Grey Magic by JT Lawrence
The Book
Raven is a burnt-out witch; her magic is not as strong as it used to be and as life’s realities start beating at her door it seems it’s fading more and more every day. As she battles to gain traction in a sea of seemingly endless problems, another one is about to send her over the edge entirely. How will she free herself from the strain, and convince the police that she isn’t guilty of a crime she knows she has committed?
My thoughts
I picked up Grey Magic last month with every intention to start reading it, the first chapter had me fascinated, confirming it’d be a read I would enjoy. But then life swept me away and I found myself with a list of requested reviews. It’s strange because having finished Grey Magic, I feel I was only meant to read it now. Does that make sense? Like, had I read it when I first picked it up, it wouldn’t have made the sense that it does now to me?
What I liked
Raven is my spirit-character. I just adore her. I imagine her as this frantic and frazzled witch who underneath the organized chaos is grounded in her see-saw sanity.
She’s a writer. And since diving into the bookish community and meeting so many writers I find myself enjoying books where the protagonist is an aspiring author.
Eli the parrot has convinced me that I need to get over my aversion to birds, he is too cute and absolutely hilarious. Jesus Christ!
most of the book is quite a light hearted and funny read (depending on your sense of humour) Raven’s past life regression therapy was absolutely devastating. It struck a chord in me that left my heart pounding and tears patiently waiting to be set free. I feel there is a definite testament here to JT Lawrence and her ability to completely alter the tone of her books as necessary. Not many have managed to do that successfully for me.
There is an internal dialogue that takes place between Raven and her ‘male self’. While there have been a few books I’ve read, which use this for their characters this is the first time it’s ever felt like it was well executed, it felt real and believable. (If I’m honest I felt like I finally had someone who understood me and Robert)
I am a firm believer in karma and I must say; JT Lawrence has, in Grey Magic, described it through Raven’s regression session in the most beautiful way. The way each past life impacted on the next one of Raven’s was something I’d never considered in that way.
Oh and finally, I loved how the concept of mob mentality is handled in this book – how it is demonstrated that all it takes is one convincing lie or statement to be made to have a crowd gather in unfounded hatred for an individual, even if said person was someone they relied on before. I don’t think there was an intention for the underlying messages of self-thought, but I took that for myself so thanks Janita 😊
What I disliked
I would say I’d have liked a bit more focus on the Wicked Witches, while their presence is pertinent and in fact essential for the overall plot and conclusion, I would have liked there to be a bit more finality surrounding their actions and goals.
And I would have liked a little more information on Stephen. There is a shell-shocking revelation which I feel could have been explored more; particularly because of the relationship between Raven and him, I don’t quite feel her approach to him is entirely justified had she known about it all along, or did I maybe miss something in the book which explained that?
Conclusion
I am officially obsessed with JT Lawrence. Each book has left the strangest mark on me, a chance for me to question myself and my own standpoint in life. Her techniques are a pleasure to see on paper, a style which is smooth and structured, plots that are easy to follow but which grab your attention, characters which have fantastic layers to them culminating in a brilliantly structured character arc.
Review Rating 5 of 5
More Information:
Publisher: Pulp Books
Published Date: October 2nd 2016
Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural
