MAGICIANS IMPOSSIBLE is an interesting melange of genres - there's the obvious (urban) fantasy elements, but it's also a mystery and a bit of a spy novel. It's a well-constructed novel, and each of the elements blends nicely into an engaging, entertaining story. Abraham is a good writer, his characters are well done and realistic (despite some of the situations they find themselves in), and it's an enjoyable read. A nice alternative spin on the UF genre. Recommended.

Too awful to read

The text, that is, not the idea. Check out the blurb and if you decide you want to read such a story despite the terrible sentences, have at it.

This is the second book I've read recently in which I kept picturing the main character as the TV version of Quentin Coldwater from Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy -- they all have in common a New York setting, a magical underworld, and being about 30 years old. But that's more or less all they have in common. I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't particularly original or memorable.

Here, 30 year old Jason Bishop discovers his magical legacy, and his place as a pawn in a high-stakes battle between different contingents of magicians. There are many cool details -- the magic system is neat and I like a number of the side characters -- though overall this book reads like fantasy for people who do not read fantasy. There's some overblown philosophizing; Genre tropes are trotted out without any seeming acknowledgement that they are tropes; Cheap mainstream-pleasing plotting (think Da Vinci Code) is used without any notion that most fantasy genre fans would immediately think it is cheap and pandering. And of course, that represents most readers of this book.

There are some pacing issues, mainly in regards to how quickly Jason learns to use his magical talents. He goes from ignorance to total mastery in a matter of weeks, or perhaps a few months at most. That's common in YA, but this is not YA, and one would expect a more realistic conception of learning. Jason spends a small part of the book in a kind of magic school, but it barely registers. He is almost instantly out in the field performing feats of Dan Brown derring-do alongside other magicians who have been around longer.

Another problem that although valiant attempts are made to ensure that female characters are magically powerful and equal to males, these attempts are undercut by some weird gender issues. For example: In the opening section, which is otherwise told from Jason's father's point of view, we are suddenly privy to the inner psychology of a female character who is Super Strong and In-Control Except When She Loses Control of Her Emotions Because Daddy Issues (which honestly almost made me abandon the book there and then). Later, we get major plot twists based solely on the idea of irrational maternal love. We also get some classic damsel-in-distress moments involving Jason's old high school crush, who basically exists in this book only to be put in danger for the benefit of Jason's character development. Really?

One thing I did quite like was the depiction of Jason's earlier life. His time in, and journeys to and from, Cold Spring, NY -- a real place -- reminded me of my own upbringing in a relatively nearby part of upstate NY, so close yet seemingly so far from the glittering lights of NYC when one is a teenager. The adult Jason lives with a sort of paralyzing nostalgia, which I think many readers over 30 can relate to.

I love a great page-turner, and one that I cannot put down. You know the books that has you up all night reading, and before you know it, it's morning, the sun is shining and you haven't slept a wink? Those are my favorite types of books!

In this fantasy novel, after his father dies, a 30 year old bartender discovers that he actually has magical powers and that in our ordinary world, there is a secret ongoing battle happening between two factions, the Invisible Hand and the Golden Dawn. For a book which starts off right away with a lot of action, it still took me a little while to get engaged in it, I think in part because it is a little confusing. The world and characters are pretty cool. Although it is not as good as Lev Grossman's "The Magicians," I think fans of that series would probably like this one, is there is a somewhat similar vibe (plus a little bit of Dan Brown). 3.5 stars.

So this is the book that got me out of my slump. Weird right? First off your introduced to Damon a Magician in a really cool scene that sucked me into the book right away. Of course, our main character is Jason which didn't suck, because Jason is actually a good character, but I really liked Damon and I wished there was more of him in the book. I loved the incorporation of our real magic, you know card tricks and the whatnot because it almost makes it seem like this could be happening.

While yes, the story for me was a bit linear and I knew what would happen before it did, it was a good story. Jason was a bit too good a magic for him to just have been introduced to magic. I sort of read it as one huge montage and while Jason was probably studying magic for far longer than I thought, Abrahams made it feel like it was too fast. One character that bothered me was Allegra. I wanted to like her so bad, I mean a powerful badass magician that is a female. Instead, I grew annoyed with her in almost every scene she was in.

I'm grateful to this book for helping me past my slump and I kinda hope this is a series rather than a one-off only because I felt like the story of Jason Bishop and magic isn't over.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on until I stopped reading this.

