Review: WOUNDED MAGIC by Megan Crewe

Rating: 4.75/5 stars

I first read Ruthless Magic two years ago so I worried that I would have trouble remembering the details of this world, but I was able to fall right back in the story with no problem. What a relief!

Wounded Magic picks up in the same scene where Ruthless Magic left off. Rocio just became a Champion at the Mages’ Exam and she gets to start her new life as a black ops soldier, running secret missions for the Confederation. Finn didn’t make Champion and thus has to be Burned Out, where his ability to work with magic is removed, and get used to his new life as a Dull. 

I like Rocio’s connection to the magic in this series, that she can sense it’s somehow alive and wants to be used for good, and using it to harm someone also causes harm to the magic. That’s a really cool concept I’ve never seen done before.

This installment deals a lot with the injustices in the world between Mages and those who are Burned Out or Dull. It is clear that the government is hiding information from the masses about the Mage society and about the Exam and its real purpose. Finn and Rocio both try to tackle this issue from different angles, working together but in separate groups, to help the world realize the unfairness between the Mages and non-Mages and to help create equality in the society. I definitely see similarities in this book to the real-world issues happening around us. 

This series takes a spin on the “taking down the government” trope because Finn is of an old-magic bloodline and knows that the privilege he has because of that isn’t right, so he goes against the system from the inside. I loved reading about Finn and all his efforts to make a change to the prejudices in the mage society. He is level-headed when he speaks and doesn’t make rash decisions, and that’s so refreshing to read about. I found myself much more interested in his storyline than Rocio’s in this book because of some of the activities that he gets involved in—I was very eager to see them play out.

I absolutely loved this installment. The epic final scenes led up to a heart-stopping cliffhanger that has me dying to read the conclusion in Fearless Magic.

This is absolutely an underrated series and one that I truly believe is more well-written and well-crafted than most of the popular YA series I’ve read. It plays to all the tropes that people love to read about but takes a fresh twist on them and gives us an unpredictable and entertaining plot with unforgettable characters and flawless execution. Megan Crewe knows how to write and give the people what they want without pulling any punches. This book has solidified for me that I need to read everything she’s written because I love the way she crafts her stories, plots, characters—everything. You absolutely should pick up this series.

I received this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.