Magic for Liars is told in the first person by Ivy, who is seriously a hot mess. Better for something that is already damn good equals awesome. Her hopes and fears on the other hand – all too desperately real – if not worse than she ever imagined.Įscape Rating A+: I listened to this one, and this is one of the rare cases where the audio doesn’t merely tell the story, it actually makes it better. None of Ivy’s assumptions and presumptions turn out to be remotely true. In spite of just how many of her own ghosts she’ll have to deal with along the way. She doesn’t want to have to deal with the sister she still loves but also deeply resents and no longer speaks to.īut she can’t resist the opportunity – or the paycheck. She doesn’t want to become immersed in a world where she’ll always be an outsider.

And still resents the way that magic took her sister away from her. After all, Ivy is a licensed private investigator, and more importantly, Ivy won’t have to be convinced that magic is real. The official investigation has ruled the case as an accidental death, but Torres is not convinced. So when one of Tabitha’s fellow teachers dies in what seems to be a spectacular case of experimental magic gone very, very wrong, the school’s headmaster, Marian Torres, comes to Ivy to investigate. And is a teacher at exclusive Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, where young magic users go through high school and learn how to manage their talents. Ivy Gamble is not magic – but her twin sister Tabitha is. It’s very much a murder mystery, but the setting is a high school for mages, whether they are called witches, wizards or magicians, or whether they are simply said to “be magic”. Magic is real.Īnother way of putting it would be to say that Magic for Liars takes place in the world of either Harry Potter or The Magicians. It follows all of the conventions of its genre – except for one thing.

Magic for Liars is a mystery in the exact same way that American Magic is a spy thriller. It's a great life and she doesn't wish she was like her estranged sister, the magically gifted professor Tabitha.īut when Ivy is hired to investigate the gruesome murder of a faculty member at Tabitha’s private academy, the stalwart detective starts to lose herself in the case, the life she could have had, and the answer to the mystery that seems just out of her reach.

She is perfectly happy with her life-she has an almost-sustainable career as a private investigator, and an empty apartment, and a slight drinking problem. Sharp, mainstream fantasy meets compelling thrills of investigative noir in this fantasy debut by rising star Sarah Gailey. Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey, Xe Sandsįormats available: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook