I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books!

I really enjoyed Magic for Liars. It features a private investigator who did not exactly have an easy relationship with her magical twin sister- a massive understatement. So things get a little complicated when she finds herself investigating a murder at the academy where her sister works and discovers some things that she might not have imagined.

Firstly, I really liked how the magical murder mystery at the center of the plot is not straightforward. At all. I’d admit I was a little blindsided by the ending- not because of who committed it, but because of why the death happened. It was sad and heartbreaking and I really understood with the choices Ivy made in the end because of it. It makes the story even more compelling as you see all the threads that lead there while also providing a solid conclusion. Although, I’d read a spin-off about the siblings featured in a Chosen One subplot because I think their relationship is just as complex as Ivy and Tabitha’s- although with a lot more magic involved and a lot of teenage angst.

The writing was pretty straight-forward although it does contain a lot of magical jargon. It was easy enough to understand and I did like how it explains the magic that happens in an academic manner and isn’t too technical about it.

There’s some pretty interesting characters who get introduced but my favorites are Alexandria and Dylan, half-siblings who are at the center of this Chosen One plot because of this family prophecy type thing. Dylan has a strong belief that it’s him and not his sister because he thinks she’s vapid and shallow. Meanwhile, Ivy’s pretty quick to notice that there’s more to the eye when it comes to Alexandria. As I mentioned earlier, I’d definitely read a book about them- I think there’s a lot to be explored when it comes to the whole family prophecy thing.

At the heart of the story however is Ivy and Tabitha’s relationship. I loved how realistic and sometimes frustrating their sibling relationship is. They’ve been estranged for years and when they meet up, things don’t automatically get fixed between the two of them. Their relationship remains on the fragile side and there’s still plenty of things left unsaid and there are also plenty of baggage that they still carried. Their bond was kind of broken by years of estrangement and bitterness and might never go back to the way it was before Tabitha became magic. Still, they do take some steps to repair their relationship. I think that the direction their relationship went in at the end was a realistic one and while it is a little sad, it’s still understandable why things happened the way it did.

The plot, as I mentioned was compelling and provided an interesting- if sad twist to the murder mystery. I wouldn’t spoil it too much and I think it’s best to read it for yourself to see what I was talking about. The magic is a little on the low-magic side as it does feature a contemporary setting, although it might be a bit surprising considering the magic school location. Still, beware of the “mild” body horror near the end. It’s not described as too explicit or gory but be wary still.

Overall, I can recommend this to fans of urban fantasy and murder mystery. It marries the two genres nicely in my opinion and features a very interesting and complex sister bond at its heart.

Magic For Liars was not the book I was expecting it to be, and I finished reading it with the feeling that it was exactly the book it should have been, if that makes any sense. This is one of those cases where a publisher’s or a reviewer’s blurb is not only wrong, but actually does the story a disservice. “Harry Potter for Grown Ups” is one description I read somewhere, and while I understand the basic sentiment, this book is so much more. The story takes place in a school for kids who are magic, but the focus is on a non-magical adult who is forced to confront her past in an emotional journey of self discovery.

Ivy Gamble is a private investigator, estranged from her sister Tabitha. Tabitha proved to be “magic” as a child, while Ivy turned out to have no magical abilities whatsoever. This caused a rift between the sisters, as Tabitha went off to magic school while Ivy had to attend a school for regular kids, much to her chagrin. One day Ivy is approached by the headmaster of the Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, where a teacher was found dead. The coroner’s office ruled it a magical mishap, but the headmaster isn’t convinced. She thinks the teacher, Sylvia Capley, was murdered, and she wants Ivy’s help to find the killer.

Ivy is reluctant to visit the school where Tabitha now teaches, but the lure of a hefty retainer convinces her to leave her humdrum PI job and tackle murder for the first time in her career. When she arrives at Osthorne, she finds a place full of secrets, hormonal teenagers and mean girls, and most of all, strange magic everywhere she turns. As Ivy delves into the lives of the students and teachers, she begins to uncover the truth, which is more horrifying than she could ever imagine. And in the midst of discovering what really happened to Sylvia, Ivy comes face to face with feelings for her sister and the resentment that’s been festering for years.

There is plenty of magic here, but surprisingly, it’s not the focus of the story and is more of a background device than anything else. Magic For Liars is a damn fine mystery, as Ivy uses her PI skills to trick the students and teachers into telling the truth. We’re presented with a gruesome murder in the beginning chapter, and it isn’t until the last pages that all the pieces finally come together, so in true mystery fashion, the pacing worked perfectly for me. Gailey’s story has a sinister tone to it that I wasn’t expecting and made me uneasy in more ways that one, not only because of the murder, but because one student in particular has the ability to use “magical manipulation” to get whatever she wants.

The magic within these pages is odd and strange and disturbing. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read, in fact. These aren’t wand-waving teens performing levitation spells. These mages use chemistry and math to figure out magic, like changing pool water into sparks, for example, and magical theory is just as important as performing actual magic. I wish I could go into more detail about the magic that killed poor Sylvia, but revealing those details could be considered a spoiler, so I won’t tell you here. Let’s just say that it was a bit shocking and graphic, but makes perfect sense when you think about it.

I was surprised how emotional Magic For Liars turned out to be. Gailey’s story is so well rounded, and I loved Ivy’s emotional growth as she confronts her feelings for Tabitha and tries to work past years of resentment. If you love stories about the bonds between sisters, especially bonds that are strained by jealousy and estrangement, then you won’t be disappointed. Ivy tells us she’s a liar in the very beginning, and we find out as the story progresses that she’s lying to herself as well as to others. She’s trying to convince the reader that she isn’t bothered by her lack of magic, but we can read between the lines, and it’s quite clear that she is bothered and is simply trying to convince herself otherwise. Her constant protesting is a little too much at times, but I thought it was honest. If you’ve ever wanted something desperately that you know you’ll never have, you’ll probably relate to Ivy and her state of mind.

And I’m so glad I’m reviewing this book in June, because it’s a perfect read for Pride Month, if you’re looking for more queer reading. There are several F/F relationships, one between two students and the other between two teachers. Ivy herself is hetero, and she has a relationship with one of the male teachers at Osthorne, so there’s quite a mix of all types of love in Magic For Liars, and isn’t that what we want to see in stories these days?

The ending comes with a rush of revelations about Sylvia’s murder and some surprises as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this book on so many levels, and I’m excited to read whatever Sarah Gailey writes next.

Magic For Liars is the story of a pair of sisters, one magical and one not, who took very different paths in life: one a Theoretical Magic teacher at a prestigious magic school and the other a beat-down private investigator. When Ivy gets the call to investigate a magical murder at the school where her sister Tabitha teaches, the story takes us through Ivy’s struggle to connect past with present to solve the mystery.

It has a promising start. That dark, down on your luck kind of opening that any private eye kind of flick might have. I settled in, ready for a dark and dingy kind of tale. What I got was a whole lot of nothing through 75% of the book, where I finally decided to stop and move on to something else.

This book stays at one volume level the entire time. Ivy is endlessly interviewing students and then nothing happens. She confronts her sister and seems to make headway about their past as rivals and their magic/non magic issues, and then nothing happens. A teacher is dead, and while we meet many interesting characters and might have suspicions about a few, the tension never ratchets up enough where you feel like we might be headed toward a solution, which would then keep you reading to find out more. I have other things to read, other things to do, either give me something to nibble on or stop wasting my time.

It was really disappointing. It was a cool idea but difficult to pull off without any reveals or wrong turns or accusations in a world where Harry Potter already exists. Sorry fam, it’s a thumbs down from me out of sheer boredom.

Quirky teen book. Great if you like spellcasers series. If you like an mystery stick with this as this is for you.

This review is going to come down to one sentence: you need to go read Magic for Liars right now!

