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Magic to the Bone
Magic to the Bone
Magic to the Bone
Audiobook10 hours

Magic to the Bone

Written by Devon Monk

Narrated by Emily Durante

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

Everything has a cost. And every act of magic exacts a price from its user-maybe a two-day migraine, or losing the memory of your first kiss. But some people want to use magic without paying, and they Offload the cost onto innocents. When that happens, it falls to a Hound to identify the spell's caster-and Allison Beckstrom is the best there is.

Daughter of a prominent Portland businessman, Allie would rather moonlight as a Hound than accept the family fortune-and the strings that come with it. But when she discovers a little boy dying from a magic Offload that has her father's signature all over it, Allie is thrown into the high-stakes world of corporate espionage and black magic.

Now Allie's out for the truth-and she must call upon forces that will challenge everything she knows, change her in ways she could never imagine, and make her capable of things that powerful people will do anything to control.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 15, 2011
ISBN9781452673073
Magic to the Bone

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Reviews for Magic to the Bone

Rating: 3.5447285239616613 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

313 ratings33 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Eh...moderately interesting.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    It had a promising premise, which is why I bought it. Sadly, about 30 pages in, I was ready to give up... a great twist kept me reading for another hundred pages or so... but finally I just skipped pages till I got to the end.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    a handful of interesting ideas...mainly all cribbed from previous entries into the urban fantasy genre. not much new or original here, though it can be fun to ponder "now, where have i read this thought before?"
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book has been on my to-read list for ...years, probably. A long time, anyway. I've picked it up, read a few pages, put it back down. Picked it up, something turned me off on it, and I put it back down. I've listened to it in audiobook form, tried the physical book, tried the ebook, and it just never clicked.

    Until this time. And then I clicked so hard that I read the whole series in one go. Woo. Loved it. :)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the first book in the Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk. This series currently has five books with the sixth book, Magic on the Hunt, due out in April of 2011. This was an easy read and a solid start to a new urban fantasy series.Allie works as a Hound, she tracks magic back to it's source, a dangerous job in a world where using magic always has a price. When a young boy is gravely injured Allie Hounds back the source of the magic to her father. Her father denies involvement. At her father's office she finds out that a man, Zayvion, has been hired by her father to protect her. When Allie's father is killed things begin to spiral out of control. Allie is blamed for the murder and is blundering into magic that she never even dreamed existed. Now Allie is hunted with only the sexy Zayvion to help her out, can she trust him? What was really going on with her father before his death?This was a quick and fun read. Allie is a tough girl, who is seriously stubborn, but has a great sense of sarcasm. There is dark humor sprinkled throughout the book. The book moves at a fast pace and the magic system development is a bit ambiguous but interesting all the same. The characters in this book are well thought out and engaging; all of them have mysterious pasts and are intriguing. Zayvion is a wonderful male lead; he obviously has a lot of secrets but his soft spot for Allie brings out his humanity. There are some steamy scenes between him and Allie throughout the book; they are decently done and are sensual without being really explicit.I love the world that Monk's created. I especially love the idea that magic extracts an immediate price from the user. Allie's sporadic amnesia as a price for using magic is another interesting bit that is thrown into this story.This story is well-wrapped up with some threads left dangling for the next book. As with many first books in urban fantasy series, this book mainly sets things up and introduces us to Allie's world.I had a couple complaints; the main one is that Allie spends an awful lot of her time being saved by other people. It seems like whenever there was trouble Zayvion was there to catch Allie as she fell. That was kind of sweet, but at the same time it made Allie seem weaker than she should have been. My other complaint is that the magic system is a bit vauge.Overall a solid urban fantasy, definitely more of an introduction to Allie's world than anything else. I really loved the easy to read writing style, the intricate characters, and the world building. The fact that magic extracts a steep cost whenever used made things really interesting. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series, Magic in the Blood. I hope the second book fills out the magic system better and that we see Allie really step up and learn to control her magic.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did.

    Parts of this book just kind of plodded along, while others felt rushed. I think it could have done with a bit more editing and a bit more length.

