Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey ★ ★

Sarah Gailey’s Magic for Liars - which was nominated for the Best Fantasy book of 2019 on Goodreads - is a well-written urban fantasy book with some interesting ideas that are sadly left unfulfilled by the end of its brisk 336 pages. The book begins with the gruesome death of a teacher at a prestigious magic school, and our protagonist P.I. Ivy Gamble is hired by the school’s principal to investigate the circumstances of this death or murder.

It’s clear by the third chapter that Magic for Liars is a bit different from other urban fantasy books written from a first person perspective with a strong heroine, because Ivy is not magical. Her twin sister Tabitha, who is a teacher at this school, is magical. Ivy not only envies her sister for her magical abilities, but her self-loathing and inferiority complex is at the forefront of the entire book, which made much of the latter half of the book tedious to read. I grew tired of reading about the bitterness of our heroine, even though much of it is warranted, and I felt that it undercut the mystery at the crux of the book.

While the author does an admirable job of having some twists and turns, the mystery is quite transparent even to the heroine, although she refrains from including it in her inner monologues to focus on the aforementioned self-loathing instead. While there are three or four suspects, there was a lack of urgency for solving the death of the teacher. In an attempt to reinforce that real murder mysteries aren’t solved overnight, Gailey and her heroine Ivy Gamble frequently meander through the boring (the author’s words, not mine) parts of an investigation, but instead of ramping up steadily in the third act, it leaps over some steps to a largely unsatisfying conclusion. The supporting characters - particularly Tabitha - are also well-written, and I liked how most of the supporting cast felt like layered human beings rather than the cardboard cutouts they tend to be in some mystery books.

The magic itself is fine, but it lacks a system of thought to support it, which can be attributed to the protagonist being non-magical herself. I thought it was an interesting subversion of the urban fantasy genre to have the protagonist be non-magical and unremarkable aside from her investigative abilities, but Ivy Gamble is not really given time to shine as an investigator either. As an outsider, her knowledge of the magic school - which is arguably the most interesting part of the book - is limited to the confines of her investigation, so readers who would love a magic school trope subversion masterpiece like the books of Lev Grossman, Sarah Gailey’s Magic for Liars will not be the book for you. It is interesting, however, that even our protagonist comments about how remarkably mundane and typical the Osthorne Academy for Young Mages turns out to be, but this is perhaps the reason why much of this book itself is not memorable. While it subverts the magic and wonder that is commonly found in magical schools, it also made me uninterested in learning more about the institution, the students, and worst of all, the world.

As a self-contained urban fantasy story with a mystery at the center, this might be a good read for anyone who doesn’t want to commit to a behemoth fantasy series. However, if you are looking for an urban fantasy series to charm your proverbial pants off, I would recommend Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, which has surprisingly great worldbuilding and a fun, dynamic heroine.