I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. It didn't seem fair for me to review a book that I didn't finish.

Review to come. Thanks to The Book Guild and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for honest review.

Publication date July 13, 2020
#OrdinaryMiracles #NetGalley

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I was hoping I would. It felt a bit flat and I really didn't enjoy the characters.

It's been a while since I read this, but I enjoyed the premise of magic users living among the rest of us, sort of half known about but mostly ignored. Good descriptions, characters I wouldn't mind meeting again.

This book had such a interesting concept but the result was not the best.
The story stars very good but then the characters start to feel flat and without development, and the plot took to much time to go somewhere.
I don't regret reading it but would not reread it again in the future.

Interesting ideas and characters thrown into a book blender and the result in a mess that leaves the reader confused, irritated, and digging out their red pen to begin editing the book. Here, the author was let down by his editor and the result in a book of half finished characters with a story that meanders here, there, and everywhere before the reader loses interest and sets it aside.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was not wowed by this story. I skimmed the many overly technical bits where Mike was explaining all about magic, taking the magic right out of it (they made my eyes glaze in boredom). I did not like the way Sam spoke, especially for someone going to magical university in the UK, her english would not be as broken as what was portrayed. All those bits made it hard to keep reading, even though I did want to find out who was causing the accidents. Or at least I did at first. As i got further into the book, I was just trying to finish it. It was too disjointed and the characters were too flat.

This could have been a cool book, but it was not.

Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy of Ordinary Miracles.

This book had a lot of potential that just didn't go anywhere for me. It could've been amazing, and instead, it was lacklustre and I found myself zoning in and out for large swaths of the book.

First of all, the things this book did well:

This book is set in the UK, and the author placed us (as readers) well at all times whilst writing - at least from the perspective of someone who lives outside of England.
The dialogue was snappy, and dry, and to be honest, I quite liked the (not overly frequent) references to how "not like hogwarts wizards" the mages in this story are.

The premise (if not the plot specifically) was also very interesting to me. The idea of someone committing acts of terror using magic and sending our protagonist down a winding path to figure out why he appears to be at the centre of it all, was very appealing.

The things that really threw me out of the story:

While the cast itself is reasonably diverse, the book felt a little bit off it's delivery of speech from someone who is speaking English as a second language. Mike's partner (magical, not romantic) speaks in ludicrouslybroken English ("I not like too big city") and I just felt as if it didn't need to be there.

Another gripe would be the undercurrent of sexism in the writing. The three main female characters are absolute bosses, and yet they all end up in some sort of weird soul bond with Mike at the centre. Mike also spends a lot of type mentally sexualising every. single. female. character. And while that might be accurate for the mind of a collage student, it felt icky.

Basically, the way I felt about Ordinary Miracles is fairly well surmised in the first word of the title. Ordinary.

What I Liked:

One thing that I think Carey did well was the rudimentaries of his premise and his worldbuild. Ordinary Miracles opens with a bang (literally), as a train crashes into Paddington Station and disappears. We find out rapidly that magic is real, our character is a wizard, there are universities for wizards throughout the UK, and there is a governing body equipped with all of the necessities for containment – a PR department, cleanup crew, etc. Magic practitioners that go to university end up generally doing something helpful and practical as a career (our protagonist, Mike, is an earth affinity, and plans to help contain oil spills and save the earth), and their “levels” in school are determined by raw power combined with skill.

The magical system is intriguing, because Carey attempts to infuse some science into how magic works. The “magical” part of the brain is essentially an unlocked portion of the brain that not everyone has access to, and the ability to manipulate the elements is explained through physics, generally. Healers, when displayed in Ordinary Miracles, don’t have miracle cures, but rather work with the body’s natural processes and just help those processes along; most of the healer wizards are also real doctors in “real life.” I also enjoy the way that the wizards had magical partners (honestly, the term non-romantic soulmate seems to fit best here), where you can draw on the other person’s strengths to bolster your own magical talent and have rudimentary abilities to connect telepathically.

Lastly, I enjoyed the geography and authentic British voice, essentially a walking tour of the UK, from Paddington to London to the countryside and language filled with fun British euphemisms and wry humor. Carey clearly knows the UK well (he is from there, after all), and I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the “tube” and the piers, as well as the ironic and funny descriptions of London traffic. Carey gave Mike a dry voice, one that was at its best when showing us the world in which he lives and its absurdity a la Bill Bryson.