    The concept of a world in which magic is known but inflicts a price for every little spell cast is really intriguing. But I feel as if it wasn't fully developed. So, all businesses have people who work magic for them. Ok, but how? What do they do? What happens when differing businesses magicians duel against each other? Street lights are lit by magic. Why? Given the cost of doing magic, how is magic better for that than just building another electric plant? There was a lot more that could have been done with the universe that just wasn't touched on. It ended up feeling a bit unfinished.

    Similarly, the concept of a amnesiac heroine was enthralling but it it just didn't quite live up to my expectations. There's all the buildup about forgetting things, but other than the ending, which I won't spoil, what has she really forgotten? Her childhood birthday parts and hints that she's forgotten something that happened in college. Maybe an explanation of what she forgot that caused her to keep a diary with her own name/address handy might have lent some substance to this plot point. Instead, all the spells but one resulted in illness rather than amnesia. It was interesting, but just not what I expected from the book.

    I'll probably read the sequel just to read more about the world, but I'm in no big hurry.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting premise where magic is part of the world around us. Magic was "discovered" 30 years ago and is now taught in Colleges. Allie Beckstrom is the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the magic industry but she has shunned her family background and money and makes her living as a Hound. Magic has used her hard and left big gaps in her memories as a consequence of her magic use, but this doesn't stop her sniffing out illegal magic. The story starts when Allie traces an illegal spell to her own father. His subsequent death, supposedly at her hand, leads to her going on the run with the mysterious Zayvion Jones.The world of Monk's series is interesting, with the combination of magic and technology, however the book itself felt a little rushed. Like I was being rushed into a world where I didn't get enough time to situate myself before the scenery changed and more information was thrown at me. I liked what I saw of Allie but I would have liked to have spent more time on what makes her tick, and how the world of magic actually operated. I'm hoping that the big gaps in the background will be filled in with the next two books and that the story will be less rushed now that Monk has established the world of Allie Beckstrom.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An original book with an amazing magical system, an interesting heroine, decent mystery/action elements, and a gritty edge.

    In the world of Allie Beckstrom, magic demands a price- a headache, some bruises, death. She's the estranged daughter of an important, shady businessman, and gets caught up in a whirlwind of confusing murder, and persistent assassins.

    The writing is really descriptive and sensual, and really gives you a good sense of the physical settings. It is a little plain/immature when it comes to the personal- reminiscent of your typical C-list teen works.

    This is especially true of the romance, which is really where this turned from a 4 star book into a 3 star book for me. I just didn't really "buy" it. The romantic interest, Zay, was super closed off and secretive, so I didn't really have much of an idea of who he was as a person, which made Allie's interest in him too sudden/strong for me. Plus the romancey scenes (not the actual sex scenes, just the scenes that describe the romance) were weak, a little generic, a little underdeveloped.

    Despite the disappointing romance, I am interested enough in the other parts of the world to pick up the sequel some time in the near future. If I were you, I'd give this book a shot, but wouldn't get too attached to the idea of it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    So I give this a 3.5
    A good story magic uses you back and Allie looses her memory essentially erasing everything that happens in the book interesting
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Wasn't sure I was going to like it at first, but it got better and better as I kept reading. Really enjoyed it, and look forward to the next Allie Beckstrom book. Glad I got the library to buy this one. :) Oh wow -- just saw there are at least SEVEN more waiting to be read! Nice!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I did enjoy this urban fantasy. Allie is the main character in a world of magic and non-magic users. I liked the potential love story/interest, Zay, however there is almost too much mystery behind him.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Liked this book very much, unique world building, decent explanations thereof. Excellent expression of female sexual agency, though the memory loss of those experiences smacks of punishment for that agency. That part I'm not cool with.

    The magic seems to parallel technology in this series, which is an interesting choice on the writer's part. It deeply resembles turn of the century Victorian fiction with it's deep seated fear and excitement about technology and the ways it can be used and abused. I like the dark and gritty feel of the books.

