Book Review: Digital Magic

Digital Magic

By:  Philippa Ballantine

Publisher:  Dragon Moon Press

Publish Date:  August 1, 2008

Format:  Print 278pgs

Genre:  Fantasy - fey

Series:  2nd in The Chronicles of Art series; 1st Book ~ Chasing the Bard

Recommendation:  It's a new world, magic has left but digital and technology have come. But has magic really left? Yes, if you enjoy the fey of Shakespeare, pick this modernized twist up.

Book Synopsis:
The Fey are gone...and with it, magic. At least, that is how things seem with the demise of the Dark Goddess and The Bard.

"Lord what fools these mortals be."

Penheram is a quaint, sleepy English village where people escape the 21st century. Hiding from the world of laptop computers, the Internet, and wireless communications, is Ella. Once a celebrated writer, now barren of ideas and drive, she resigns to a life of a deadline-free solitude. Everything changes with the arrival of a shape shifting thief. Suddenly everyone from the local librarian to the lady of the manor begin to change, revealing true natures and dangerous secrets.

Something in this sleepy English village is awakening...and some of these things were better left alone.

First Sentence:
The great shadow crept the length of the roof as silent as a prayer; each paw finding its way unerringly to the path of least noise.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles  /  Book Depository

**I read this story for my own enjoyment.

My Thoughts and Summary:
A magical shape shifter thief breaks in to take a mask that reminds him of his youth. The mask calls to him reminding him of a time he's long tried to put behind him. But now, this village seems to hold answers for Ronan, and questions. He will learn what the mystery is here. Ella witnesses the thief running away from Penherem Manor, in her dream. Yet, she's not the only there to see him. A sightless woman as well. And another, none know of, awakens this same night. A dark seed blooms by the magic smell released from the mask. The smell of a realm of which the gates are and have been closed for hundreds of years. To steal the mask, Ronan will have to stay a while and learn the lay of the museum it's in. Ronan finds he is rather intrigued with the surprises of Penherem. Then the murders start in this quiet tourist town.

Aroha has the breeze talking to her. New Zealand is being attacked and brings a man to her, a man that will have to help her on her journey after she asks the fey to save his life. By asking the favor of the fey, she is in turn bound to a favor in return.

First, I can't tell you how much I enjoy the way Philippa has taken a digital world and blended it with a touch of fey. The connection to the fey realm is lost, severed years ago. But, there are lesser fey who choose to live here. And more.

This sounds like a harsh world at the start. For thievery people trade "flesh for metal" and "soul for machine". Yes, they really do. The digital world is alive and thriving in this time setting. The tech here is really neat! There is even a 'online' type world called lining. It's where people have ports installed into their body and can plug in to the magic of the digital world. Baraki has one of these plugs.

Interesting setup of the world. Little Penherem is to resemble a small village around London. An England piece of history yet different from the past it's to represent and safer. The shape shifter, Ronan, seems different. As he's been around a long time and with pure magic in him. Ella has a past she doesn't look back at, and a past she doesn't remember. She lives in Penherem as it's a comfortable little town where she can write and work a job to pay her bills. Everyone in Penherem seems to have secrets they don't share, and maybe more them than we even know.

All the paths start to cross and their histories become clearer and clearer as you read. Ronan, Ella, Baraki, Aroha, the darkness - all have a connection and it's amazing watching Philippa weave the world and the draw between them all.

I was afraid to read this story as it's hundreds of years after Chasing the Bard, and I loved Chasing the Bard so much I didn't want to ruin the memory. I should not have wasted time in getting to this book. This book lives and breaths it's own story. What happened in Chasing the Bard in the end impacts the world here but isn't the story, it doesn't affect the characters story here. I loved this story for what it shared with us, and how different it was from Chasing the Bard.

You could read this book without reading Chasing the Bard. I think you will be safe with the small connections and they are explained.

Book Review: Chasing the Bard

Chasing the Bard

By:  Philippa Ballantine

Publisher:  Dragon Moon

Publish Date:  April 2005

Format:  Paperback, 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Genre:  Fantasy

Series:  Stand-alone, 1st in The Chronicles of Art series.

Recommendation:  Oh Yes!  Do you love Shakespearean with a twist?  This is a wonderful adventure through Will's life with the touches of Fey.

Synopsis:
Born into the human world with a gift; a gift that brings him to the attention of powers both dark and light from the World of the Fey, it is his burden to defend all the world.

Sive, the goddess of battle, hopes that he may be able to change the fate of her people.  The Fey are dying, killed by something beyond the boundaries of worlds, and Sive will do anything to save them.  So she enlists the help of her trickster cousin Puck to guard the child, and watch him grow into his gift.  But a dark power imprisoned by human and Fey, plots to destroy both worlds, and unmake all that they have created.

Can one boy stop the destruction, even if he is William Shakespeare?

First Sentence:
It was of course a guilty pleasure.

My Thoughts and Summary:
Sive is to marry the fey man she once had feelings for, but now knows he is not the same man who left to find a cure for the plague haunting the fey and killing them slowly.  He has changed, but yet doesn't know what that change is.  She just knows she doesn't want to marry him and her brother, the king, is requiring it believing Mordant knows of a cure from his travels around the distant realms.  Sive learns from her Aunt a human child is born in the mortal world possessing the great power of the Bard and this child could be the salvation of all fey.  Sive sends he cousin, Puck, to guard this child from any dangers.  Sive decides later, when the child is older, that she wants to know what her evil husband is up to.  She takes books from his library to Will so he can teach her to read.  In this time together Sive learns of a new side of herself.  Which could put her and Will in more danger, along with their loved ones and worlds.

I purchased this book after reading Geist by Philippa Ballantine.  I enjoyed the story and her writing in Geist so, that I wanted more.  Searching her site I came across this book and was taken with the description.  This book is very different from Geist, but I have to say I loved the writing and the tale she wove.  By page nine I was hooked on the writing style.  The words flowed smoothly for me and sounded poetic in their form.  This is one talented author, and one to keep an eye on, I can see many great and different pieces of work coming from her in the future.

I'm going to start right off and say I loved this book.  If William Shakespeare was could read of this fey filled, adventurous, heroic side of his life, he would be flattered and love it too.

This book takes place in both the Fey realm and Human realm, along with the in between of the veil.  This book isn't really about William Shakespeare as it is a tale spun with the fey and how they touched his life and he theirs.  The story here is one of an evil presence trying to eliminate all the realms connected, for itself.  There is love and lose here also.

I loved the way the fey where portrayed and the growth of their kind and the characters.  In the beginning they are the fun loving fey who are created to make music and dance.  They are naive and ignorant to the mortal ways, feelings, and such.  Then I was moved by them through their happenings, more through Sive and Puck. And later in the book by Aberon, Sive's king brother, in how he shows the contrast of the way Sive once was and how much she changed along with himself. Then I realized along the way, they where stronger than thought and I loved them, not wanting to see them fight a war to the death for their home and the destruction of another realm.  One that the Queen now loves with all her heart, thanks to her lover.

In the end, I had an idea where the story would go at the close of a life.  But it still brought me to tears.

I enjoyed this book very much for many reasons.  I would definitely suggest this read to anyone who enjoys the fey and a little Shakespearean twisted in.  But, don't go in looking for a Midsummer Night's Dream tale as that's not what lies between these covers.

If you would like to learn more about the book, you can at Philippa Ballantine's site and blog.  Philippa has recently released the information that this book is available in a numerous ebook formats.  I do hope you check it out.



I purchased this book of my on accord.
This book qualifies for the Speculative Fiction Challenge, hosted by Floor to Ceiling Books.