This book is much more promising, than I thought it would be. I like the action. What I don’t like is the protagonist. The lead character is just boring and too very ordinary. Jason Bishop has a mysterious past, and a father he barely knew, who was said to have committed suicide. When he attends his father’s funeral, he starts an adventure, where he discovers that he comes from a line of mages, and that his father was one of the primary players in an ongoing fight between several magical societies.

I don’t dislike this book, (I really like it!) but Jason is not an exciting character, and maybe that’s the point. Maybe there’s some character growth later in the story? I don’t dislike him though. That would require that he have enough personality to dislike. On the other hand, the other characters are really interesting. There’s a female Punk/Mage I really liked, and the bad guys are suitably nasty, and everyone is after Jason. Jason has to try to navigate an entirely new and unknown world, manage his own magical gifts, and figure out who are his friends and enemies.

The magic in the books is the typical bombastic hand waving sort, but it’s also abetted by actual card magic, which I thought was a lot of fun. Despite the presence of Jason, I am looking forward to the next book in the series, as we get past all the introductory stuff of Jason picking up skills, and meeting the other characters. Once we get into the serious world-building, this will be a wonderful series to tide you over between Harry Dresden novels, which is the greatest compliment I could give to an Urban Fantasy book.

The son of a magician finds himself unwittingly drawn into his father’s world following his dad’s death in this fast-paced urban fantasy title. A fun cocktail of magic, spies and ridiculous action makes this a thrilling, if somewhat familiar, story.

The magical world and its make up don't reinvent the wheel, but Anderson gets the familiar tropes to work for him as our budding Mage discovers the secrets of his powers. The “magic spy school” serves its purpose before expanding into a bigger, wider conflict that rockets you through the second half of the book.

Unfortunately, most of the bigger twists are easy to spot, making this entertaining rather than essential reading. Still, if you love stories about duelling wizards, secret societies and magical quests, this one should sit right up your alley.

3.5 of 5 stars

Brad Abraham’s Magicians Impossible is a fascinating debut that blends together many genres, reading much like a magic school story for adults wrapped in a part-urban fantasy, part-spy thriller package. The novel stars protagonist Jason Bishop, a 30-year-old bartender from small town New York who has always felt deep in his heart that he was meant for bigger things. For many, such desires are nothing more than a pipe dream, but unbeknownst to Jason, the potential in him has always been in his blood.

Shortly after the apparent suicide of his estranged father Daniel, Jason discovers that he is actually the son of two very power magicians. Daniel, whose real name was actually Damon King, was a secret agent for the Invisible Hand, a secret coven of mages involved in an ancient war against another shadowy society of magic users called the Golden Dawn. After Jason was born, Damon had concocted a cover story so that the boy would never suspect his parents’ true identities, and then he distanced himself, becoming an aloof and absent father in order to keep his son hidden from his enemies.

As a result, Jason grew up harboring a deep resentment for Damon, knowing nothing about his family’s origins. The existence of a magical secret world was a shock to him, when at his father’s funeral, a mysterious stranger representing the Invisible Hand named Carter Block appeared before him and revealed everything about their order. Carter also told Jason the heartbreaking truth: Damon King did not really commit suicide—he was murdered. Now the Invisible Hand needs Jason on their side to strike back against the Golden Dawn and to complete the work his father started, hunting down a powerful artifact that could help turn the tide of this magical war. But first, to prepare him for the battles ahead, Jason will have to undergo and complete his secret agent mage training—and he’s got a lot of catching up to do.

From the start, I was impressed with the presentation of Magicians Impossible and was struck by how incredibly cinematic it was. If you’ve ever wished for more action in your urban fantasy, then this is the book for you. Hints of what to expect are in the title’s reference, which practically screams the kind of dynamic excitement and edge-of-your-seat thrills typically found in Mission Impossible or James Bond movies. In keeping with the comparisons to Hollywood blockbusters, however, one should not expect to go in finding anything too original in the novel’s plot either, though to Brad Abraham’s credit, he does a good job casting his own brand of magic on familiar ideas by combining them with other elements or sprucing them up with new and wild twists.

