Sorcery and Small Magics

There's a type of fantasy romance book where the story is so focused on the love interest that it almost feels like the characters are in a bubble. And I'm realizing I don't like these kinds of stories.

It's kind of hard to describe what I mean. Like, Leo is at school in the beginning, but the only time we really see him in class is when he's interacting with Grimm. It just makes the world feel very small.

On top of that, this is a slow burn in the sense that they don't even realize they like each other in this book. They'll obviously get together in a future book, since the story is SO focused on the two of them annoying each other. But don't go into this expecting the pay-off of them getting together.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for providing me with a copy of this book! I voluntarily leave this review!

Leovander Lovage is a sarcastic and witty character. Quick to turn to humor when things grow uncomfortable, and has a penchant for mischief. Leo has a complicated relationship with magic, and discovering his limitations is enlightening and heartbreaking. While he is a scriver, he is limited to writing small magics. Anything else grows out of control when cast. There is much Leo has buried from his past which influences how he writes magic.

Sebastian Grimm has his own difficult past with magic as a caster. And having to deal with Leo’s constant pestering wears down on his nerves. When he is paired up with Leo as his scriver, things quickly go from downright annoying to terribly wrong when a curse is accidentally included in Leo’s spells. And while at first, they think they’ll have enough time to deal with it on their own, the curse has other ideas.

Forced together to find a cure, Leo and Sebastian must embark on a quest to traverse a dangerous forest and find the one sorcerer who can help them. Leo’s going to have to learn to curb his mischievous side if they're going to make it out alive. And all the while the curse, a love spell no less, will hammer away at his emotions driving him closer to Grimm. The rivals will have quite the journey, and mishaps along the way as they search for the sorcerer.

The evolution of Leo and Grimm’s characters is entertaining and remarkable. Forced into a situation neither of them wants, they have to work together and put aside their rivalry. The curse adds an extra layer of complication, and Leo begins to second guess everything he feels. The tension between not only the characters, but the sense of running out of time heightens the reader’s experience. Coupled with sarcastic humor and witty banter, Sorcery and Small Magics is for those who enjoy magic and fantasy have to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me the ARC of Sorcery and Small Magics for an honest review. I to be very honest, I put off reviewing this book for a while because I wanted to make sure I was fair but it turns out that this isn’t going to be much of a review because I really just didn’t care for this book. I really didn’t like the main character at all and it was hard to appreciate the story. I think the writing was decent but I found Leo to be very immature and self destructive in nonsensical ways and just extremely annoying. So much so that I had to walk away from the book several times because I found him so ridiculous. I also didn’t really understand the magic system where one group writes spells for the other to cast because neither group can do both well enough to be independent from the other. So with the strong dislike of the main character and a few other quibbles there’s really not much more for me to say.