Ivy Gamble is perfectly ordinary. She’s a PI with a drinking problem, an empty apartment, no social life, and not even the slightest trace of magic. In that, she’s completely different from her estranged sister Tabitha who spent their childhood at a magical boarding school at which she now teaches. Ivy hasn’t talked to Tabitha in years, and she both resents Tabitha’s magical gifts and longs for a closer relationship.

Then there’s a murder at Tabitha’s school, and the headmistress brings in Ivy to investigate. Ivy’s thrown headfirst into the world of a magical school, a place where she’s a complete outsider. But maybe, it’ll be a chance for Ivy to reconnect with Tabitha… as long as Tabitha isn’t a suspect.

It’s almost impossible for me not to read Magic for Liars in conversation with Harry Potter (although I think it’s drawing off of the larger picture of magical school stories). For one, it really focuses on some of the realities of teenagers, as seen from an adult perspective. The school’s got all the usual high school type stuff going on, but with the addition of magic, meaning that you’ve got students putting cursed graffiti on each other’s lockers. Secondly, Magic for Liars really focuses in on the outside perspective of what it’d be like to know that magic is real but you don’t have it. I went to the book launch for Magic for Liars, and Sarah Gailey said that these magical school stories are usually about the wish fulfillment of suddenly having these cool powers and being whisked away to a magical school. But with Magic for Liars, they were interested in exploring the resentment and loss that sits with someone who doesn’t get that. And wow, did that come across with Ivy.

Ivy is a mess. Like, just a huge mess. And yet her decisions and longings are completely understandable. Part of the barrier between her and Tabitha is their mother’s death of cancer. Ivy’s angry that Tabitha didn’t save their mother, and she feels like by going to boarding school Tabitha skipped out on most of the hardship Ivy experienced. The relationship between Ivy and Tabitha is at the core of the novel. Like Ivy, I found myself hoping for a reconciliation between the two.

Plotwise, I could predict some of the major beats of Magic for Liars but it still had plenty of surprises in store for me. In addition to being an adult take on the magical school story, it’s also a well-wrought murder mystery. I’ve seen it comped to Tana French, and that’s totally fitting — it’s like urban fantasy meets The Secret Place.

I don’t think Sarah Gailey is ever going to write a sequel to Magic for Liars — this has the feel of a stand-alone. But that’s okay! While I loved this book, it feels like a complete story in and of itself. And Sarah Gailey’s got plenty of new, exciting projects to keep me reading!

I received an ARC with the expectation of a free and honest review.

I did not finish this book. I made it about 30% of the way through and just wasn't interested in continuing.I adored Gailey's American Hippos books so I was excited for this title, however it just wasn't for me.

Magic for Liars follows Ivy Gamble, Private Investigator, as she tries her hand at solving her first murder case. The catch? The murder happened at an elite school where teenagers aren't just spoiled, they are magical. That's right, magic. The odds are stacked against Ivy. She doesn't have magic, she has a drinking problem.

Talking books, the chosen one, one might draw comparisons to Harry Potter, but Hogwarts this is not. The main focus of the story is not the students, but the adults (for a refreshing change). There is no great ultimate evil, there is no need to save the world from dark forces here. This book is part Whodunit, part fantasy fiction. 

Recommended for fans of fantasy fiction or mysteries that want something a little quirky and different.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for a chance to read the ARC.

This book was not really what I was expecting. And, to be honest, when I finished, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Let’s start with what I did like. The book was very well written, the characters were very real, and the plot was interesting. My attention was kept through every page in the book as I really wanted to find out what was going to happen next. The characters really felt like real people with very real failings which leads me to something that bothered me. Ivy, the main character, really bugged me at times. She was filled with such angst about not having magic I wanted to tell her to grow up. She’s in her early-to-mid 30s; she’s had plenty of time to get over that. Another thing that bothered me, which I can’t really say much about or I’ll spoil the whole book, was how it ended. I was pretty sure I knew part of how the murder went down, but there was a better way to tie the events together that would have made a tighter and tidier…event-ender (again, vagueness to keep from spoiling it). However, I did really enjoy this book and I do recommend it. I was provided the e-book which I voluntarily reviewed.

