Ordinary Miracles

I really wanted to like this book, and don't get me wrong I liked the story but it got lost in lots of inconsequential information and narration. I feel that this book had a great base story with characters that we really could haved liked if there had just been less biased narration and simply switched to more detailed explanations. If Martyn Carey publishes another book in this world I will definitely be giving it a try and hopefully it will get better.
Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review! :)

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review,

Please visit my blog to read my full review: https://geeking-by.net/ordinary-miracles-by-martyn-carey-book-review/

Ordinary Miracles is a refreshing new take on magic that takes place in the UK, and if you're under any inclination to read this because you loved Harry Potter, let me stop you there; this is most definitely not Harry Potter. It's a fact that the author, Martyn Carey, weaves into his protagonist's dry wit with charming ease. Mike Frost is a University student, both an ordinary student and a magical one. In the world, Carey has devised magical schools are connected to higher education institutions worldwide (usually via the archaeology departments, Mike informs the reader).

It's a very logical system, and that is a common thread throughout Carey's world-building. That's not to say there's no fantasy, magic or anything else fun; it's a very clever and well-devised magical system which sets Ordinary Miracles apart from other magical novels I've read. Magic is based on physics and a mage is someone who has an active part of their brain that can affect the forces of physics in the world. For example, they can bend light, change gravity, and cause tectonic shifts.

Information about the way magic works and how it's governed throughout the world is spread throughout the novel. While some of it is a bit science chunky in places the easy-going nature of Carey's protagonist helps the reader to digest the more complex details. Mike is just an ordinary bloke whose life is thrown into complete chaos when he's out doing one of the most normal everyday things. Sure, he's a mage, but he's still just a young man about to finish University and Carey has done a fantastic job embodying that authenticity in his writing.

Part of that authenticity is the strong British voice throughout which was wonderfully familiar for me as a British reader, and something I really miss when reading American writers. It isn't overdone though. There's no bloody this, or bloody that thrown in just to catch attention (i.e. Ron Weasley in Harry Potter). It's a natural voice that feels right at home, and it's one that touches all of Carey's British characters. From comments about spell words sounding like "a pissed Glaswegian offering drinks in a Spanish bar" to the traditional clothes of a student from Bethnal Green, Carey's wit is razor-sharp and always just enough.

The novel is set in Nottingham, East Midlands, and London, both of which have diverse populations. Universities in the UK also have thriving international communities. What I really appreciated about Ordinary Miracles was that it recognised this and didn't make a big fuss. There is a wide range of diversity amongst the characters and it's all just part of life. Mike's brother is gay and it's mentioned because his boyfriend is present in one scene. There's no big drama, no issues with their parents, it just is.

The most important representation for me as a disabled woman was a disabled character. I'll admit I had mixed feelings with the character, Amy, for several reasons. The first is that for 50% of the book her condition, hip dislocations so severe that she needed a wheelchair, was referred to as 'the hip thing'. I have hypermobile EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) and regularly sublax (partially dislocate) my hips. While it was amazing to (finally!) have a character who was like me in a book I felt confused and upset that her condition wasn't named. EDS is just one of several joint conditions that causes dislocation and the dismissive title of 'hip thing' given by the protagonist and not by Amy herself was erasing part of her disability.

While I have some reservations on how the naming of her condition was handled I don't hold the same feelings towards how she as a character was written. She wasn't babied, she wasn't pitied or desired so someone could play the hero. Quite the opposite in fact. She is seen as a person not a disability throughout the novel, and there are a lot of details given about living with someone with a chronic illness which I, as someone living with 7 of them, really appreciated.

There are two things overshadowing the diversity present in Ordinary Miracles which the more I thought about them the more I couldn't just put down to me being pedantic. Firstly, the characters of each nationality and race have stereotypical names. You've got Patrick the Irish guy, Nadia the Asian woman and Catriona the Scottish woman hailing from, you guessed it, Edinburgh.

Then there's Sam the Chinese student who is written with an accent that borders on racist; "Sometime spell better, sometime not spell. If thing too heavy, need too much power, can't lift". While Carey's Briish accents are spot on, his non-British accents are terrible. The American teacher Terry-Ann Wicks was particularly painful to read. The difference between them is that they don't authentic at all, feeling mocking instead, which is a shame. Everything else about this novel doesn't feel that way. The way diversity and disability have been integrated into the novel, as a part of life, not a plot device, shows an author who is at least aware of the bigger picture.

Overall I really enjoyed Ordinary Miracles and the book ends with the suggestion of this being the first book in a series. I'd be really interested in reading more about the world and Mike and his friends, however, it needs some work first. While this novel, and it's author, has a lot of promise, I feel that several corners were cut in order to rush this to publication. It needs the spit and polish of an experienced editor and the process of beta readers before getting published.

I think this is a well written book but I found the plot confusing and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Firstly, I adore this cover. I think its stunning, and it is the first thing that really drew me to the book.

The story itself starts of really promising - a train crash in Paddington Station and the immediate aftermath are written in a slightly graphic but completely unflinching way. Plenty of questions are raised and none answered, but I didn't feel like that mattered because I was engaged enough to keep pushing through.

Unfortunately, after this strong start the book became a bit of a struggle. There was lots of long winded and detailed world building which quickly became confusing a difficult to follow. I was quite fond of the characters as the story went on, but it took so long for everything to happen that I couldn't stay interested in the book for more than a few pages, and it became a bit of a hard slog.

The writing is beautiful - Martyn Carey has a gift for descriptions. Its just a real shame that this seemed to hold back the plot. However, I would definitely recommend that people give the book a try!

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.