#Review - Wounded Magic by Megan Crewe #YALit #Fantasy

Series: Conspiracy of Magic # 1
Format: Kindle, 361 pages
Release Date: November 29, 2018
Publisher: Another World Press
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Magic can heal the fiercest wounds... or cut them even deeper.

Rocío Lopez and Finn Lockwood survived the deadly trials of the Mages' Exam in a bid to keep their magic. But the world outside presents vicious threats of its own.

Forced into the Confed's military special ops unit, Rocío must walk a fine line between complicity and resistance, or everyone she loves could pay the price. With the magic's pleas growing increasingly urgent, can she make her stand in time?

Stripped of his talent, Finn is determined to fight the corrupt magical government—and to find his way back to the girl he's fallen for. When his new mission clashes with his family's legacy, how many people will he have to betray?

Revolution is brewing. And as enemies rise at home and abroad, both Rocío and Finn will be caught in the crossfire.

 

Wounded Magic is the second installment in author Megan Crowe's Conspiracy of Magic series. Picking up where the Ruthless Magic left off, Wounded Magic delves deeper into the alternate modern-day world of Magic. 16-year olds Rocio Lopez and Finnegan Lockwood have survived the Confederation of Magic's Mage challenge. Rocio has become one of 6 champions, while Finn faces a future without any magic and a loss of any memory of the test itself. This story alternates between the two characters.

Let me start with Finn since his story really shows the struggles that he now faces after failing to be named one of the Champions even though he survived along with Rocio, Desmond, Leonie, and Prisha. Such an unfortunate situation for Finn. He comes from a family that is deeply entrenched in the Confederations political goals, now he must find his own way in life. His main goal is to expose the hypocrisy of the Mage Exam and what really happens behind the scenes.

This includes finding a group called The Freedom of Magic League which resents the way they are being treated by society & among the magic users that suffered forced burn out and blocking of their abilities. This is something that Finn starts to experience first hand. But, what is the long term goal of this group? Are they going to confront they Confederation on peaceful terms, or will they end up resorting to much harsher means to get their message across?

Meanwhile, Rocio has been recruited into National Defense which has been fighting a 30 year war against mages and magic insurgent groups around the globe. These groups are known for killing innocents in order to spread their message. Rocio, who has the goals of protecting magic and exposing the Confederations treachery, spends most of her time overseas in places like Estonia chasing bad guys and learning as much as she can to take down the Confederation. 

She also has the ability to judge a magic users ability to harken magic. Rocio believes the magic is actually alive and in pain every time someone uses it for the wrong reason. Her heart is in the right place. She is just up against a stacked deck with little help from other members of the National Defense team who are required to spend 10 years doing what they say. 

To be fair, Wounded Magic did it's best to follow in the footsteps of Ruthless Magic. But, in my humble opinion, it comes up just a bit short. Until the ending. Yep, The ending will rock your socks off. But, until then, readers will have to wait patiently until the storyline is sussed out and revealed. Finn and Rocio don't spend a whole lot of time together, just enough to know they are on the same side. The romantic feelings between Finn and Rocio made another step forward which is a good sign that the author doesn't intend to just ignore the feelings between the two characters or what they mean to each other.

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