I really enjoyed the original world Sarah Gailey pulls us into Magic for Liars.

Ivy doesn’t have magic but she is pulled into a magical school to investigate a murder of one of the faculty. It ends up being the same school her magically gifted sister and twin, Tabitha, left her for years before and just happens to be a teach there too.

Torn between her unsettling emotions toward her sister and the dangers or this magical world that she’s always been left out of, Ivy struggles to solve to the case before its to late.

Magic for Liars is a twist between fascinating urban fantasy and a really intriguing murder mystery. I would love to read more of Ivy’s exploration into the magical world.

I received this copy of Magic for Liars from acmillan-Tor/Forge - Tor Books. This is my honest and voluntary review.

My Rating: 4 stars
Written by: Sarah Gailey
Series: A Study In Magic (Book 1)
Paperback: 194 pages
Publisher: Independently published 
Publication Date: August 29, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1719942250
ISBN-13: 978-1719942256
Genre: Paranormal | Urban Fantasy

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Liars-Magic-St...
Barnes & Nobles: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/magi...
Itunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/magic...
3 likes

This book wraps you in a thick blanket of its charm and voice then straps you in for a feelings-fueled ride of a mystery. Ivy Gamble is a private investigator and a mess. She gets an opportunity in the form of investigating a murder mystery at an elite magic high school, despite not being magic herself. It's a really good mystery fueled by character development more so than plot.

I loved the pages and pages on introspection of how hard Ivy tries to be a better version of herself. She wants to be the best private investigator and that need to do better is so viscerally done. I also loved the way Gailey's other characters weren't perfect as well. All flawed individuals trying to figure themselves out, and it is the most apparent in the teenagers.

The spirit of high school is so well captured in this book. That feeling of a return when you've been removed from that space for at least decade is captured so perfectly. The school in itself becomes a character rather than a backdrop for the events taking place, from the weird pranks to the murder that unfolded.

Someone needs to give Ivy a firm hug, even if she might punch you in the face for caring. A must-read for people who love characters trying their best and well-woven mysteries.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey is an urban fantasy book about a PI investigating a suspicious death at a magical boarding school in the US. I had previously read Gailey's novellas about hippos in an alternate American South (and upsetting violence against said hippos), but this is her debut novel.

Ivy Gamble has never wanted to be magic. She is perfectly happy with her life—she has an almost-sustainable career as a private investigator, and an empty apartment, and a slight drinking problem. It's a great life and she doesn't wish she was like her estranged sister, the magically gifted professor Tabitha.

But when Ivy is hired to investigate the gruesome murder of a faculty member at Tabitha’s private academy, the stalwart detective starts to lose herself in the case, the life she could have had, and the answer to the mystery that seems just out of her reach.

This book starts in a typical urban fantasy investigator way, with Ivy, the protagonist, being given an interesting case to solve. What makes the case unusual for Ivy is that it involves a magical boarding school, when she has always lived in the non-magical world we are all familiar with. In fact, the only reason Ivy is already aware of the existence of magic is because her twin sister has magical powers and went away to a (different) magical boarding school when they were in high school. As a reader, what I found a bit unusual about this book was seeing a boarding school from an adult outsider's perspective, which I don't think I've come across before.

As well as trying to solve the murder, Ivy finds herself mixed up with some slightly strange teenagers, a hot teacher and having emotionally complicated conversations with her estranged sister, who is now a teacher at the school where the murder occurred. I found the setting added a point of interest to what was otherwise not a terribly unusual story — although I will say that some of the magic that comes up is a bit more uncommon, overall. It also explored how magical solutions could be applied to typical teenage problems in a way that wasn't explored in the obvious example of Harry Potter. For example, magical contraception and abortion get a look in, at one point. (Because of course that would be a problem that came up in a co-ed boarding situation.)

