The Master Magician

Holmberg dropped the ball on the perfect opportunity to create a strong, independent female protagonist. Though Ceony is courageous and strong-willed, her only motivation for these traits is to save her family and her lover—the “acceptable” motivations for female protagonists handed down to us by the Patriarchy. At the end of the novel, where there is a glimpse of redemption for Ceony as a character, her aspirations to join Criminal Affair are deemed incompatible (by another woman no less) with the social expectation that she be a mother and housewife. Moreover, the romance between Ceony and Emery is based largely on her cooking and cleaning for him—need I say more?

A bit sad that the finale of this great trilogy turns out to be the weakest. The book feels terribly rushed, with Ceony's magician test and the hunt for Saraj rolled up into one. I'm actually not too fond of the latter since Ceony is being unreasonably brash regarding this, and the decisions she made are just... They don't feel like things an intelligent quick thinker like Ceony would do.

There's also the thing with Zina which doesn't feel necessary. It would've been nice if Ceony's family had more involvement prior to this, but since they only had minor role in the previous book, the issue just feels contrived and random. It doesn't have depth, and this is also something I've been complaining about regarding the antagonists.

That aside, I actually did love the way Ceony and Emery fought Saraj together. They kick ass, and I'm glad to see them finally getting a happy ending as well. It would've been nice if we can see Ceony and Emery's life past that point, but that's probably for us readers to imagine.

Do I ask for too much out of series finales? Do I? Just because I want a book that does those that went before justice while, just maybe, building to a great ending. Is it too much? Yet again, I was happy with the first couple books, but this finale was disappointing.

Ceony, someone that I actually liked back in the first book, turned into a petulant little brat in this book. Part of the plot was there to keep her away from Emery - by studying with another magician - and all it really served to do was allow her to sneak out without explanation and act like a shrew. (And also that was completely unneeded because there is no way any unbiased person could accuse the tester of having bias or favoritism with the way the test was set up.)

I won't even get into the spoileriffic bad decisions that she made concerning her magic but, speaking of her magic...

I love the magic in this series. I think it's very cool and inventive. The best thing about the first book was Ceony having to figure out how to get things done with less powerful magic. And, even a certain magicians battle that she fought in. She couldn't overpower her opponent using powerful magic. She had to think and strategize and figure out how she could use her obviously weaker magic to win. That was great. In this book, however, all that is thrown out the window when Ceony becomes this super powerful magician. It was very dissatisfying and felt like now there was nothing she couldn't do. (I've always had problems with those uber powerful characters, anyway.)

Now, back to Ceony and my problems with her. Breaking a promise - which, it should go without saying, is something that there needs to at least be repercussions for - she sets out to kill a man. No, I am not exaggerating. She decides that he is ‘undeserving of mercy' and sets out, planning to kill him.

Really, Ceony, who made you judge, jury and executioner?

“I've come to put you down,” Ceony growled.

And quit acting like a rabid dog. Oh, wait, no, sorry. You're killing the rabid dog. Right, Ceony?

I found Ceony likable in the first two books, although even the second was starting to show signs of...something I didn't like. But her character in this book...it doesn't even feel like the same character. Ceony of the past was headstrong, stubborn and determined. Ceony of The Master Magician is hotheaded, short tempered and foolhardy.

But, then again, without Ceony making those foolhardy decisions, there'd be no plot.

Keeping calm, as Delilah had always complimented her for doing...

Okay, either she was being ironic or Delilah didn't know Ceony at all, because calm is very far from what this girl usually is.

I know that this book is supposed to take place two years after the first one, but I can't help but feel like the romance is moving too quickly. (Maybe because we didn't really see it develop from a kiss into what it is in this book.) Also, though the age difference doesn't really bother me, there feels like an imbalance of power in this story. I mean, Emery starts a series of ‘love letters' by writing ‘nothing like jam and cold bread to make a man appreciate a woman' and Ceony ends it by sending him a kiss with lipstick on paper. Seriously, what is up with that? To me, Ceony has a schoolgirl crush on her teacher. While they are cute, there needs to be a more solid foundation for me to feel the romance. (It also doesn't help that Emery is practically the only man Ceony interacts with and Ceony the only woman Emery interacts with.)

Now, finally, a bit of old-fashioned ideals that I actually didn't notice in the first two books. (Yeah, okay, I did notice the ‘a man that can't cook needs a wife' in the second(?) book that caused a bit of a stir online, but it didn't bother me like these did.)

There's another Magician having a romantic relationship with her Apprentice. Ceony cued in on that word and seemed surprised by it. She wondered at their age. I'm sorry. I probably wasn't supposed to take that the way I did, but, really? Ceony, are you so old-fashioned to think that the woman can't be older than the man? (Then again, the answer is probably yes, because it wasn't uncommon for fifteen year old girls to marry men in their thirties.)

Also, Ceony was called a maid because she ‘cooks, cleans and fold Emery's laundry.' Her defense is that yes, she does all those things, but she wants to and it doesn't make her maidly. Uh, actually, yes, it does. She might not be his maid, but doing those things are maidly. Ceony's an apprentice and, apparently, is kept more busy with minutia work than Emery and she also has her magic practice and lessons. And she still finds time to keep house for Emery. Good on ya, girl. But...what, exactly, does Emery do?

“You are a woman, Miss Twill. We are beginning to have more leverage in today's society, especially as magicians. There are dozens of promising career choices for you, but Criminal Affairs is no place for a mother.”

But, is it a place for a father? (Indeed, there's lots more wrong with that statement, but that's the one that jumped out at me.)

“I guess I didn't think you were that kind of woman.” (Said as an insult because Ceony just kissed/was kissed by Emery in public.) Honestly, for the first time ever (or at least, in this book) I agreed with Ceony because I too wanted to know ‘what kind of woman.' Apparently she has been getting herself a name as a bit of fluff.

Lovely.

All in all, another lackluster finale.

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)