Title: Wonderstruck
Series: Magic in Manhattan: Book Three
Author: Allie Therin
Publisher: Carina Press
Length: 255 Pages
Category: Historical Romance, Paranormal/Fantasy
Rating: 5 Stars
At a Glance: The found family, the friendships, the feelings of belonging to someone, and to something much bigger than yourself, are all here. Therin’s compelling characters and storytelling made loving this series effortless.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: New York, 1925
Arthur Kenzie is on a mission: to destroy the powerful supernatural relic that threatens Manhattan—and all the nonmagical minds in the world. So far his search has been fruitless. All it has done is keep him from the man he loves. But he’ll do anything to keep Rory safe and free, even if that means leaving him behind.
Psychometric Rory Brodigan knows his uncontrolled magic is a liability, but he’s determined to gain power over it. He can take care of himself—and maybe even Arthur, too, if Arthur will let him. An auction at the Paris world’s fair offers the perfect opportunity to destroy the relic, if a group of power-hungry supernaturals don’t destroy Rory and Arthur first.
As the magical world converges on Paris, Arthur and Rory have to decide who they can trust. Guessing wrong could spell destruction for their bond—and for the world as they know it.
Review: All good things must come to an end, as the saying goes, and Allie Therin has brought this trilogy and these characters to their inevitable conclusion with nothing less than the perfect blend of magic, danger, intrigue, and, of course, the romance between Arthur “Ace” Kenzie and Rory Brodigan—as lovable a pair of opposites as there ever was. This trilogy was sensational from the start, and I can’t think of a more fitting way to leave the world and these characters behind than with the wondrousness that is Wonderstruck.
The long arc of the series has always been to find Baron Zeppler and discover a way to destroy a magical artifact that would spell horror for non-magical humans if it fell into the villainous baron’s hands. Up to this point, he’s been nothing but a name on the page, working in the background through a series of henchmen chasing Ace and Rory, and their two closest allies, Jade and Zhang, but we now, finally, get to put a face to the name, so to speak, and everything that happens when Zeppler crawls out from the shadows plays out in heartrending and pulse-pounding ways. The consequential moment, when all seems lost, couldn’t have been written better, with twists and surprises, and I loved the moment when everything became clear as well as the resulting impact of the events and how they needed to play out in order for the good guys to emerge, if not unscathed, at least in one piece.
As impressive as the world-building and the magic system are, this trilogy simply would not be what it is without Ace and Rory and the complications that come along with their relationship. Rather than glossing over the inherent challenges, Therin allows those conflicts—not only the need to maintain a certain level of discretion in their feelings for each other, but also creating plausible reasons for the wealthy son of a politician and a poor antiques appraiser to keep company with each other—to appropriately influence the story but not drive it into gratuitous dramatics. The insecurities that arise for Rory from their economic disparity, and those that result from something Arthur learns about how deeply their connection to each other runs, plays up the tension to peak, sometimes heart-wrenching, perfection, and where we leave them in the end couldn’t have been more satisfying. The found family, the friendships, the feelings of belonging to someone, and to something much bigger than yourself, are all here.
Will there ever be a spinoff of this series? Could Rory and Ace and company reappear once again to save the world from another villain and dangers untold? I have no idea, but if they do, count me in on any and all adventures. Therin’s compelling characters and storytelling made loving this series effortless.
You can buy Wonderstruck here:
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