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. I was hesitant to read it because of the hippo thing, but I was assured no hippos appeared or were harmed in it, which was indeed the case. It's a fairly different tone and setting to the River of Teeth world, so I don't recommend deciding whether to read it based on that. If the idea of a PI set loose on a magical school appeals to you, then I highly recommend giving this book a go.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: June 2018, Tor
Series: I don't think so
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

So I had the most unique experience the other day, when my neighbors decided to cut down some trees. These trees – twice as tall as the house and some nasty pine trees that erupted with ants as soon as they were cut – fell and took out the power to my house!

“Well Roni, how is that unique?” you may ask. “You’re in the Midwest, the power going out is like, a whole meme there.”

Well, you’re not wrong.

But the power’s never gone out in the middle of trying to interview Sarah Gailey. That’s. Uh. A whole new experience. At least for me – I don’t know if they’ve had the power go out during an interview.

Oh yeah. I should mention that.

I interviewed Sarah Gailey for the upcoming novel MAGIC FOR LIARS!

(Please, hold back your gasps of amazement. I’m still in shock too. This was easily the best time I’ve ever had, and Sarah is amazing being for gracing Doomland with their presence.)

(Am I still mad that I got in trouble for wanting to spend my birthday going to Chicago for the reading? Bet your ass I am.)

But seriously, guys. I adore MAGIC FOR LIARS and I’m ever so thankful that I got an ARC in my hands, and I’m abuzz with excitement to receive a real-life copy tomorrow (which isn’t my birthday but the next day is!), and y’all should be too. MAGIC FOR LIARS is for those kids still waiting for their magic powers to crop up, for those readers who searched every closet and wardrobe for the entrance to Narnia, for those who searched for the tiniest bit of magic in their ordinary lives and still search to this day despite knowing it can’t be real.

It’s also a book for all you siblings out there. Trust me, I don’t want to spoil too much of this book, but it hit me right in the big-sib heart and I had to go lie down for a second once I finished reading.

Sarah crafts an elegant mystery that winds its tension in such a way that you don’t know you’re on the edge of your seat until you stop for a second and find that you’ve fallen off and are sitting on the floor. (Am I speaking from personal experience? Unfortunately.) Our protagonist, Ivy Gamble, is the kind of gal I’d wanna sit down and have a drink with so we can both complain about our respective siblings (but like, in that good natured sort of way, because I can say for a fact that if I said anything about Ivy’s sister, she’d come at me with her bare hands).

I, once again, have zero complaint with this book. It fills that little hole in my heart that wonders what life would be like with magic, and it’s filled the idea that’d the world would still be itself, just a little weirder. Like, don’t get me wrong, we all want things to be like THE MAGICIANS, but those kids rub me the wrong way so bad that I never finished the series – the books or the show. MAGIC FOR LIARS? Magic teens aren’t cooler or more special – they’re just teens, with teen problems, who just happen to know how to write magic graffiti.

God, I love this book. You can preorder it now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, or wherever it is you get your book fix.

Check out the interview on iTunes, Spotify, or Awesound!

Ivy Gamble did not expect to be part of a murder investigation at her sister’s school for.mages, but that's what happened.

After a young teacher dies horribly, it is up to Ivy to figure out what happened and why. However., she is not magical at all. Only her twin sister is. 

Through a series of various investigative techniques involving nothing more than a critical eye and a knack for catching lies, she arrives at one conclusion - someone did this and with serious magic. 

The ending was.predictable but enjoyable. I thought the writing was casual and flowed well. The mystery was a solid one and nothing was what it seemed. 

I liked this book so much I certainly hope to read it again.

When I saw the cover of this book and read the synopsis, I was intrigued! All my favorite elements of a story, all in one place! (The 3ms Murder,Mystery, and Magic) I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed this book and will definitely recommend it to other readers in the future. My advice is just to read the synopsis before reading this book, don’t look at reviews or go any further. The least you know the better. That is how I went into this book and it was so enjoyable. I couldn’t put it down. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this great book.