    This book deals directly with the issues faced by a single female trying to make it on her own, specifically in a way that differs dramatically than that of her parents. When I broached my UF project with her, one of my profs asked me who I thought the target audience for the genre was. I think effectively: me. It targets "adult" women under the age of say, 40, who are negotiating a path through a world that really is kind of an old boys' club. Sound familiar? Women who are single, or at least unmarried negotiating love lives, dating, work, sexism, assault, and identity. I think the genre targets a generation that was raised just outside the idea that they would grow up, get married, have kids and be house wives. Some of us did think that and discovered it wasn't the case and that, while out of adolescence and so called young adulthood, we still don't have the damn world figured out and sure thought we should know what we are doing with our lives by now.

    But these women start out the novels between 21 and 25 and it goes from there. Anita Blake is going on 30 now I think. UF deals with the idea that we may not live happily ever after, that we have to fight and live for ourselves, that we have to daily negotiate a world where monsters are real, whether that monstrosity takes the form of magic (metaphor), or the all too human monsters that we the readers are intimately acquainted with. I think these books target a disillusioned generation effecting and experiencing a changing world that can be at once exhilarating and frightening; some days we are on top of it, others it smacks us back. These books support the idea that with some luck and good decision making skills we might find a long term partner, and that in the mean time there is nothing wrong with an action packed roll in the sack. The degree to which the genre is sex positive varies, but it is there. That aspect, in and of itself, is a new and constructive thing.


  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Eh...moderately interesting.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Eh...moderately interesting.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Really great series!!! Reminds me of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. I love it! Even better its a finished series so you can read all nine in the series and be done! I hate waiting! Author has a different twist on magic I havent seen before and Allie Beckstrom does get her ass kicked a lot. Its great to see a character still willing to defy the odds.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a spoiler free review of the first FIVE books in the Allie Beckstrom series.

    So there are two things to know about Allie Beckstrom: the first is that she's a Hound, someone who makes a living tracing magical residues back to their source. The second thing to know is that she's the only child of Daniel Beckstrom, a fabulously wealthy innovator and tycoon. You might think that her profession, Hounding, is the more important fact - but there are books in the series where she only Hounds once or twice. Her daddy issues, on the other hand...they refuse to go away.

    The series takes place in a world where magic has been discovered and commercialized in recent history. In fact, it's Allie's father - yep, daddy's already back in the conversation - who developed the technology to store and harness magic. Magic use has become very common, integrated into most aspects of everyday life, but it carries a "price in pain." Physical pain. The caster can direct the pain to arrive at a certain time, in a certain way, but there's no avoiding it.

    This "price in pain" defines the Hounds - because they use magic all the time, they're always hurting. They turn to coping mechanisms like drugs or alcohol. They burn out fast. Allie's avoided that fate so far, but it's pretty clear that she's gravitated to Hounding not just because she has a talent but because she wants to get as far away from her father, and her father's plans for her life, as possible. So, you know, daddy issues again.

    In MAGIC TO THE BONE, Allie's dad is murdered and Allie is the prime suspect. Everyone who examines daddy's body says she cast the spell that killed him. She didn't. We also find out, because we get occasional scenes from his point of view, that a mentally broken young man named Cody forged Allie's magical signature on the killing spell. When I read MAGIC TO THE BONE I was kind of annoyed by Cody. He seemed like a throwaway character and I didn't want to read from his point of view. To my surprise, Cody turns out to be really important to the series as a whole. He reappears in each book, and we get a little more backstory about him every time he shows up.

    This Cody issue showcases one of the best and worst qualities of the series. The plot conflicts that Devon Monk starts brewing in MAGIC TO THE BONE carry through to every book I've read. She builds and builds and builds from the same elements. The overarching plot is the only plot, and the whole series feels a lot like one really long novel to me. On the downside, that means that a lot of problems that carry from one book to another also seem to DRAG from one book to another, long after they should have been solved.

    Two highlights of the series...I find Allie's narration super funny, and her love interest, Zayvion Jones, super sexy. Allie is full of quips ("I was so thirsty I could drain a river dry and still have room for a few creeks and springs"). Her humor is often wry and understated and just works for me. As for Zayvion? He's unique in the urban fantasy pantheon. Allie always talks about his "Zen" demeanor and he is indeed a very calm, cool guy. He's also got a sense of humor and he and Allie have great banter, which is wonderful. But Zayvion manages to be relaxed and still very much an alpha, still fierce and downright scary when he wants to be. It's a nice change, and it means that he's equally sexy on the battlefield, in the bedroom, and just hanging out around the kitchen table.

