I put Magic or Madness on hold at the library after reading a bit of the author's blog - I have found myself doing this a lot since I discovered all these wonderful blogs by writers. If an author writes engagingly, and reads the same sort of books I like, I grab one of their novels to see if I like it. Justine Larbalestier is Australian, which also made me eager to go and try one of her books - I love finding new Australian authors.
Magic or Madness is a very cool YA fantasy, equally enjoyable for adults (and probably more so if you already appreciate a good YA book). After Reason's mother is institutionalised, she is sent to live with her grandmother Esmerelda, whom Reason has been brought up to hate and fear. When Reason escapes from Esmerelda's house and suddenly finds herself in New York, she is forced to confront the truth of the stories her mother has told her all her life.
Reason is such a delightful character - in fact, Magic or Madness is filled with delightful characters, all of them complex and real. I can't quite figure out how I feel about Esmerelda, and I love books that confuse me that way. Both the Sydney suburb of Newtown and New York are invoked wonderfully - Reason is a stranger in both places, and we see them through her eyes. I loved the way Reason's mathematical abilities were worked into the narrative, and her use of the Fibonacci number sequence, which I didn't know anything about.
Magic, in Reason's world, has a terribly heavy price which, she is told, there is no way to completely escape. The end of Magic or Madness hints that Reason may find a way around this price in future books - I can't wait to find out how.
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