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Magic or Madness view larger size

Magic or Madness

Justine Larbalestier - Author

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ISBN 9781101525586 | 304 pages | 16 Mar 2006 | Razorbill | 12 - AND UP years
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Summary of Magic or Madness Summary of Magic or Madness Reviews for Magic or Madness An Excerpt from Magic or Madness

For fifteen years, Reason Cansino has lived on the run. Together with her mother, Sarafina, she has moved from one place to another in the Australian countryside, desperate not to be found by Reason’s grandmother Esmeralda, a dangerous woman who believes in magic. But the moment Reason walks through Esmeralda’s back door and finds herselfon a New York City street, she’s confronted by an unavoidable truth—magic is real.

"In this fierce, hypnotic novel, character, story, and the thrumming forces of magic strike a rare, memorable balance. Reason is both the name of its 15-year-old Australian protagonist and a badge of defiance: Reason’s mother champions rationality and deplores witchcraft, especially the “smoke and mirrors” practiced by her own mother, Esmeralda. When Reason’s mom plunges into insanity and Reason must go to stay with Esmeralda, the wary teen, armed only with her survival instincts and a lucky ammonite fossil, attempts to stave off her grandmother’s witchy influences. Then she steps through a door in Esmeralda’s kitchen and emerges in New York City. There, as she grapples with the undeniable evidence that “magic is real,” she is drawn into a terrifying entanglement with a cruel older witch. Reason’s prickly first-person voice alternates with that of Esmeralda’s gentle apprentice, Tom, and Reason’s tough New York friend, the magically gifted Jay-Tee. The teens’ distinct, frequently contradictory narratives intensify readers’ concern for Reason and their desire to understand her circumstances. Readers looking for layered, understated fantasy will follow the looping paths of Larbalestier’s fine writing, as graceful and logical as the coiled chambers of Reason’s ammonite, with gratitude and awe." Booklist, starred review

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