THE MAGIC MISFITS SPOILER-FREE REVIEW | a total rip off?

THE MAGIC MISFITS: NEIL PATRICK HARRIS

my rating:★★★☆☆

tags: middle-grade, overhyped, cover envy

goodreads rating: 3.86

publishing date: November 21st, 2017

Remember, if it’s in red, it’s a link!

When street magician Carter runs away, he never expects to find friends and magic in a sleepy New England town. But like any good trick, things change instantly as greedy B.B. Bosso and his crew of crooked carnies arrive to steal anything and everything they can get their sticky fingers on.

After a fateful encounter with the local purveyor of illusion, Dante Vernon, Carter teams up with five other like-minded kids. Together, using both teamwork and magic, they’ll set out to save the town of Mineral Wells from Bosso’s villainous clutches. These six Magic Misfits will soon discover adventure, friendship, and their own self-worth in this delightful new series.

You can read my notes for the book as I was reading it here.

I don’t really have a whole range of things to say about this book other than that it wasn’t my cup of tea. I have mostly been reading darker YA this year and this was my first middle-grade of 2018, so the change really took me for a loop. I’ve never read a book by this author and I have barely seen any of his work except his role as Olaf in the Series of Unfortunate Events Netflix series. I had no idea what to expect, especially since this is his middle-grade debut.

WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT FROM THIS BOOK?

Honestly, when I first saw it I was drawn to the cover, it looks fantastic and the art is amazing! Though, I also couldn’t help but notice that NPH’s face covers this book! He’s got a sticker of his face on the cover, on the back and in the back of the book – like, we get it, a famous guy wrote the book, calm down.

However, on a more positive note: this is very middle-grade. This is very much a children’s book.  There are illustrations consistently throughout the book and they’re all fantastic and were what I enjoyed most about the book.

 

<< These illustrations are part of the reason I think children (the target audience) will love this book so much is because every 50 or 60 pages there is an example of a magic trick, explaining to the reader to perform a card trick or something of the like.

The illustrations are simple and look fantastic, they really set the book apart and make the book worth it. They help explain the story without taking over the novel, they add to the story even if there isn’t an illustration on every page.

THE DIVERSITY

• A character in a wheelchair

• Adoption rep 

• Multiple POC

• Gay parents 

 

A TOTAL RIP OFF?

Okay, so here’s the tea. This is basically A Series of Unfortunate Events but, with magic. It’s written in a similar manner, and Lemony Snicket even blurbs it on the back. What  I find so many people enjoy about Snicket’s series is that he broke the fourth wall every now and then to explain what a word meant or to give his two cents about a situation. This also happens in The Magic Misfits, and while I was reading the book all I could think was how similar the books and characters were and oh my god if he explains another word to me I’m going to be pissed.

Overall, this is a good book and I’m sure it will make for a great middle-grade series but while I was reading it I just felt like I was reading a half-assed Lemony Snicket novel.

Honestly, I doubt it. I still enjoy reading middle-grade but this book was just not for me. I appreciated it for what it was: a fun mg about magic. But, I don’t feel the need to continue on in the series.

HAVE YOU READ THE MAGIC MISFITS? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE PARALLELS BETWEEN HARRIS’ & SNICKET’S BOOKS?

FRIDGESANT