A magic-infused YA novel about friendship, first love, and feeling out of place that will bewitch fans of Rainbow Rowell and Maggie Stiefvater. Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia—and their time together in their school’s magic club—to see him through to graduation. But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to … cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs.
With so many fault lines threatening to derail his hopes for the year, Sam is forced to face the fact that the very love of magic that brought his group together is now tearing them apart—and there are some problems that no amount of magic can fix.
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“I’ve always loved this volatile quality that magic has. This ability to create meaning and defy meaning. To be real and not real. That’s how it feels when you’re waiting for your life to start and yet somehow, impossibly, having to live it at the same time.” — Andrew Eliopulos
It’s strange, give me a book and tell me there’s a sorcerer in it.. and I’m all about it. Normally though, if instead you swap that word out for magician, I’m going to reflexively just make a face and hesitate. I don’t know why.
In my head a magician is a performer and while I enjoy a good magic show as much as the next person, I really don’t usually want to read a book or watch a film about it. There have been exceptions, of course. Both The Prestige and The Illusionist were great films and I loved them, but I’m hard pressed to think of a single book until this year that has labeled magic wielders as magicians, that I’ve actually been interested enough to read.
That being said, since I’ve gone back to reviewing.. and this time with books, I’ve required myself to keep an open mind.. to try concepts I might normally skip when my reading time is more limited.
‘The Fascinators’ by Andrew Eliopulos is a story about ‘magickers’ that I didn’t even bat an eye at before deciding I needed to read it. From the synopsis alone, I knew I had to go on this adventure. There’s something even about the cover that for me radiated late summer/early fall friendships and an ‘us against the world’ feeling. It made me think of Breakfast Club and Goonies.. even Stranger Things a little bit.
“If you’ve ever cast a spell alone in your room in the dark, wishing you were somewhere–or someone–else, this book is for you.” — Andrew Eliopulos (Dedication)
Sam, our protagonist, lives in a small town where pretty much everything marks you as an outcast. Magic, religious beliefs, sexual preferences.. anything that doesn’t align with the majority of the community is frowned upon. He’s got two best friends, James and Delia, that he’s counting on to see him through his senior year.
Though the three teens have been friends for ages, early on the group starts to splinter. Sam is having confusing feelings for James, Delia is finding their amateur magic club disappointing, and new elements are at play.. causing rifts between them.
Turns out that over the summer, James also got mixed up with some shady magic users and that’s making everyone’s lives difficult too. Difficulties that even magic can’t fix.
(His mom always countered that his relationship with James was less like a fire and more like Schrodinger’s cat, and Sam was just afraid to open the box to find out whether it was alive or dead.)
I have to tell you, Sam is just the sweetest boy. He’s tormented by his feelings and by the pressure of not fitting in.. even in places where that was never the case for him before. I found myself genuinely hoping for him to find love and happiness.
Dynamically, the group evolves quite a lot from the start to the finish of the novel and though I wasn’t always pleased with the actions of every character, I felt satisfied with the results of their choices. I enjoyed watching them evolve. Their dialogue feels very natural, in some cases it’s filled with easy banter and in others, the discomfort is like a physical thing between them. The funny moments really stand out, they’re not rare.. but they are fabulous.
“Mary Ellen’s has the best biscuits and gravy you have ever eaten or will ever eat. It’s like gravy soup with biscuit croutons. It’s like a gravy landslide over biscuit city.”
“I’m not sure you’re convincing me by comparing the food to a natural disaster.”
“It’s like a natural disaster that’s making way for a better civilization.”
“Wow, Sam. Didn’t peg you for a kill-all-humans type, but I guess we all have our dark sides.”
The magic itself, is fairly wide-ranging.. though most of what we see is elemental in nature, magic also surprisingly, doesn’t play that much of a role in the scenes. It’s a major part of the story, but the scenes are really all about the group and how the magic they use changes their circumstances and their core beings.
Honestly, I can easily say I loved this book. It’s fun, but not too light-hearted. The relationships are warm, but imperfect. And even the parents vary from dismissive and narrow-minded to supportive and loving. I feel like it’s easy to see the paths each character is set on and how they become who they are.
What a great story..
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(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)
The magic was badly explained. I don’t understand why this world is the way that it is. The characters were a little confusing, their reasoning for being so they are was missing. This had a lot of potential but not much more.
I wanted to love this book sooooo much! And I really enjoyed it for the most part, I was just left feeling near that end that it was rushed and left me with questions. I listened to the audiobook and Michael Crouch is absolutely the best narrator of YA ever so that gets a whole star unto itself because his portrayal was incredible and there were a lot of characters to keep up with. I really liked the magic as part of the real world element, as if it was totally normal, and the way the storyline of that was so similar to your basic lgbtq story where that’s what makes a character feel different from his peers where in this case there was both. It was a good read but gah, I just wanted more out of that ending.
