Alice Hoffman

The Book of Magic (Practical Magic #2

Cassidy Nolan

Never love someone who cannot love you back,

That is the way to heartbreak and nothing more.

Know that what you give to the world will come back to you threefold.

When you kill off one of the most beloved characters right off the bat, it probably isn’t going to bode well for the rest of the book. And no, this isn’t a spoiler because even the book description discusses Aunt Jet’s death. 

Everyone seemingly lives forever in this universe except when it’s convenient to kill them off. How old is Vincent? Just how old is the Reverend? And Agnes is well over 100, yet doing just fine. The timeline is also unclear; it seems very modern yet too much time seems to have passed between Practical Magic and this book for everything to add up and characters' ages to be made clear. At the end, it's stated that Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" is playing, but that song came out in 2009. The first book takes place in 1995, making The Book of Magic take place 14 years later. But if Kylie was 12 in Practical Magic, that would make her 26 now, which she clearly isn't. Yes, she's in her early 20s, so it's not too much of a leap, but it stood out to me. It's these little confusing details--that maybe no one else but me would pick up on--that took away from this book for me.

This is by far the weakest of the series. I’m going to pretend it doesn’t exist and try to erase it from my memory. There are many plot holes and inconsistencies with the other books and the characters. Additionally, I felt there was too much time spent on minor characters and their backstories that didn’t add anything to this book. The plot was also ridiculous. And what was the point of killing Franny? I don’t think her death (or Jet’s for that matter) was justified and they both majorly hurt this book. 

Alice Hoffman is a good writer though, and this book had some beautiful language. That’s about all it had going for it. The best part of this book was the beginning when Jet was still alive. Hoffman created a beautiful setting with the house on Magnolia Street in Massachusetts and it's a shame we had to leave and venture so far away--to Europe no less--for the majority of this book. Most of the plot was over the top, unlike most of Hoffman's works. It's just not believable and I am so disappointed by this book. 

Amanda

When you kill off one of the most beloved characters right off the bat, it probably isn’t going to bode well for the rest of the book. And no, this isn’t a spoiler because even the book description discusses Aunt Jet’s death. 

Everyone seemingly lives forever in this universe except when it’s convenient to kill them off. How old is Vincent? Just how old is the Reverend? And Agnes is well over 100, yet doing just fine. The timeline is also unclear; it seems very modern yet too much time seems to have passed between Practical Magic and this book for everything to add up and characters' ages to be made clear. At the end, it's stated that Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" is playing, but that song came out in 2009. The first book takes place in 1995, making The Book of Magic take place 14 years later. But if Kylie was 12 in Practical Magic, that would make her 26 now, which she clearly isn't. Yes, she's in her early 20s, so it's not too much of a leap, but it stood out to me. It's these little confusing details--that maybe no one else but me would pick up on--that took away from this book for me.

This is by far the weakest of the series. I’m going to pretend it doesn’t exist and try to erase it from my memory. There are many plot holes and inconsistencies with the other books and the characters. Additionally, I felt there was too much time spent on minor characters and their backstories that didn’t add anything to this book. The plot was also ridiculous. And what was the point of killing Franny? I don’t think her death (or Jet’s for that matter) was justified and they both majorly hurt this book. 

Alice Hoffman is a good writer though, and this book had some beautiful language. That’s about all it had going for it. The best part of this book was the beginning when Jet was still alive. Hoffman created a beautiful setting with the house on Magnolia Street in Massachusetts and it's a shame we had to leave and venture so far away--to Europe no less--for the majority of this book. Most of the plot was over the top, unlike most of Hoffman's works. It's just not believable and I am so disappointed by this book. 