Innate Magic

The Marrowbone Spells, Book 1

By: Shannon Fay

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

From debut author Shannon Fay comes the first novel in the enchanting Marrowbone Spells series featuring Paul Gallagher, a lower-class magician who aspires to high society through spells, wits, and irresistible charm.

Delightfully cheeky, unquestionably charming, and sometimes maddeningly naive, cloth mage Paul Gallagher is desperately trying to make a name for himself in a reimagined postwar London. But in a world where magic is commonplace, sewing enchanted clothes is seen as little more than a frivolous distraction. Paul is hiding a secret, however: he possesses a powerful - and illegal - innate magic that could help him achieve his wildest dreams.

Unfortunately, Paul confides in the wrong person - his latest crush, Captain Hector Hollister - and is drawn into a sinister plot that risks reigniting the machinery of war. To make matters worse, the pretty American gossip reporter Paul just met reveals her personal quest to expose a government cover-up may be related to Hollister’s magical goals. When Hollister threatens the life of Paul’s dearest friend, he realizes that his poor judgement has put not only his family and friends in danger, but also the whole world.

The only way to set things right may be for Paul to undergo the dangerous ritual to become Court Magician - the most powerful magician in the country. But is becoming part of the institution the best way to enact change in a terribly unjust society?

©2022 by Shannon Fay. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Peter Kenny narrates an alternate-reality fantasy set in post-WWII London.... Kenny imbues his portrayal of Paul with both cheerful optimism and a staggering naïveté.... Kenny's accent is impeccable. Paul is a Scouser; having grown up working class in Liverpool, he retains his accent despite his time in London. Other characters from a wide variety of social backgrounds and nationalities are performed with equal verve and believability, making Kenny's performance truly outstanding.”—AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner

“Fay expertly crafts a delightfully adventurous tale, animated by Paul’s chance encounters and audacious antics. This promising series starter announces Fay as a writer to watch.”—Publishers Weekly

“An absorbing debut fantasy novel…This great first fantasy outing from Fay will be well received by adults and young adults who like V. E. Schwab and Leigh Bardugo.”—Library Journal

Fun, but riddled with plot holes

Tldr; sloppy storytelling, but a fun enough book that I'll give the series one more try.

I enjoyed Innate Magic for the first 2/3 of the book. Engaging plot, interesting enough characters (though the supporting characters are far more interesting than the lead).

But then I began to be annoyed. I have so many questions and about plot points both large and small. SPOILER ALERT!
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For example, are we really meant to believe that two high-powered parties, one connected to the government and the other a successful mob-boss-like fixer, would be unable to locate the dwelling of a poor student? Any villain worth anything would ALREADY have that information on hand, before tricking the hero of the story into a set-up. Likewise, Paul and Thomas fled to Paul's CHILDHOOD HOME. The very first place they'd be followed, after their crummy little flat in London has been checked.

And in the grand finale, why didn't Hollister come prepared. He didn't even bring knives?? And why wouldn't the foreseer tell Paul what she saw? She had nothing to lose. One senses the author didn't want to give away the dramatic moment of the flaying, which is reasonable from a storytelling standpoint but unreasonable from a "what real people do" standpoint.

Furthermore, unless I missed something, we never find out why it has to be Paul to flay Hollister. Surely, when Paul expressed his absolute unwillingness to help, Hollister could have found someone else. Someone more sociopathic, more deeply ambitious. Or was there really something special about Paul? It's never convincingly explained.

And how on earth could Paul not realize the mystery man at the wedding at the end was Oberon. Paul is no genius, but he's also not dense as a hunk of lead.

A final complaint: it was disappointing that a male bisexual lead character ended up with an (ostensibly) straight woman. Realistic perhaps -most bisexuals do end up with opposite-sex partners- but I still was disappointed. But that's just me.

Good but...

Had trouble trying to finish it, maybe just not my cup a tea but don't let my review sway your opinion! If you like history and fantasy this is a great pick!

Plot not the best

I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator, Peter Kenny. His Liverpool accent was easy to understand, but he did other accents well. Each character had a distinctive voice.
As for the story, I enjoyed the premise and the magic involved. On the other hand, the plot could have been better. Paul’s goal of becoming a court magician, his raison d’être, is easily tossed aside as the story progresses. The reason for his interest in innate magic is unclear as is Hollister’s need for Paul to perform it. The main issue for me is Paul himself, whom I find annoying and a bit dense. Why can’t he figure out who Verity is? How can he make such idiotic decisions? Only Kenny’s narration makes him tolerable. I hope the next book will clear up some of the confusion and make Paul less of a nitwit.