    On the whole I recommend the Allie Beckstrom books, although the series doesn't break into my circle of favorites.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I know I read this but I can't remember a thing about it.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    It’s a unique setting: 21st century Earth, after the scientific discovery of magic. Magic can be collected like oil or electricity, and stored; when they use magic people don’t pull it from within, but from their surroundings, and every city now has cisterns of magic gathered from storms. And every use of magic has an effect on the user, which you can if you try mitigate by setting up a Disbursement. The effects on Allie, the first-person protagonist of the book, range from headaches to severe head-to-toe bruising to a sore throat, etc… And, sometimes, when she’s really lucky, gaps in her memory, to the extent that she’s begun recording everything in a book she carries with her. The effects can also, illegally, be transferred to someone who had nothing to do with the spell, who doesn’t even have to be present.Allie is called in by a … friend? called Mama to help the victim of just such an illegal move, Mama’s young son “Boy”. Why all her sons are called “Boy” I don’t know, but … whatever. They don’t seem to have other names. Allie’s what is called a Hound, which means she can – literally – sniff out details of a spell, like who cast it. And what she finds when she Hounds Boy is … her father. Who is a very rich, very powerful, very manipulative (ordinarily and magically) SOB, from whom she has been estranged for years.Now, however, she goes to his office to confront him about the spell – about which he claims to know nothing … and the reader knows this is true because in brief third-person chapters it is revealed that someone very evil is using a very gifted, very damaged young man (Cody) to forge the spell “signatures” of others, including Allie’s father on this spell.Then, the same day Allie goes to see her father for the first time in several years, he is murdered. And she is implicated. (Guess how.)What follows is a high-energy action-packed story about how Allie investigates her father’s murder, the young man with the strange gifts (who somehow transforms her gifts, which results in some interesting physical markings), and whether or not she can trust Zayvion Jones, the handsome and sexy and seductive man her father had hired to keep tabs on her (my initial instinct was NO – but I could be wrong), dodging assassins and magical rebounds.I never really warmed to Allie, or anyone else except Nora, Allie’s best friend; I never let myself trust Zayvion, right up to the end, since it seemed to me that Allie threw herself at him a little too quickly, thoroughly, and heedlessly. The writing wasn’t bad at all; it was very much like being in Allie’s head, listening to her ordinary speech patterns. Setting was well painted; I like the concepts the book was based on; while I didn’t enjoy the ending I appreciated the method of it. Not bad at all, and certainly very different from Kay without being a too-drastic comedown; I won’t rush out and buy the other books in the series, but I won’t pass them up if I come across them second-hand. I do still love the cover, and if I were slim and twenty-something might seriously consider a sleeve tattoo like that …
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a new author to me. Allie Beckstrom is a Hound; a person who tracks back magic to the person who abuses it. When it leads back to her father, a person she hasn't seen in 7 years, her life gets changed forever. In steps the mysterious Zavyion Jones, who has a few secrets of his own; some we don't learn about in this novel. Too much magic has a negative impact on Allie; she loses memories and has to carry a little black book with her name and other important contact information. **This was an interesting book for me. I've read other Magical users (IE the Ilona Andrews series), but this one had way too much Allie acting like a love struck teenager. I guess others will like this Urban Fantasy novel; I can only hope that #2 is alot better. Personally, I could have done without almost 100 pages of pensive sexual feelings between Allie and Zay. But, again, that's just me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The first 6 chapters didn’t light my fire, although it was nowhere as near as frustrating as Nightwalker. I’d read a review somewhere which described it as dark but to be honest I found it a bit fluffy (I’m still talking about the first few chapters). I prefer my stories/series a little dark and gritty but I didn’t dislike this enough to stop reading, but then again I’m renowned for disliking the first half of the first book in every series I read -I almost stopped reading Halfway to the Grave because Bones’ accent was getting on my nerves and now that’s my favourite series EVER.Chapter 7 is where things take a turn for the better. Then that was it, I couldn’t put it down. Everything just got better. I enjoyed the relationship between Allie and Zay. I have to admit though that Allie frustrates me a little, but I’m hoping that she’s grow over the next few books. I have now read the first 3 books and it is now on my favourite series list