The flow of the novel is also relentlessly driven and fun, though like many debuts, the pacing does encounter unevenness in some places. Many new authors tend to become too enthusiastic with their first novels, biting off more than they can chew by trying to do too much, and I sense a mild case of that here. Things start to drag as we move into the second half of the book, following Jason as he is inducted into the Invisible Hand. This section was weighed down by too much exposition into the smaller details while not providing enough of the background information needed to understand the bigger picture, leaving me a bit confused as to ultimate purpose of these magical societies and their much flaunted all-important war. Abraham’s ideas are certainly ambitious, but perhaps his attention was spread too thin trying to juggle them all at once.

That said though, if you were drawn to this book by the promise of explosive action and riveting spycraft, I seriously doubt any of these issues will bother you. The flaws are also relatively trivial in the greater scheme of things, especially in a novel like Magicians Impossible which makes no bones about its prime objective—to entertain the reader above all else. While the plot might not be all that extravagant and the twists might be on the predictable side, these weaknesses are offset by the delectable fantasy elements, family drama, magical espionage, adrenaline-pumping fight sequences, and globetrotting adventure. I had a good time with this novel and hopefully Brad Abraham has plans for a sequel in the works, because I would really enjoy a chance to return to this world.

If we hadn't been told early on that the protagonist was 30 I would have totally thought this was a YA novel. It had all the classic YA fantasy tropes: parents dead, lead character who finds out that they are suddenly super special, magic school, etc.

This book didn't work for me, and looking back, I think it was the lack of process. I felt like the author wanted to drop the reader into a world-changing battle, but didn't really want to deal with the lead up. So the protagonist finds out he's a mage, ends up at the mage school, and then easily moves through all the levels without anyone teaching him anything, which made me wonder why there even is a school. There was definitely something missing. For me as a reader, it would have worked better had we skipped over all the school/society stuff, and had the guy discover he was a mage and be thrust right into the battle.

Jason's father has never been a real part of his life. He floated in and out, leaving him to grow up with relatives and only visiting a few times a year. It's a surprise when he gets the news that his father has died.

As he stumbles into his father's enigmatic life, he discovers the family secret--his father was a mage for an organization called The Invisible Hand--agents of order that fight The Golden Dawn, who are agents of chaos. He discovers that he has powers as well, and The Hand informs him that his father didn't exactly kill himself--he was murdered by the Golden Dawn, and now they're after Jason.

He quickly discovers he's got significant power, and he'd better get a grip on it if he wants to survive and exact revenge for the father he barely knew.

Magicians Impossible is incredibly fast paced, and the magical fight scenes are well described choreography that would make for really great film. I'd really love to see this done on the big (or small) screen. It's a well crafted tale that will keep you in anticipation until the end.

Good effort, but lacked in good magical system and lost some originality with references to HP and other magic type series

Author Brad Abraham describes “Magician’s Impossible” as “Harry potter meets James Bond,” and I found that to be true. It starts with an intriguing magic card trick and continues from there.
Jason Bishop has his life interrupted when his father commits suicide. The circumstances become more unusual when he discovers that his father was a secret agent for a super-spy group, The Invisible Hand, which has been employing magic for centuries in an ongoing war with The Golden Dawn. Even more startling, both his mother and father met their untimely demises as the result of this relationship. Now “they” are coming for him. He is plunged into an unfamiliar world-between-worlds, and encounters both enemies and allies. The problem he does not really know who fits into which category.
It is an engaging fantasy with many twists. Just when readers start to settle into the story, the “smoke and mirrors” aspect turns things around. The clues are there, but many are “missed” the first time.
I am not a big reader of magic mystery genre, so I had a mixed experience with this book. I am not sure exactly how to rate it, but I enjoyed reading it, and I think readers of magic mystery will love it. There was a lot of background and introduction to characters that leads me to think that there will be more magic to come. I cannot wait to talk to Brad Abraham at The Book Carnival in Orange, CA on September 27 to find out more about it.