Overall 4 out of 5 stars
Performance 5 out of 5 stars
Story 3 out of 5 stars
I need more!
3.5*
As soon as I finished listening to this audiobook I went off to search out the author on social media, to see if there were plans for a sequel. Sadly, the author doesn’t appear to utilize social media much, and even though the last update on Instagram was pretty recent, it was a post about him leaving his job and making some changes, and it didn’t sound too promising for a follow-up novel, which makes me sad.
Because, while I really enjoyed this story, there are a couple of things left unresolved, or at least left me wanting more! I feel like a whole series could come from this book, and I would be more than happy about it.
The Fascinators kept me entertained and intrigued from the start. I enjoyed the mystery and the magic, but towards the end things seemed a little rushed, and wrapped up a little too quickly for my liking. As I mentioned before, there are a couple of plot points that I would have liked to have seen brought to a better resolution, especially if this is a standalone. I can kind of accept one of the points being left open-ended, but there was an important relationship that definitely deserved more than what it got at the end. I may have to go back and read the ending again, in case I missed something while listening to it.
But overall, I really liked this book. It’s a coming of age story with a little magic and mystery woven in.
Michael Crouch is my favorite narrators for YA. He does a wonderful job with all the different voices and characters. And there were a lot of them in this book!
The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos reads like a contemporary young adult novel but has soft magical elements, a touch of romance, and a bit of suspense. I enjoyed this sweet book! I don’t know if sweet is the right word. It certainly has darker aspects, but they’re handled with a light touch.
It’s a unique piece, perhaps unsure of what it wants to be. It felt brief, like none of the book’s components were fully explored. Yet for the tone, the brevity feels right. I could also see this same story told with a darker tone, denser prose, and more exploration of the characters and themes. Part of me wonders if that would’ve been a better route for this story.
However, the author’s voice shines through his quirky, insecure protagonist, Sam. And his journey is delightfully magical, angsty, and charming. The story also touches on important themes, like marginalized identities, complicated friendships, and dealing with change.
Three teenagers in a small Georgia town are starting their senior year at the local high school. All three are magik practitioners. When James, whose home life is a nightmare, steals a book of spells at a party, their lives change drastically. Sam, the one with cool parents and a crush on James, wants to save his friend from the people who want their book back. Delia, the ever practical one, wants to help, too, but doesn’t want to jeopardize her chances of getting into a prestigious magic school. These three are the sole members of the high-school sanctioned Magic Club, the Fascinators. They are also the only ones in town who admit to being able to practice magic. When a new kid, Denver, joins the Fascinators, the dynamics of the club and the friendship begin to change.
This is a well-written book with complex well-drawn characters. The dynamics between the three main characters is well written and not over the top. Denver, however, is somewhat cardboardish and its hard to like him because the reader is never really introduced to him as a person. The book is a fast read, the magic believable, but the ending seems to be rushed too much. The LGBTQ side of the book is not over-done and in your face.
Anyone who interested in YA and magic should put the book on their to-be-read list now.
My thanks to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for an eARC.
The Fascinators is a thoughtful novel, blending in fantasy and realism, bringing magic to a small town in Georgia. There is great-world-building, grounding the reader in this small town of Georgia.
Eliopulos did a remarkable job creating this world and grounding the reader into the world here. The Fascinators offers a wonderfully realistic interpretation of magic. In this small town, magic is everywhere, in everyone. It is a part of life, and some people are better at it than others while others simply ignore it.
It is a thoughtful way to blend magic and realism to make the story incredibly compelling. There is a cult of magic that these friends are trying to avoid. James got into some trouble during the summer, and this trouble involved a powerful spellbook. Moreover, now this spellbook has started to drive a wedge between them.
As much as this novel is about magic, it is mostly about first loves and friendship and the struggle to grow up and outgrow your friends. Sam is the man protagonist, but the story does shift points of view to show the full scope of their friendship. Sam is dealing with his feelings for his best friend James while James struggles with his home life and an unstable home while Delia struggles with being forgotten, believing that power is the only thing she has.
It is a compelling exploration of friendship and growing up, and in the end, it was quite beautiful. However, James does not deserve Sam at all. His treatment of him and their friendship, it was crappy at best and made him an unreliable. As for Delia, choosing power over friendship, it showed her true colors while also setting up a villainous start to her, so if Eliopulos were to do a sequel about her and her downward path, that would be interesting.
Final Thoughts
Overall, The Fascinators flows beautifully; it tackles identity, sexuality, and friendship, while also captivating readers with the use of magic and how it connects people.