I enjoyed this book. There were too many POVS for my preference. But a good story and I do love witches and magic.

I could not put this book down! I have loved Melissa Marr since reading 'Wicked Lovely' in high school, but I haven't ventured into her adult fiction until now. After reading obsessively for two days, I recall why Marr has been on my favs list for so long. "Remedial Magic" pulled me into its world and the characters into their lives. I am so invested in Ellie and Maggie now and I need to know what happens next!

Marr has a gift for describing a world without over-telling, and the world of Crenshaw is enticing, mysterious, and cozy. I want to go to there. I also loved her characters: Ellie, Maggie, and Prospero are all strong women, with different ways of charging into the unknown to take care of themselves and their loved ones. I found Ellie and Maggie particularly relatable, with Ellie's researching heart and Maggie's deep love for her son. I also admired the leaders of Crenshaw and appreciated how Marr displays the complexities of governing, even over a small town. (and badgers! lol!)

The plot had plenty of turns and twists, even for a veteran English teacher trained in following plot patterns, and my only complaint is the book is too short! I really hope we get a sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley for a free, digital copy to review. All opinions are my own.

I read Melissa Marr's "Wicked Lovely" series when I was in high school so when I saw she had a new book out for adults I simply had to request it. It took me a while to get into this one though. I found the beginning to be pretty slow and a little confusing with the different points of view. I'm glad I continued with it though because it got better towards the middle/end and I am curious to see what happens next with Ellie and Maggie. I didn't connect to all of the characters but I was invested in Ellie's magic and role as a potential witchy savior. I also enjoyed that we can't really tell who is good or bad because all of the witches at Crenshaw seem to make very conflicting decisions. I'm not the biggest fan of insta-love and that's what the romance between Ellie and Prospero feels like to me. The different witch houses were cool and I like the badgers. I think the idea for the story is really great and the writing is fantastic, I just think a faster pace might have made it more enjoyable for me personally. Overall, I did enjoy most of the book and will continue with the sequel to see how it ends!

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group, Bramble for the eARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Magic? Librarian? Small town? Queer cast?
All checks!
While I appreciated all of the above, in general I found this book a little slow and kind of confusing. Lots of different view points, which is fine, just didn't find myself connecting with any of them. And the world building was lacking for me. That is something I enjoy in fantasy stories and this just missed the mark.

Had to DNF this one early on.

The romance wasn’t as prominent as I anticipated it to be. And the multi povs threw me off.

This may have worked better if it focused more on the magical world and its politics, as the romance seemed more like a plot device than anything of substance. There were a lot of POVs and it made it hard to stay invested. Readers who like Benedict Jacka or similar authors may enjoy the magical world building. Readers expecting cozy fantasy or romance may want to look elsewhere.

I think this was a good start to a new series but it also had too many povs and characters - and it took me awhile to get used to that. The story and the settings were quite interesting though and the plot was fast paced too!

"Remedial Magic" by Melissa Marr offers readers a fantastical journey into a world where magic intertwines with politics, morality, and personal discovery. Marr skillfully crafts a multi-POV narrative that immerses readers in the lives of diverse characters, each with their own struggles and desires.

While the book may not fit neatly into traditional genre categories, its depth and complexity transcend labels. Marr's storytelling prowess shines as she explores themes of love, power, and sacrifice against the backdrop of a dying land in need of salvation.

Although the romance aspects may not align with typical expectations, the relationships depicted are nuanced and compelling, adding layers of intrigue to the narrative. Readers will find themselves drawn into the lives of characters like Ellie, Prospero, Maggie, and Dan, rooting for their success in a world filled with uncertainty and danger.

Overall, "Remedial Magic" is a wild ride filled with high-powered emotion, grey morals, and untrustworthy narration. Marr's expert blend of fantasy and political intrigue makes this a must-read for fans of complex storytelling. While it may not be the cozy fantasy it's marketed as, it certainly delivers a thrilling and thought-provoking experience.

Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and Tor Publishing for the gifted e-book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read this book if you like: Multiple POV, LGBTQ representation, enemies

This had promise, but it was quite different than I expected. It's all over the place. There are too many POVs. Not sure why we needed people that weren't the couple.

Thank you to Bramble for my review copy.

DNF at 10%

10% is way too early to DNF a book, but this book was shockingly different than the marketing, and I absolutely cannot continue reading it.

I thought that it was a cozy, witchy, sapphic romantasy with a single POV. Instead it is a multi POV dark fantasy. At the 10% mark, I started looking at other reviews to see what people liked and disliked about the book, and all the people who finished agreed that I had the vibe right, they only disagreed about whether or not they liked the vibe. Since the vibe was not for me, I’m choosing to DNF.

This book is not without merit, and you might like it if you are looking for a big fantasy with lots of characters and some romance. Most reviewers agree that it is queer affirming and sex positive, but they seem to think that the romances were all pretty instalovey and not really the main focus of the book.

This had a cute premise but ultimately wasn't for me. It was marketed as a cozy fantasy but had much higher stakes than I like. There were too many POVs which left it feeling choppy and confusing. Overall, I gave this a 2.75/5⭐.

I ended up DNFing this book pretty quickly so I don't feel entirely comfortable giving it a rating, but here we are.

The marketing on this book feels pretty misleading. I know "cozy fantasy" is having a moment but let's not just slap that description on anything and hope it works. This was not cozy. It was a little bizarre. And I just could not get into the world.

There was so much going on in the book it was hard to follow the veins of the story. It was quite inconsistent.

Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr - ebook ARC

Ellie, the small town librarian falls in love with a witch, and is forced to attend a magical school in order to learn how to save her world. There is a prophecy, a doomed homeland, and unknown powers…
This is my first book by Melissa Marr and I’m sad to say I think it’s my last. I really didn’t enjoy this book at all. it felt very been there, done that, and I really thought I was getting more of a cozy fantasy. It’s actually a much higher stakes story than that. I really think this is a case of a books being “poorly marketed”. I was so excited to read it and it just wasn’t what I was expecting. usually I can look past that and just enjoy it for what it is, but I also didn’t think it was my type of writing style either. I love a multiple POV, but this felt so disjointed and hard to follow.

Overall, this was almost a DNF, but I did finish. Not sure it was worth it. Just didn’t love and I’m so bummed!

A funny and engaging fantasy romp. It felt like Narnia crossed with a wizard school, but with adults instead of children - and those adults aren’t always super happy to find themselves uprooted from their lives.

I was completely captured by the story in Remedial Magic and absolutely raced through it once I got started. It was very accessible despite being set half in a completely fantasy world with entirely different rules and customs from our own, which can be hard to do.

The characters were relatable and felt really different from each other and well rounded. I enjoyed seeing all their contrasting opinions and motivations.

Overall, I really enjoyed Remedial Magic and will definitely continue the series!

I'll preface this by saying I've always enjoyed Melissa Marr books and had a brief obsession with the Wicked Lovely Series in high school. I have such a fondness for her and I was very excited to read this new book. Unfortunately, the excitement did not last. Between the combination of bad marketing and worse writing, this was a miserable reading experience from beginning to end. By all advertising indications, this was allegedly meant to be a cozy fantasy romance. The summary itself makes you think that! But it is really, really not. It's also incredibly boring with no direction or real plot and frankly a tad poorly written. I'm incredibly disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bramble for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF'd at 44% (Chp 22)

I don't often DNF a book because I really like to give things a try. This book was marketed as cozy magic, "The Magicians meets One Last Stop". I can definitely see the comparison with The Magicians - a similarly dark story, but I don't see any of One Last Stop in here.

The book starts out with 3 POVs, Maggie, Ellie, and Dan. I don't mind 3, when there is more connection, but for some much of this book it felt very clunky and discombobulated. It was hard to feel connected to any of the characters because each chapter keeps switching to others. Then 3 more POVs are introduced, Prospero, Sondre, and the "Chief Witch". Truthfully I started to get really confused on who's chapter was who's, and even forgot who main characters were.

I don't think there was too many characters, I love a large cast, but so many of them didn't feel fleshed out and with the rotating POVs I had just had enough by the time I reached the 6th one.

I also didn't care for the explanations of the world and magic. It felt very text book, instead of weaving it into the story, there was so much unnecessary expose. The first three characters all have a chapter where they are wisked away to the magical world and then are explained essentially the same thing on page. We don't need that much when character development could be explored instead. Similarly, Prospero is described as so very white and flawless skin that boarded to me on the line of cringe. It's okay to make your characters whatever skin color you want, but why describe in such a way, in several sentences? It felt forced/shoehorn in there - As if we really really needed to know how very white and beautiful she was. 😬

There is a lot of erasure of disability/illness/injury that reads as Ableism. When they are in the other world with magic, they are able to heal and be perfect. It's startling to see this concept in a queer book - because the queer community is all about imperfections. So many of us are disabled, nerodivergent, have chronic issues and I don't think the answer is just to have a world where all of that is erased. It doesn't read as "better" to me.

Lastly, Maggie gets into a horrific car crash in her first chapter - which I feel needed a warning and definitely does not fit under the "cozy" category. It was hard to read, rather traumatic, and I had to step away from reading it for a while before trying to get back in.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Remedial Magic is the new novel by Melissa Marr. In the creative world Marr shaped, people only find their magic when they are in the most dangerous of circumstances such as about to be in a fatal car accident or falling off a cliff while hiking. Their magic saves them and they are then brought to a magical realm, Crenshaw, where they are enrolled in the equivalent of magical community college. Hobs, manifestation of magic are there to assist them. Unfortunately all is not currently right in Crenshaw. Prospero, a long time resident hopes that amongst the recent arrivals Ellie, a small town librarian, may be the prophesied savior; sparks fly between the two women as well as between several of the other characters. If you are looking for a romantacy series more adult than Harry Potter, but more whimsical and fun than the Magicians than this novel will delight. The book ends on a cliffhanger so I'm interested to see what book two in The Course of Magic series has in store for its diverse cast of characters.

I like the idea of magic community college! I like a cozy fantasy! I don't like so many POVs--especially considering that's now how the book is marketed at all. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on, because I felt like I was thrown into three different stories in one book.

People are disappearing and being brought to Crenshaw, a place where those whose latent magical abilities have awoken are brought so they can learn how to use it. Some lose their magic and return, some stay and become part of this magical world.

Maggie wants desperately to return to her son, Dan wants to stay forever, and Ellie isn't quite sure. They've all made connections with people at the college, but for some, that isn't enough. Lies, betrayal, deceit, and unknown magic all play a part in the decision to stay. All will be important in the survival of Crenshaw, and as a result, all of the witches within.

I felt like the multiple POV wasn't done very well. There were a lot, but it didn't feel like there was enough story to have it separated that much. I felt like there was too much unfinished at the end with no promise of a sequel.