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fun foray into the paranormal. Thoroughly enjoyable. A definite fun read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I came across this Series in the library and picked it up. I was not disappointed. I got so interested in this book that I've been reading it at super speed since it is really easy to read and really effortless to follow all of her characters. This is a story about magic casting, where you need glyphs and natural magic. The heroin of the book is named Allison (Allie) and right from the start she is projected as rebellious, strong and independent. She is the daughter of a very powerful and rich man that as per Allie’s standards is not 100% good. She has been independent and has not talked to her father in over 7 years. She is a Hound which is jus like a hound dog where she tracks spell casters in crime scenes and helps investigators identify what kind of magic was used and even the user. Allie’s world gives a 360° turn on the day of her birthday when she receives a call from a regular client asking her to hound magic for her. Devon Monk does a great job in introducing this new world to us and through out her series gives us more background information. The reader’s learn more about this world in the same pace Allie does. FYI: I started writing this review for first book only on 9/8/10 and am now on book four of this series on 9/13/10 trying to write the review with out any spoilers. Hard work! I’ve just added Devon Monk as one of my favorite authors cause’ I L-O-V-E this series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In this urban fantasy/Romance novel, we find Allie, a Hound, living alone in the bad part of Portland. She lives in a world where magic was just recently discovered, and can be channeled like electricity or water. Magic can be easily used, but at a price - it causes pain unless a person "Offloads" it to someone else, willing or unwilling. A hound is someone who tracks magic use back to the originator and Allie is a good at her job, but her pain is that sometimes takes away Memory.Its well written, solid characters. Where I felt this book was lacking was the world - it is complex enough, but it felt a bit off kilter, like something was missing. I think it is the way the rules of magic changed so quickly. The novel also didn't feel complete - there was a resolution, but a bit more explanation of how the secret society, would have a gone a long from making this from a good book, to a great book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Holey schmokes!!! I mowed through this book rather quickly for many reasons: to make one more book for my book journal this month, to get one more review in for the mini-challenge over at Literary Escapism/League of Reluctant Adults...but, most of all, I couldn't seem to stop reading this superb book! I obviously had to stop to sleep or go to work, dagnabbit (how else does one support a bookholic habit?), but I wished I could have stayed home to continue reading. Some points, I had to sleep from the feeling of exhaustion in response of all that Allie went through on hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute basis. This is why I love reading the urban fantasy genre, it's dark, action packed, putting the main character into situations they'd rather not be in, but take care of anyway because it's how they are wired. They keep going in the positive aiding direction even after the point of exhaustion, after getting injured...they just keep going. Makes me wish I could be that heroic/stoic, but I'm not so I read about the character who are that way.That's Allie through the book, aiding those weaker than she and in need of help. She gets assistance from the mysterious Zayvion, the Savant Cody, and her best friend Nola who lives in the magic-free countryside. Mostly, though, Allie stands on her own two feet and gets what needs doing accomplished. She learns along the way, even with losing some of her memories of her past through the use of magic. Using magic has its consequences. And Allie knows it only too well.The atmosphere of the genre seems best set in the Pacific Northwest, rain seems the prevailing weather adding to the dark mystery. Cold, drizzly, always there rain.... I cannot wait to get and read the rest of this series. This one is going on the keeper shelf, it's a fab book that I will revisit and my good book buddy, Jenna, got it for me and had Devon Monk sign it. I don't keep many books, but this one is definitely one of the few that stays in Casa IYamVixen. Five rain adds to the magic diamonds.....