What Killed it for Me:

Unfortunately, the interesting magical system and fun descriptions of modern-day UK couldn’t save this narrative from some pretty pervasive sexism and racism, as well as an often agonizingly boring textbook-style narrative. Let’s tackle these individually:

The sexism. Our narrator Mike is surrounded by women. His “non romantic magical soulmate,” Sam, is a (witch? Wizard? Sorceress?) of a super high strength, to the point where he often relies on her for raw power. His girlfriend Amy, who is wheelchair bound, doesn’t let her disability stop her, and is a very powerful magic user in her own right with a wicked tongue and strong sense of self. Amy’s magical partner Clara has nuanced magic that no one else can do, and two out of three of the “wizarding governing body” are women. So where did Carey go wrong? He sexualized basically all of them. Constantly. I get that we are in the head of a 20-something year old man, but not every woman’s curves need to be commented on, not every relationship needs to have a hint of sexual banter. Carey tries explaining the sexual tension between Sam and Mike as a natural reaction to them being in each other’s heads, but then he references how Amy would feel about it while also sexualizing Amy. Shit, even Clara gets some of this, as well as the head Healer at central and both of the women who help govern UK wizards, Nadia and Anne.

An example of Mike’s internal dialogue:

“Sam has short hair and is slim in the face as well as the body, with modest curves and very nice legs, especially when she hasn’t put her trousers on, like now. Red silk underwear, in case you were wondering.”

No Mike, I was not wondering. This goes on for the entirety of Ordinary Miracles, and it is a miracle I finished the book.

The racism. Again, on its face Ordinary Miracles seems like a poster book for diversity: Sam is from Hong Kong, Amy is from Thailand I believe, Clara is from St. Lucia, and most of the supporting characters are also from other underrepresented demographics. This would all be well and good… if Carey had let it just stand. Instead, Sam speaks in the most atrociously broken English I have ever had to read on paper (One memorable quote: “Hard you be Amy girlfriend unless you very ugly ladyboy”) and is constantly sexualized based on her Asian heritage, Clara is often described as “chocolate” colored, and the rest of the characters are often glaringly described based on their ethnic features or how hard it is to pronounce their names. Even the American gets the same treatment (I know “American” isn’t a race, there just isn’t a better term), with the head of Mike’s university, Professor Wicks, speaking as though she is a cowboy on crack cocaine. (Memorable quote here: “People ain’t happy. We gotta become acclimated to being under suspicion. What we do ain’t exactly secret, and most folk don’t recognise us with a flashlight and a mugshot, but who we are is gonna leak out.”) What is the point of wonderfully representative diversity if you ruin it with patently false stereotypes and poor execution?

Lastly, the narration. Look, I can appreciate an unreliable narrator, even one who is unlikable. What I can’t deal with is whole swaths of text that tells the reader the “science” behind the magic and nuts and bolts in such a way that it feels like your college professor talking about thermodynamics when you are an English major (true story, that). Mike goes into lengthy monologues about the magical world that are directed either at the reader in his head, or talking out loud to someone like his dad. It is a technique often used in science fiction and more in depth fantasy, but here it failed spectacularly. Carey managed to make a fun and modern magical system into something boring to learn about.

Conclusion:

I understand the publishing industry is a rough, competitive place where authors go to die. I also love how freely available self–publishing is, and didn’t know about Matador’s marketing strategy (helping self-published authors get the word out) until reading Ordinary Miracles. But sometimes, a book needs an editor. Here, Martyn Carey’s debut novel needs an editor, preferably someone female and POC. The premise is solid, the worldbuild was intriguing, and all of it was ruined by overly sexualized women and horribly racist stereotypes. Do I think that Carey did this on purpose? Not at all; I think any writer who tries to add that much female and POC diversity has good intentions. He also clearly put a lot of work into building a believable magic system, complete with governing bodies and international treaties. But someone needs to sit down with this book and a red pen, even if it is just a friend who wants this book to succeed with a wider audience.

I genuinely think British readers will enjoy the narrator’s wry and self-deprecating tone, replete with British slang and wonderful descriptions of the UK from urban sprawl to countryside. I also think it is worth giving a read for the magical system, if you can separate the unfortunate characterizations. For me, however, it is two waves, generously given for the amount of effort put into producing this book.

When a train crashes at Paddington Station, Mike Frost uses all his magical talent to try to help. But as he's trying to dig someone out of the rubble, the train disappears. And, sadly, this isn't the first or the last magical disaster to occur.

