book in the trilogy, [[ASIN:1595140646 Magic's Child (Magic Or Madness)]], coming in 2007! <
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>Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce

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Magical writing!
Magic or Madness is a story written from the perspective of a 15-year-old girl with magical powers who has been told all her life that magic doesn't exist. When she is confronted with magic, her world-view falls apart. Fortunately she has friends she can trust and learns more about how to navigate the sometimes dangerous magical world. <
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>The hero of this story, Reason, is a smart, idiosyncratic and sympathetic young person. The story unfolds quickly and is filled with suspense. Reason must find her place in a magical world, rather than continually try to explain things that happen in terms of. . . reason! <
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>It is clear that the author is among those who believe that one of the pitfalls of modernity is the over-reliance on reason. This adherence to a doctrine of rationality despite the evidence of the senses leaves its acolytes at the mercy of forces they cannot understand. But these ideas are in the background--the story and the spunky personalities of the characters are vital and undimmed by any ideology. A fun read!