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Picked this up yesterday at the used book store. Our heroine is a Hound, who sniffs out magic, back to the one who did it. She lives in a modern, urban world where magic exists, and is distributed through the cities much like electricity is in our modern, urban world. But in her world, using magic means paying a price - pain commensurate with the usage, and sometime holes in the memory, too. But it is possible to redirect, or offload, that priceShe is called to the "bad part of town" to use her Hound senses to search out who offloaded a sh*tload of magic onto a 5-year-old boy, nearly killing him. The signature of that offloading leads her to her father, who was instrumental in making magic commercially viable. On the way, she discovers she's being followed by an intriguing, somewhat mysterious man named Zayvion Jones. They join forces to figure out what is really going on.This was a page-turner. I found myself pulled along, even though I was sleepy. There are a few bedroom scenes, but they felt a bit "added on," as if they had been included because the modern paranormal first-person urban fantasy genre seems to demand it. The action seemed somehow a bit muddled, like the heroine, but it does tie up the loose ends by the end of the book. And then unravels some, to provide a leadin to the next book. I enjoyed this one, but not sure I will pick up the next one in the series (and I am sure there will be a next one).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great book -- the story developed quickly and never slowed. Devon Monk uses an interesting concept -- the price of magic -- as the premise of her book, but also manages to fill the story with a host of other issues: a daughter's struggle with a distant father; society's lust for instant, cost-free gratification; learning to love and trust when it seems unwise. I found this book both entertaining an intelligent. The characters are great fun, as well. Allie Beckstrom is a wonderful protagonist; she's strong and likable, but she isn't perfect. There's just enough room there for her to grow into a more intriguing character as the series progresses. And Zayvion Jones is the perfect complement -- a successful Tall, Dark, and Mysterious. If you're tired of authors striving for cryptic and enigmatic, only to end up with vague and irritating, Zayvion will be a refreshing change.I will definitely continue reading the rest of this series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Devon Monk has been recommended to me by friends, and even by Amazon based on some purchases I made, but I have an extensive to-be-read pile. Though I picked up a copy some time ago, I hadn’t gotten to it yet. Then, a friend was visiting and looked at the pile. She picked out Magic to the Bone as the “must read next.”Now I know why.This novel plays with all the traditions of strong narrative. The main character is beaten about left and right, never really understanding what’s going on but just struggling to stay on her feet long enough to figure it out. If I had to characterize the action, I’d say it’s mostly “done to” rather than “done by” her. That said, the way Allie responds to things, her own personal code mixed with a heavy dose of distrust that, despite everything, is stirred with loyalty even in the face of strong evidence to the contrary makes for a strong novel that pulled me in and kept me reading through to the end.I started this novel just as a nasty cold was claiming the space I call my own. My focus on everything else went flying out the window, but I found whenever I started reading this book, I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to put it down to struggle for an inch of progress on all the other things that I needed to do. I think that says more for the novel than most reactions just because it created focus out of thin air when I had none.The story begins with a loner who has abandoned her father, with good cause, and sets herself apart from almost everything. At the same time, she’s at the beck and call of people who she considers downtrodden but good at heart, often providing her services for free when she can’t even make her rent. As the story develops, we learn not only can she manipulate magic, though that always comes with a price in both pain and lost memories, but that she has a somewhat unique ability everyone has assured her is impossible–she carries her own supply of magic.This book is an eye-opener for Allie, knowledge which, like magic, comes with its own price, but at the same time she’s not left hanging out in darkness as she gains much in her quest to uncover the truth.Devon Monk slips sideways on the first person narrative tradition for urban fantasy by bringing in a second, 3rd person, narrator so that the reader knows a smidge more than Allie, but that smidge isn’t enough to spoil the unfolding mystery. Rather, it adds to the picture.Her other odd choice is the main character’s memory loss as a penalty. It certainly creates trouble for Allie, but I have to wonder if it won’t have even more significance in the books to come.Anyway, I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but I can tell you it’s much like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in that the story careens along its path, dragging you with it at a terrifying rate with glimpses here and there to build a tale. I never felt left behind. I never sat back and wondered if there was a greater story. I was right in the muck with Allie trying to figure things out, and it was a happy place to be.My list of “always buy” authors has increased by one, and I predict that my to-be-read pile is going to swell up a bit the next time I’m at the book store.