Stealing Magic
Tanya Huff
EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
ISBN 1-894063-34-0

Magdelene is the world's most powerful--and laziest--wizard. You know that old saying, with great power, comes great responsibility? In this case, that proves to be true. Being the world's most powerful wizard means that sometimes she must compromise her "busy" schedule and go off and save the world, whether it is a dragon in the water attacking the fishing boats, or the demons trying to leave the Netherhells and reek havoc on the world by means of an endless slaughter… She has many of these adventures over her long, seemingly endless life, and almost always gets the guy in the end, and has a good time with him too!
      Magdelene proved to be fun, yet at times serious, and is definitely worth reading. My favorite story in the collection has to be Mirror, Mirror, On The Lam. I loved the way Magdelene and Ciro got along… it was totally enjoyable!

Now Terazin is a top-notch thief. Everyone calls her "the best", and that gives her a high reputation… meaning she gets the hard jobs. Like stealing from wizards who turn the thieves they catch into mice for their cats, and even stealing from the gods. Needless to say, she goes through quite a lot.
      Terazin was an almost complete opposite in character to Magdelene, in that she was more focused and, in order to survive, more in-the-know on the goings-on of the world. Though more serious in tone, there were still some fun moments. My favorite, I think, has to be Swan's Braid, mainly because of the relationship between Swan and Terazin, not to mention the ironic twist at the end.

The setting descriptions, or "world building", for both collections were very light, so at times it was hard to picture where you were, or what all was happening. There isn't a lot of room in a short story for description, but in fantasy it's a must. We can't fall back on what we know from our own lives to picture it. We need a little help.
      Despite my desire for more description, both collections were extremely enjoyable, and I highly recommend that you read this book.

Reviewed by
Amanda Ramaglia

Available from Amazon.com.

Find the lowest price for STEALING MAGIC!  Powered by