Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

Ivy Gamble was born without magic and never wanted it.

Ivy Gamble is perfectly happy with her life – or at least, she’s perfectly fine.

She doesn’t in any way wish she was like Tabitha, her estranged, gifted twin sister.

Ivy Gamble is a liar.

When a gruesome murder is discovered at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, where her estranged twin sister teaches Theoretical Magic, reluctant detective Ivy Gamble is pulled into the world of untold power and dangerous secrets. She will have to find a murderer and reclaim her sister―without losing herself. (taken from Amazon)

Ivy Gamble is the ordinary twin. She grew up dealing with her mother’s slow decline in health, while her twin was off at a school for mages. Tabitha-the magic twin-seemed to have all the skill, while Ivy was just an average teen. Fast forward to adulthood: the two estranged twins have followed very different paths. Tabitha teaches at a mage school. And Ivy? She has just been hired to solve a mystery there.

This book has several oblique references to Harry Potter. There is a Chosen One (the italics and capitalization are necessary), an incredibly unique take on a pensieve, and prophecies. The similarities were just noticeable enough for me to appreciate them, but far from actually defining the story at all.

In fact, the book itself is much more mature and goes in directions I would never have expected. Here is the part where I issue a heads up: abortion is one of the themes of this book. While not the main plotline by any means, it is brought up multiple times. This book is most definitely intended for adults, despite the Potter-esque odds and ends.

The characters in Magic for Liars are well-developed and incredibly nuanced. Every action made perfect sense for each character, not because the characters were one dimensional, but because the author knew them so well. I felt like I could sit down and have conversations with any of them. Ivy’s internal dialogue was fascinating because it felt like she began to discover who she was while I was also learning the same things about her. She was a lost person struggling to figure herself out.

The mystery itself was tantalizing and complex enough that I didn’t expect how it all panned out at all. Honestly, though, the mystery ended up not being the important part of the book. It all begins and ends with relationships. The important themes in this books are love, loss, self-discovery and acceptance.

The ending both satisfied and upset me (I can feel both emotions at the same time: I’m complicated like that). It ended on a sad note, but the hopeful kind of sad. Magic for Liars is much more complex and thought-provoking than any “school for magic” book has the right to be.

Ostensibly about a very normal P.I. trying to solve a murder in a backdrop that is far from normal, this book manages to be much more than just a mystery. It will not be for everyone, but if you want a good introspective book with a dash of magic, then I suggest picking this one up.