Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy: Review by Colleen Mondor

Sorcery and Small Magics, Maiga Doocy (Orbit 978-0-316-57675-8, $19.99, 400pp, tp) October 2024.

When I settled in to read Maiga Doocy’s debut, Sorcery and Small Miracles, I expected an ‘‘en­emies to lovers’’ romance with magic between the unserious but sweet protagonist, Leovander ‘‘Leo’’ Loveage, and his classmate, the brooding, often surly, Sebastian Grimm. Both of them are students at the Fount, learning to be sorcerers for reasons that have as much to do with their families as it does with them. Leo writes spells, and Sebastian casts them. They could work together, but Leo’s spells are lightweight, the sort of thing that ac­complishes little and is not much sought out by others. Another problem is that Leo’s spells also sometimes fail in a rather spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, Sebastian is a first-class caster, one of the best, and seeks out important magic. For many reasons, the two cannot stand each other. But then, in a manner that is both cozy and familiar, they are forced by an instructor to work together and something in a spell goes very awry.

After the big mistake that forces Leo and Sebas­tian to become a team, I realllly thought I knew what Doocy was doing. Throw the guys together, emotions get heated, they solve their magic prob­lem (after overcoming some obstacles), and fall in love. The End. But then Doocy embraces world building in a more introspective way far beyond ‘‘magical high school,’’ takes a hard look at both Leo and Sebastian’s family histories, writes many things about elites vs everybody else, and the typically flippant obstacles to true love become dire. Some intense backstory is shared, Leo’s light­hearted nature turns out to be a mask for darker emotions, and Sebastian… well, he just continues to be dark and broody, but it works for him (as it has for every dark, broody, and sexy male char­acter since the beginning of time). Yes, SPARKS FLY! But the romance becomes just one part of an interesting plot that raises all sorts of ques­tions about political power and why some parents shouldn’t have children. There is also plenty about magic, which is always a good thing, but there is also so much more, and in the end, Sorcery and Small Magics is one of the better coming-of-age novels I have read in a long time. Romance readers will fall hard for Leo and Sebastian, while fantasy readers will embrace Doocy and the promise of the next book in the Wildersongs Trilogy.

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This review and more like it in the January 2025 issue of Locus.

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