Sorcery and Small Magics is the first book of a YA fantasy trilogy by Maiga Doocy. Released 15th Oct 2024 by Hachette on their Orbit imprint, it's 400 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents.
This is a well written veeeeeeeery slow burn enemies to potential lovers YA fantasy trilogy. The magical system is interesting and well thought out with lots of cool synergistic effects (scribes who *write* spells work in tandem with mages who *cast* them). Hence the enemies to grudging partners plotline.
The characterizations are standard, but well rendered (curmudgeonly but handsome antagonist, "lazy" but secretly gifted mage bound to the other guy, clueless/cruel school administrators), there are monsters, side-quests, and always the snarky interplay between the two main characters. There's a wonderful bonus Diana Wynne Jones vibe which really adds a lot to the read (it's not derivative, but it's definitely there).
Well done, engaging, and worth a look for fans of romantasy. The two main characters are both male, so there's a queer romance friendly vibe, which is nice.
Four and a half stars. Currently no publishing info available for book 2, so expect to wait a while.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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