The Allure of the Lost: A Review of Spellbook of the Lost and Found, by Moira Fowley-Doyle

Magic is a fascinating concept.  An invisible, unknowable force that will somehow allow normal people to accomplish extraordinary things.  The wizards in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series can conjure creatures, fly, teleport, and more.  Going back to the middle ages we can find stories of alchemists attempting to create homunculi through arcane spells.  Even farther back, ancient Greece had the oracles, young women who could commune directly with the gods.  There are still those today who believe in magic, but the magic they believe in is very different from what came before.  Instead of wizened crones serving the village, we have the internet.  Instead of elderly wizards studying in towers, we have teenagers holed up in their bedrooms.

2017 Reading List, Part 4

Welcome back for Part 4 of my 2017 Reading List, as I lay out the many books I have read this year.  In Part 3, I wrote about Outriders and Sungrazer by Jay Posey, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Camino Island by John Grisham, and The General History of the Pirates by Captain Charles Johnson.  Today, the four books I am presenting are all connected by the world of video games, either through fiction or journalism.  In another break from tradition, the last book on today’s list is a self-published novel; a format which does not garner much critical attention, often for a good reason.