The relationship between murder and magic gets a fresh twist in “Magic for Liars¸” Sarah Gailey’s debut novel. With its bright cover and eye-catching design (literally as well as figuratively!) this is a book that emotes. Gailey previously released the “American Hippo” duology (made up of “River of Teeth” and “Taste of Marrow”) as well as the Fireside/Serial Box production, “Fisher of Bones,” demonstrating a deft hand in navigating weighty content with empathy and skill. It is no surprise, then, that Magic for Liars raises that bar yet again in offering readers certain familiar tropes—the tortured antihero private investigator, the femme fatale, and the obsessive teen, just to name a few—and nestling them within the recognizable voice of noir fiction as well as the lush campus of a school for magical teens. Readers are offered a choice: Read the book one way, and all the tropes fall in line, one after the other, leading to a satisfying and thoroughly noir denouement worthy of the torchbearers of that genre. Read the book another way, and you suddenly discover that magic isn’t just a thing certain people can do, but the inexplicable thing which binds us to each other in magnetic relationships that either repel or attract—or manage to do both at once.

As in all dualities, these two ways of reading are not truly opposed; they are complementary. They coexist. They will always coexist. And in so doing, they will torment us forever, in ways that will either continuously deconstruct or continuously reconstruct our identities and our ability to connect to each other.

Just as “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee” gets its teeth into what goes into storytelling as a building block of identity, “Magic for Liars” chews on identity as a product of self-invention, and reinvention. Characters, both magical and non-magical, work hard to perfect their performance of self, and they wear those performances like armor. Teens adrift in the melee of emotional demands that make up the transition into adulthood add highlights to their hair, and an extra sparkle to their eyes, because if they can only just pretend to be perfect long enough, maybe the worst that the world can throw at them—murder and worse—will just slide right off and leave no smudges on the futures they hope so desperately are still waiting for them outside the school’s walls. Adults add those same highlights and sparkles because they know those smudges are permanent, and they might as well look untouchable even though they’re very much … not.

Everyone is touchable when it comes to trauma, as Gailey makes plain. No matter how thick one’s armor, the world gets in. *Family* gets in. And it’s only through willingly making oneself open to the feelings and needs and predations and loves of others that one can find a path through. That one can construct an identity—queer, straight, magic-user, sister, murderer—that fits. Magic doesn’t change that. Magic *is* that. 

“Magic for Liars” cuts deep. But it’s not the kind of noir fantasy that privileges the titillation of crime over the depth and nuance and many-layered innocences of its characters. It’s a book of discovery, and connection, and a conversation about what is at the rock-bottom of human nature. Is it love? Is it fear? Is it the ability to hurt or harmonize with others? Gailey gets pain. They get that pain resides not just in the mind, but in the marrow.

This book sounds like it will have everything I love. A mystery, magic, and spunky female detective. It has a great premise, one twin has magic and the other doesn’t. The nonmagical twin enters the world of magic to solve a murder. However, there wasn’t much magic, which would’ve been okay if there had been more to the story. My first issue was Ivy has been a detective for 14 years, but she never worked a murder case before. Or any serious case. The excuse for bringing her in was she knows magic is real. That would’ve worked better if magic wasn’t a known secret. Magic and people who can wield it are everywhere. Tabitha was discovered to have powers by her kindergarten teacher, so it’s hard for me to believe that there are no other investigation agencies in California with a detective who knows about magic, and there certainly should be one who can wield it as well. The only reason why Ivy should’ve been brought in is if there was a twist. But there was not.

There was also no sense of urgency. At one point after a week Ivy even says she’s not sure if she should feel accomplished with her few clues or like she is lagging behind. I also didn’t like that no one seemed broken up about the death of a teacher. Sad sure, but in passing. We knew as much about the victim as someone would learn from a 30-second news report. “The death of 3(?) year old beloved teacher Sylvia (I can’t remember her last name) who was found split in half in the Osthorne School library has been ruled an accident by police. She will be mourned by everyone there”. A murder investigation was done, but there was no research done on the life of the victim. There was even a journal found, but we didn’t get any insight into Sylvia’s thoughts, wants, or needs. 

