[amazon_link id=”0670023663″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : The Thinking woman’s Guide to Real Magic
Author : Emily Croy Barker
Genre : Fantasy
Publisher : Pamela Dorman Books
Publish Date : August 1st 2013
Pages : 563
Source : Publisher
Rating : 3/5

Nora Fischer is working on her dissertation for graduate school. Life isn’t going well; Nora’s chosen topic is all researched-out, her accomplished advisor is disdainful of her efforts, and Nora’s boyfriend has let her know that he is marrying someone else. Out attending another wedding, Nora falls through a magical portal and is transported to the most heavenly place. She meets lovely, kind people, is turned from drab to fab herself, and her life is an endless succession of the most delectable parties.

After a while, she realizes, with the help of the magician Arundiel, that her luxurious life is a sham, propped up by strong magical spells. She herself is entranced by the Faitoren and their powerful evil queen Ilissa. The real world here in magic-land is realistically drab, low-tech, sans indoor plumbing, strongly patriarchal and not very open to the idea of male-female equality. Shorn of her finery and the spells that made her breath-takingly beautiful, Nora falls into the role of castle help at Lord Arundiel’s castle – she weeds the garden, mucks out the chicken house, cooks. By and by, gruff Arundiel helps her learn rudimentary magic. However even he, powerful magician that he is, may not be able to stop the Faitoren as they make another attempt to regain Nora.

I’m not one for magic; dragons/other fantastical creatures are not my thing. I don’t read fantasy/paranormal books unless there is some other draw to them. When I looked at this book though – a rational, modern woman of this world encounters magic – it seemed like the perfect melding of the fantastical with the practical. I was hoping for a new, refreshing (somewhat rational) female point of view on the fantastic but this isn’t the book the title hints at. Nora is not quite the “thinking” woman, and for a grad student, she does not seem to question or analyze very much. She isn’t taking the specter of magic head on; rather we lapse into the age-old familiar tropes – the older, rakish, rude man-savior and the young innocent girl who has a thing for him. Arundiel spends his day in his “tower” while Nora cooks and cleans – so much for the grad degree.

Taken purely from the fantasy view-point (and paying no heed to the title) this book is a decent read. The author creates her magic world and it’s people with care. There is magic and wizardry and there is a distinction between them. There are also court politics and kingly battles. I liked Nora, even though she is not the strong heroine that I imagined that she would be. She does have times where her independent spirit comes roaring back, and she does have gumption. Arundiel is a good guy, although you have to guess at his heart of gold, so gruff and rude is he to Nora. Ilissa was a lovely fanciful creation, all old-world glam mixed in with evil – nicely done. Also while I’m a little disturbed 🙂 at the fact that the romantic interest has to be a doddering old codger, I did like the slow, organic development of the romance. There were some interesting asides too, like the one dealing with how inequality of the genders is built into the language itself, and the interesting, humorous use of poetry to feed an “ice-demon”.

On the negative side I did find Barker’s characters inconsistent; variations in attitude and demeanor seemed thought up on a whim, without a strong basis to them. This is a weighty tome and is the first of a series; it actually ends with a lead-in for the sequel. I found the book pretty long and needing editing; that might have sped up the laggardly pace a bit. I’m a little disappointed that this is not the tale of the bold new woman turning magic on it’s head, but it might be the thing for lovers of the fantasy genre.