Bi Magical clothing making mage in 1950’s England

I really like this story. I thought the world was interesting/unique and I liked the variety of characters. A bit of history and romance. I feel it is an interesting premise and now reading the sequel I can see a lot of the loose ends are taken care of- plus other added complex queer characters
Other reviews mention a graphic scene, but you could skip over it a bit if it bothers you. You can still follow what happens. I would recommend, especially now with the sequel out!

um not good****spoilers*****

this is not an LGBTQ book, its a straight guy who never once touches a guy, he just talks about a past relationship with a teacher that everybody knew was a gay for pay, he even states within the book he mainly likes girls, but has the rare daddy issue...as long as hes getting paid....so the description reads he falls hard for a British Cpt, and he does, for about 2 paragraphs, that is the only m on m in the book, (and its a misunderstanding, the Cpt turns out to be straight and married and NOT interested in the MC)the author trys to hit all the hot "woke" button issues, there are PLENTY of different ethnic groups, which werent as prevalent in actual society, as the book states, which isn't an issue for me unless they are trying to be true to actual historical truths, and they arent its a fantasy book, so you do you, my issue is she mentions how being gay is a crime and how horrible it is, a few different times, but there are NO lesbian or Gay characters in the book, just a couple of CIS female characters and a CIS male bi\curious (only mentioned)MC, the narrator was great, id definitely listen to him again, he voiced all the characters differently and realistically, LOVE him, the story and world building were great honestly it was engaging and interesting and believable. i actually would have loved this book, IF the author wouldn't have used the bi thing and hiting all the woke issues to get you to buy it, than did a bait and switch and was all "just joking hes straight", i honestly would have enjoyed it more if it would have been from Verity's point of view, and she was the MC, i honestly LOVE single strong black female MC's (they kick butt) go Jane Mckeene...(Dread Nation by Justina Ireland), we need more books like that. I HATE it when an author thinks they are hitting all the woke button issues, and are trying to get people to buy it on that alone, the description of the book alone isn't correct the MC falls hard for the female mysterious journalist and helps her fight a religious nut case, so yeah overall score is a big MEH.

I can't recommend

Disappointing, in a few ways.
The narrator is first rate, handles various English (and American) accents with precision. The Liverpool accent in which the bulk of the 1st person narration happens is actually rather hard to follow. If you choose this book, I suggest slowing down the speed; that'll make understanding easier.
Content was the real deal-breaker for me. There are several scenes of violence, notably one toward the end of the book with such horrific gore and violence, so much so that I couldn't continue, but had to advance to the following chapter. The remaining content and the resolution of the story wasn't worth enduring such awfulness.
Proceed with caution. I can't recommend it.

No, this wasn't it.

I was so excited about a queer Fantasy audiobook in Kindle Unlimited, it even sounded fun and quirky!
Alas, it is not.
This book doesn't actually know what it wants to be. And, even worse, the book doesn't actually know who Paul is supposed to be,
The story is set in 1950s London, but with magic. Being gay gets you thrown in jail, the church has a very clear stance. Yet, Paul is a happy-go-lucky openly bi dude who is perfectly at peace with his sexuality and lives it out pretty openly. Which I would have loved to read if Paul wasn't deeply religious (which felt incredibly shoe-horned in)! The fact that his sexuality is at odds with his religion as well as illegal by law doesn't give him any kind of concern or inner conflict. How even??
For me, it would have worked much better if this had been a Fantasy world where queerness is perfectly accepted (we really need more of those). Alternatively, Paul could have not been religious (just pretended to be for the sake of the story or whatever). Or he would have had to show some kind of reaction to his actual circumstances, given how difficult real life is for queer people in places where not being straight is illegal and religiously persecuted.

As for the story itself, it wants to be quirky and cozy, yet there is torture and skinning and very graphic, extremely disgusting violence.

I finished this book for only one reason. It is so at odds with itself that I kept thinking it would become the quirky, fun, queer Fantasy that I had expected. And once I was entirely sure that it really, really wasn't any of that, I was so far in, that I decided to finish it just so I could mark it as "Read" on Storygraph.

I can't put in words how much I wish that an actual queer, cozy, quirky Fantasy had been published in Kindle Unlimited "Listen for Free"!

The Blurb is a Lie. I Feel Queer-Baited.

Let's try a different blurb.

"Cheeky Paul Gallagher has a tendency to be maddeningly naive, but that doesn't stop him from his ambitious plans as a cloth mage in a (poorly) re-imagined postwar London.

In a world where inner magic is common and mages are created in a strict and careful fashion, Paul is hiding a secret; that be possesses unsanctioned, and thus illegal, magic. (It really does bloody nothing, isn't a big deal, doesn't change the world, and almost everyone around him knows about it.)

Paul's concerns are cause for naught when a handsome Captain Hector Hollister waves away the matter even though it is quite exactly the sort of thing he should be dealing with. Along with his latest crush, an American gossip reporter, Paul is whisked into a sinister plot of entangled paths that not even his unwavering faith may be able to hold him through. Paul soon learns that belief can just as easily take you down the darkest path when Hollister threatens the life of Paul's dearest friend for the supposed well-being of his country.

When Paul must choose between his love of God and country or the love of his friend, he will be forced into completing a dangerous ritual that could do more than destroy his soul, but the whole of the World."

Paul is not delightfully anything. He is inept and clueless beyond all reason. I also swear this author has literally no concept of how much the British Empire was collapsing before WW2. Like, they were losing colonies in one way or another for decades before that.

And yeah, other than thinking Hollister is hot and leaning in for a kiss and not getting it, that was all that was. He got with the female reporter. lmao And he is SUPER religious and it comes up a LOT. Like, warn people, Jesus.

She also wrote a man getting his tongue sliced in half down the middle and I'm pretty sure he was then beaten to death. Like.... just go write body horror. It did not feel like it fit the rest of the tone at all. Either you needed way more of that grit, drama, and darkness, at least at the edges, or you needed to leave that _out_.