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    With the recent discovery that magic actually does exist technology has advanced so that it’s available to everyone for whatever – green lawn, less wrinkles - presto it’s done. But magic isn’t all pixie dust and faeries, oh no, it’s available to everyone but it comes with a price: each time inflicting bruises, sore throats or even headaches depending on how much magic you used. Consequently, there are lots of folks taking advantage of the system (and others around them) by offloading their magical kickback onto unsuspecting victims. Allison Beckstrom is a Hound, someone who uses magic to track down magical offenders and turns them over to the law to make sure they pay for their crimes. Only Allie gets an additional bonus every time she uses magic – she not only gets the nasty side effects but she also looses portions of her memory. When Allie discovers her estranged father has offloaded his magic onto a little boy (illegally of course) who is now on the brink of death she gets fightin’ mad and wants to see justice done. But her father swears he didn’t do it and Allie doesn’t exactly believe him. So naturally when her father winds up murdered everyone is pointing the finger at her and Allie can’t seem to remember if she did or didn’t do it. Her only option is to trust the shady Zayvion Jones who has some very interesting talents himself to help her discover who is the real murderer and get her off the hook. Good, solid read with an interesting twist on the general conception of magic as a whole. I’m looking forward to see where Allie goes next (and can I just say I hope it’s with Zay?).I’d like to give a special thank you to the cover artist on this one. Usually, UF covers sort of turn me off and tend to not look anything at all like the characters. To tell you the truth I was not terribly excited about this one either – tattooed girl shown from behind – can we get any more unoriginal? But after reading it, this cover gets it right, I mean, *gasp* the artist might have actually read the book or at least listened to someone who knew the characters. I mean she’s Allie: funky tattoos (sort of), black tank top and short hair. So thank you, thank you for giving me a cover that doesn’t make me want to tear the cover off every time I look at it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk is set in Oregon in an alternate world, where magic has recently been discovered. The general populace actually believes that magic has in fact only recently developed or appeared. In this setting, using magic costs the user a price in body pain or memory loss. Miss Monk has developed a world where corporations are making money with magic and all the byproducts of magic use. "Offloading" where users don't have to pay a personal price , storage of magic, rights to magic, blackmarket magic uses, etc. Devon Monk has brought up a lot of interesting concepts. The book has suspense, murder, romance (nothing too sappy though - tired of sappy romance, probably a symptom of my encroaching aging), twists and turns. The heroine (Allie Beckstrom) doesn't have it easy, suffers from memory loss when she's not careful with her magic offloads, and doesn't have a special happily ever after. I really enjoyed this book a lot. I was interested from the first page to the last.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    New (to me) author Devon Monk has imagined a world where magic exists--but extracts a serious price from its users. The more magic you use, the bigger the price in pain, blood, or loss...unless you're rich enough, or ruthless enough, to transfer that price to someone else. Allie knows all about magic's price. At least she would, if she could only remember. After all, her father and his wealthy corporation have their fingers in all the magic 'pies' in the world. And she was all set to follow in those footsteps and join the family business--until she worked herself free of her father's 'Influence magic'. Since then she's made her own life, and spends a lot of it tracking down those who misuse magic and turning them in to the authorities. So when her latest job reveals her father's magic 'signature', she tries not to be surprised. But all of a sudden, weird things start to happen, her father's dead, she's the number one suspect, and there's an incredibly handsome yet strange man who always seems to be around when things go badly. And did I forget to mention the almost dead man and his kitten? A mysterious hunky man, lost memories, magical sex (although maybe not quite enough of it!), murder, a cute kitten, industrial espionage...this story has it all. The action is fast paced, the plot is well spun, and the romance vs. suspense quotient was just right for me. Monk has written a strong, yet emotionally vulnerable heroine with a drive for justice that often works against her best instincts. If I didn't know there was a second book coming, I would have found the author's website and hounded her for one! There's a lot of potential in her world and her characters and I'm hungry for more.I loved the idea of a physical cost to magic and how that could play out in today's world. Devon Monk had me hooked from page three and I just couldn't stop reading 'til the end of this book. Now I'm tapping my toes waiting for "Magic in the Blood" to be released in May 2009 and hoping the story picks up right where this one left off!