When Frost's magical powers seem to increase suddenly, he is sent away with friends to train. But, as the disasters continue , it becomes clear that people like him, those with more than one magical talent are somehow linked, whether voluntarily or against their will or knowledge, to the disasters and, with one exception, him, have died as a result. Soon, it becomes clear that, not only is there a dangerous magical presence at work, but Mike and his friends may be their next target.

I was looking forward to reading Ordinary Miracles, a YA fantasy by Martyn Carey, when I saw it on Netgalley and, for the most part, I did. Comparisons to Harry Potter are inevitable but this definitely is its own book. It is well-written and the story showed great potential if it didn't always hit its stride. This is Carey's debut novel and it shows. It drags at times but, in fairness, there was a lot of character and world building to get through. Still, it felt that much of this was unnecessary to the book and just added more unwieldy weight to a story already seemingly over the limit, unless this is the first in a series.

And here is why I'm giving it more than three stars. If I did, at times, find it a bit of a slog, I did enjoy it and, if it wasn't always a page turner, I also never had an impulse to abandon it. If there are more books in the series, I wouldn't hesitate to read them and suspect and hope that the reason for much of what seems like unnecessary waste here will become clear in future books.

Overall, I recommend it to fans of YA fantasy with the proviso that this is a debut novel and, as such, could have used some more editing but there is actually quite a good story here if you have the patience to wait for it.

3.5

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Matador for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

Many apologies but I DNF at 25%
The opening was fantastic but it didn't manage to hold my attention. There were sections that were so funny and witty and the premise was so original but I feel the author needs a really good editor to help with structure and plotline.

Thank you very much to the publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was rather excited to start this book as it sounded like it was going to be an exciting and magical thriller. It started out great in the first chapter with the train crash and Mike doing what he could to help the victims. But after that it quickly went downhill. I felt like I was reading a text book about magic rather than an adventure about how Mike was going to stop whoever was using his magic. Sadly I gave up and decided to DNF the book at 25%.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

This book was not exactly what I expected. It is a more mature take on a magical world than I had anticipated but was an interesting read nonetheless. The description really drew me in and I love the simplistic but effective cover.

I enjoyed the main characters dry wit and sense of humour as it made them an interesting character to follow. The magical world and system was something I found to be quite unique which was refreshing to see in use. 

However, as I continued reading the book I found there was a lot of info-dumping in relation to the world-building. New magical terms kept being introduced and explained but it ended up feeling a bit like reading a dictionary, I would have preferred the author to show us rather than just tell. 

The start of the book was very fast-paced, jumping right into the action of a train crash, but after that, it seemed to slow down considerably. Nevertheless, I would recommend people to try it for yourself and take a look at the interesting world Martyn Carey creates. 

I received an eBook ARC from Netgalley of Ordinary Miracles in return for an honest review, this does not affect my opinion or rating in any way.

Very enjoyable book. Great characters and a very readable plot. I am looking forward to the next book in what I hope will be a new fantasy series.

The blurb made me anticipate a fast paced historical fantasy, where an innocent bystander is drawn into the fight between good and evil.

First off, I DNF. I made to 32%. It could have been a good book, but there was so much telling swamping the story that it was a struggle to get through the chapters.

The start of the book had tons of promise; but the rest lagged for me. I understand the need to establish characters and the setting and the magic system but it simply wasn't as engaging as the premise would suggest.

DNF 38%

There was so much telling that I felt like I sitting in a lecture. The main character reminded me too much of Harry Dresden, a book series which I would enjoy more if he wasn't the main character which is the same way I feel about this book too. Everyone else was more interesting yet I'm stuck with this bland character who is going to be special in a way that no one has seen before..

I think I could have powered through reading this book if it wasn't for Sam. Sam is from Hong Kong and speaks in grammatically incorrect English. Really? TVTropes told me that Asian people butchering the English language was a dead trope. TVTropes lied to me. Also I've watched a lot of East Asian television and the only time I hear anyone mangle the language is from the white people who I'm sure were hired off the street for being the right color no matter how badly they speak English.

This review is based on an advanced copy provided by Netgalley for an honest view.