There was a lot of originality here, unfortunately coupled with a lot of predictability. The book tells the story of Jason, a young man who discovers he has magical ability and finds himself in the middle of a war between mages and sorcerers. This basic premise is solid and the magic system is well thought out with good internal logic for the most part. What I found disappointing was the prose, which was, quite often, rather clunky and too expository. Some of the action occurred with little narrative development and some of the revelations were very obvious. That being said, I did really enjoy the latter part of the book when the plot was allowed to unfold freely without explanations. I liked some of the characters a lot and I do think that this world has the potential to be very compelling.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book is the first book (or at least published) by this author, so I, of course, have never read anything by him. Not knowing what to expect, I dived into this book. The protagonist Jason Bishop doesn’t know he comes from magic until the untimely death of his absentee father. Soon, Jason is drawn into a world he knows nothing about, and it doesn’t take long to realize that he’s at the center of a storm where he needs to learn magic, and learn quickly, or he will follow his father into death. I found this book to be well-written, with excellent world building. Not only that, the characters are very well-drawn, and I love that there are a lot of gray areas, with some people not all good or bad. I do have to admit I had a hard time connecting with Jason, and sometimes the descriptions were a little overwhelming with so much detail. However, I really did enjoy the book and can’t wait to read the next one, especially with how the book ended. Recommend! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books for the e-copy of the book which I voluntarily reviewed.

This book was okay. It tries to be a magical mission impossible and while parts of it worked for me, other didn't. Those who like The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August might like this, the style is similar although the plot is not.

4.5 stars

Bound to be a series...

An awesome read. This is a tale of a war, eons long, between two magical factions. Our hero is new to the ways of magic but plays an important role in the battle. Block out plenty of time for this one, you won't want to stop. I'm busy making a mental list of every one I know that NEEDS to read this book. While unfamiliar with the rest of his work, I believe Mr. Abraham has won another devotee.

Magicians Impossible is a fun and exciting adventure that introduces magic to our world. I think this book should do well with readers that are fans of The Magicians by Lev Grossman. It features an older protagonist than a typical coming into powers or magic school book, and with just one or two exceptions, he has been a loner for most of his life. After the death of his estranged father, Jason's world turns upside down and he finds himself part of something quite unexpected.

I liked Jason's character. He definitely has some flaws and has managed to create very few personal connections in his life, particularly for someone that seems likable. He is resentful of his absentee father (who just died), and through some flashbacks, we can see some of his disappointments as a child. He grew up believing magic was just simple slight of hand as opposed to actual magic.

After the death of his father, he learns there is such a thing as real magic as well as about the communities that are a part of that previously invisible and unknown part of the world. The Invisible Hand is a training institute that turns those found to have mage potential into magician spies. Instead of just a normal, boring Hogwarts type of academy that teaches young magically inclined individuals how to use their powers for good, or what not, The Invisible Hand teaches them how to use their skill to deceive and battle. It is definitely a fun twist and while reading I was wondered why it haven't read a book like this before.

In addition to the The Invisible Hand, Jason also learns of a rival magical group, and as the two factions war with each other, Jason finds himself in the middle. He has to determine which side is honest, or at least who he should place the most trust in. Which is hard when he finds himself basically as a pawn each side is trying to maneuver.

I will say this is a fun action filled read. I also have to confess that for me, that's just about all it was. There is nothing wrong with that, popcorn thrillers are fun for a reason, and this one fits that bill, but for readers that might want to delve a bit deeper, they may find themselves a little disappointed. It's just a matter of setting expectations for what the book is: a really fun, fast paced book with some cool ideas. To expand some of the other areas, you will likely lose the fast pace that makes it fun. My largest concern with this aspect of the book is that since its so action and pace oriented, I found some solutions to be a bit ... easy. Jason is definitely a character who has a quick rise in his abilities and sometimes it just felt like an convenient out. But that's only the case if you stop to think about it. If you can read and just enjoy the ride without worrying so much about how or why it goes where it goes, well, then I think this is a minor enough element that you'll find a really enjoyable read.

My only other observation with this book may sound a little silly. There is one setting that, as much as I tried not to, I just kept picturing Monsters, Inc. There is a place that is filled with doors that act as portals to places around the world, and I can't help it, every I encountered that setting in the book, I pictured an animated Sully and the little girl with pigtails. Probably not at all what the author was going for. I would have preferred to not think of Monsters, Inc while reading this, but the concept is important to this book, and I guess I just have a very strong association of doors like that to Monsters, Inc. Ooops? Not really a fault of the book by any means, but there just didn't seem to be enough details or description of the place to overpower my reaction.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend the book if you are in the mood for a fast paced thriller with spies and a magical warring underground community. It is a fun and fast read and I really enjoyed the slightly different type of magic school, with the added conspiracy twist thrown in as well.