Review: An Inheritance of Magic

An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with an early copy. Below you'll find my honest review.

I'm really struggling to review and rate this one, as there were so many pros but a few big cons as well, so bear with me.

First, the good things: I liked the main character. I could relate to his struggles and his feelings of isolation and inadequacy. I also liked some of the other characters, especially the cat and the priest. I also loved the uniqueness of the world-building and the magic system. I felt by the end that I had a good grasp on it. I also loved the first 10% and the last 15% of the book.

Unfortunately, there were quite a few big issues I had with the book. It was a lot of world building but not much character building. Most of the characters felt underdeveloped and lacking depth. I also felt like the explaining of the magic system was a little repetitive, and in addition, from the 10% mark to the 85% mark, very little actually happened. Go Well hunting, build/try a new sigl, comment about needing money, repeat.

You know how Patricia Briggs started her Alpha & Omega series with a novella that felt full and complete, but was edited well and still built the characters and the world appropriately? I feel like this story was all setup without much payoff.

All in all, I like the world and the magic system, and I'll definitely read the next one to see what happens next and if, now that the world is developed, we get more out of book two.

Three stars. Recommended to fans of urban fantasy who like unique magic systems and rooting for the underdog. Not recommended for readers who don't like slow burns and lots of world building/quasi-info dumping.

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