I really wanted to like this book, and don't get me wrong I liked the story but it got lost in lots of inconsequential information and narration. I feel that this book had a great base story with characters that we really could haved liked if there had just been less biased narration and simply switched to more detailed explanations. If Martyn Carey publishes another book in this world I will definitely be giving it a try and hopefully it will get better.
Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review! :)

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review,

Please visit my blog to read my full review: https://geeking-by.net/ordinary-miracles-by-martyn-carey-book-review/

Ordinary Miracles is a refreshing new take on magic that takes place in the UK, and if you're under any inclination to read this because you loved Harry Potter, let me stop you there; this is most definitely not Harry Potter. It's a fact that the author, Martyn Carey, weaves into his protagonist's dry wit with charming ease. Mike Frost is a University student, both an ordinary student and a magical one. In the world, Carey has devised magical schools are connected to higher education institutions worldwide (usually via the archaeology departments, Mike informs the reader).

It's a very logical system, and that is a common thread throughout Carey's world-building. That's not to say there's no fantasy, magic or anything else fun; it's a very clever and well-devised magical system which sets Ordinary Miracles apart from other magical novels I've read. Magic is based on physics and a mage is someone who has an active part of their brain that can affect the forces of physics in the world. For example, they can bend light, change gravity, and cause tectonic shifts.

Information about the way magic works and how it's governed throughout the world is spread throughout the novel. While some of it is a bit science chunky in places the easy-going nature of Carey's protagonist helps the reader to digest the more complex details. Mike is just an ordinary bloke whose life is thrown into complete chaos when he's out doing one of the most normal everyday things. Sure, he's a mage, but he's still just a young man about to finish University and Carey has done a fantastic job embodying that authenticity in his writing.

Part of that authenticity is the strong British voice throughout which was wonderfully familiar for me as a British reader, and something I really miss when reading American writers. It isn't overdone though. There's no bloody this, or bloody that thrown in just to catch attention (i.e. Ron Weasley in Harry Potter). It's a natural voice that feels right at home, and it's one that touches all of Carey's British characters. From comments about spell words sounding like "a pissed Glaswegian offering drinks in a Spanish bar" to the traditional clothes of a student from Bethnal Green, Carey's wit is razor-sharp and always just enough.

The novel is set in Nottingham, East Midlands, and London, both of which have diverse populations. Universities in the UK also have thriving international communities. What I really appreciated about Ordinary Miracles was that it recognised this and didn't make a big fuss. There is a wide range of diversity amongst the characters and it's all just part of life. Mike's brother is gay and it's mentioned because his boyfriend is present in one scene. There's no big drama, no issues with their parents, it just is.

The most important representation for me as a disabled woman was a disabled character. I'll admit I had mixed feelings with the character, Amy, for several reasons. The first is that for 50% of the book her condition, hip dislocations so severe that she needed a wheelchair, was referred to as 'the hip thing'. I have hypermobile EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) and regularly sublax (partially dislocate) my hips. While it was amazing to (finally!) have a character who was like me in a book I felt confused and upset that her condition wasn't named. EDS is just one of several joint conditions that causes dislocation and the dismissive title of 'hip thing' given by the protagonist and not by Amy herself was erasing part of her disability.

While I have some reservations on how the naming of her condition was handled I don't hold the same feelings towards how she as a character was written. She wasn't babied, she wasn't pitied or desired so someone could play the hero. Quite the opposite in fact. She is seen as a person not a disability throughout the novel, and there are a lot of details given about living with someone with a chronic illness which I, as someone living with 7 of them, really appreciated.

There are two things overshadowing the diversity present in Ordinary Miracles which the more I thought about them the more I couldn't just put down to me being pedantic. Firstly, the characters of each nationality and race have stereotypical names. You've got Patrick the Irish guy, Nadia the Asian woman and Catriona the Scottish woman hailing from, you guessed it, Edinburgh.

Then there's Sam the Chinese student who is written with an accent that borders on racist; "Sometime spell better, sometime not spell. If thing too heavy, need too much power, can't lift". While Carey's Briish accents are spot on, his non-British accents are terrible. The American teacher Terry-Ann Wicks was particularly painful to read. The difference between them is that they don't authentic at all, feeling mocking instead, which is a shame. Everything else about this novel doesn't feel that way. The way diversity and disability have been integrated into the novel, as a part of life, not a plot device, shows an author who is at least aware of the bigger picture.

Overall I really enjoyed Ordinary Miracles and the book ends with the suggestion of this being the first book in a series. I'd be really interested in reading more about the world and Mike and his friends, however, it needs some work first. While this novel, and it's author, has a lot of promise, I feel that several corners were cut in order to rush this to publication. It needs the spit and polish of an experienced editor and the process of beta readers before getting published.

I think this is a well written book but I found the plot confusing and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.