Finally, the murder is solved, and there is a sort of twist but nothing shocking. I also was disappointed that the book ended without addressing what seemed like could have been a magical power that Ivy had. Honestly giving this book 3 stars is rounding it up from the 2.5 I think it actually deserves. It’s not a poorly written book it’s that the story doesn’t take advantage of interesting possibilities presented.

Okay, so if you absolutely hate fantasy or sci-fi, then this isn't a good fit for you.  But, if you even DABBLE, in those genres, then I think you'd enjoy Magic for Liars.  This is basically a murder mystery, but the twist is that its set at a school for magic (think ordinary high school on steroids) and the main character is not magical.  Can you even imagine a life where you grow up ordinary but you know that magic exists?  And that your own twin is magical but somehow you aren't?  Yep, theres some resentment here.

Beyond being a traditional mystery, the author also delves into family dynamics, teenage angst and even some adult issues.  This is very much an adult read - its grittier and deals with some real issues.  I really enjoyed this novel and was so happy to have had the opportunity to read it in advance.  Easily a 4-4.5 star read for me!  I highly recommend it to fans of mysteries and those who want a different read!

I might not read much fantasy, but if I hear the words "magical school", I'm all over it. Magic for Liars is a mystery featuring private detective Ivy Gamble, who is asked to investigate her first murder case at a private school for mages- where her estranged sister, a mage herself, teaches. I really enjoyed this story!
Here's why I think this book worked so well for me: it's told from the perspective of a non-magic person, who is outside looking in. Ivy might understand magic more than the average layperson since she has a mage in the family, but her understanding of everything is still from the outside. As someone who doesn't read a lot of fantasy, I think this helped with my understanding of the world.
4.5 stars

Every time I reach that stage where I feel like  I've just burnt myself out on urban fantasy and convince myself it's time to focus on a different genre for a while, a new book comes out that just looks too good to resist. This was definitely one of those books and I went into it expecting urban fantasy along the lines of The Dresden Files or the Mercy Thompson series and quickly had those expectations shot down within the first few pages. Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey was a fantastic read that I was nothing like anything else I've read before.

Magic For Liars is one of those books where I don't think I can say much about the story without spoiling plot points for the book. I will say that it does remind me of  Lev Grossman's The Magicians in that both books feature magic schools and magic systems that are unlike anything else in the genre. It's also really interesting to read an urban or contemporary fantasy story which is set in a school of magic, where the main character has no magic to call her own. I thought it added an interesting dynamic to the story and impacted the plot in some pretty unexpected ways.

There have been a lot of authors over the years who have tried to combine fantasy and noir fiction with what I think are fairly mixed results but thought Magic For Liars managed it well. Ivy is a great character and I thought Sarah Gailey did a great job with the whole hard-bitten alcoholic PI schtick that often seems to come with the genre. My only complaint is that I was slightly disappointed by the fact that I didn't find the rest of the characters to be quite as real or believable as I did Ivy. Though that could be because we spend most of the book in Ivy's head and see all the other characters filtered through her.

I would definitely recommend this story looking for something new and different to enjoy. I think it would be enjoyable to read no matter what genre someone normally prefers.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book started slow for me. I wasn’t really into Ivy’s voice, and I wasn’t really interested in the murder. But then. I dunno, somewhere about 30% of the way through, I was hooked. And I couldn’t put it down. I was fully invested in the book, and it definitely packed a solid emotional punch.

I especially loved the sisterly bonding throughout the book, I think Ivy and Tabitha are both written so well, and the dynamic is very nuanced (cause let’s be honest, sisterly relationships can be very complicated). There were so many emotional layers to this book, and it was laced in with fascinating world-building, a wonderfully flawed protagonist, and fantastic story-telling. 

This book is another in the vein of fantasy books mixed with mystery that I’ve gotten lately and another one that I’ll recommend whole-heartedly. So, there it is, if you’re looking for an urban fantasy, but want some murder mystery with some solid subplots that will pull at your heart-strings, this is the book to pick up!