The sequel to Indigo Springs, “A psychologically astute, highly original debut—complex, eerie, and utterly believable.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
This powerful sequel to the A.M. Dellamonica's Sunburst Award–winning contemporary fantasy Indigo Springs starts in the small town in Oregon where Astrid Lethewood discovered an underground river of blue liquid—Vitagua—that is pure magic. Everything it touches is changed. The secret is out—and the world will never be the same. Astrid’s best friend, Sahara, has been corrupted by the blue magic, and now leads a cult that seeks to rule the world. Astrid, on the other hand, tries to heal the world.
Conflicting ambitions, star-crossed lovers, and those who fear and hate magic combine in a terrible conflagration, pitting friend against friend, magic against magic, and the power of nations against a small band of zealots, with the fate of the world at stake.
Blue Magic is a powerful story of private lives changed by earthshaking events that will ensnare readers in its poignant tale of a world touched by magic and plagued by its consequences.
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“I loved this. An original and terrific apocalyptic fantasy set in the real world.” —Patricia Briggs, #1 bestselling author
“An edge-of-the-seat thriller.” —Booklist
“A fascinating, multilayered tale of people caught up with forces beyond their control. Not only is it a cracking good tale, it’s an insightful look into the consequences of using great power selfishly.” —RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars
“Indigo Springs is well worth a visit.” —bookotron.com
About the Author
A.M. DELLAMONICA is the author of Indigo Springs, which won the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Her short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, Realms of Fantasy, Sci-Fiction and Strange Horizons, and in numerous anthologies; her 2005 alternate-history Joan of Arc story, “A Key to the Illuminated Heretic,” was short-listed for the Sideways Award and the Nebula Award. Dellamonica lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Alyx Dellamonica is a Vancouver writer whose first novel, the apocalyptic fantasy INDIGO SPRINGS, was released in 2009 to rave reviews. Filled with sexual tension, unrequited love, messy ethical dilemmas and an ecologically unbalanced form of magic, the book tells the story of three friends who inadvertently cause the mystical equivalent of a nuclear meltdown in a small town in Oregon. The novel won the 2009 Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and a sequel, BLUE MAGIC, was released in 2012.
Dellamonica's fiction began to appear in print in 1986, and despite repeated washings, remains in circulation in a variety of print and on-line locales. Her alternate history of Joan of Arc, "A Key to the Illuminated Heretic," was short-listed for the 2005 Sidewise Award and in 2006 she was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts' Grant for Emerging Artists for her novel THE WINTERGIRLS. She teaches writing through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and blogs extensively about writing, photography, mass media and, inevitably, her cats..
In her spare time, she volunteers for the Out in Harmony Community Choir, gardens, and is an avid digital photographer. Her 1989 marriage to writer Kelly Robson became legal in 2003.
"Being a writer is like being Spiderman. It may not always be easy--at times, it can be terribly hard. The highs are stratospheric, while the lows... occasionally, you even want to quit. But storytelling is a form of superpower; once it gets hold of a person, it will express itself one way or another. The trick is to find a way to tell your tales, to the best of your ability, while living a full and vibrant life."
Blue Magic is the second book in a duology by A.M. Dellamonica that began with Indigo Springs. I gave the first book a three and while Blue Magic improves on book one in several ways, it also takes some steps back as well.
The first book introduces us to Astrid, who upon returning to her hometown of Indigo Springs discovered a powerful source of magic with which she can enchant objects and people. Her longtime friends Jacks (who loves her) and Sahara (whom Astrid loves but Sahara's true love is herself), and her mother become involved and after some argument over how to handle the magic, tragedy ensues for some and Astrid is locked up by the government. Blue Magic picks up shortly after and broadens the canvas to global (and actually beyond) impact, and involves literally world-shaking and world-changing events.
The characters in the first book were a mixed bag for me. I found Astrid the most interesting, but a bit too passive and I can't say I really cared over-much what happened to her. Jacks was mostly a blank slate for me, a role to fill rather than a fully created character. And Sahara was just a bit too on the nose in terms of playing the villain. The side characters had little to endear me to them or set them apart. And the basic premise of the magic always seemed too strong to me in the sense that I never shook the feeling that things could have turned out so much better and so much easier had they just "done this or this or that" with the magic, which seemed wholly possible.
This nagging feeling only worsened as we entered Blue Magic, which ratcheted up the entire conflict into a literal war between/among four factions: The U.S.... army, which is terrorized by the magic that is now contaminating the world; Astrid's group that is bleeding the magic out of its source world and into our own (for reasons I'm not going into but that make perfect sense); Sahara's group, which is more of a cult that worships Sahara as a goddess; and the Fyremen, a group who has over generations fought the "witches" that employ the magic fluid, known as vitagua. There are battles and raids and people die and I know we're supposed to feel lots of suspense over how things will turn out and who will live and die, but that same feeling of "couldn't they just . . . ." bled the book dry of most suspense for me. It's certainly possible I just didn't have a grip on how the magic worked or what they could do with it, but for whatever reason, the drama all seemed artificial to me. It didn't help that we were reminded often of the fact that Astrid had seen certain futures, and while it's made clear her visions often lack complete knowledge, they still lowered the tension level a bit.
Astrid comes much more alive in this book than the first, though my favorite character, and the one that I thought showed the most depth, was Will, who unlike many of the others is truly caught between sides and philosophies, making him automatically a more interesting character. Again, most of the side-characters had little to make them stand out as particularly interesting or original and Sahara is once more just too cartoony a villain for me.
The plot was more episodic and felt a bit scattered and overly long, with some uneven pacing. The ending was an improvement on the ending of Indigo Springs, however, feeling less rushed and better prepared for.
I had a hard time staying engage in Indigo Springs and the same held true for Blue Magic, which like the first I also put down and picked up multiple times. In the end, I liked the concept of the books more than the execution of the concept; the idea of the characters more than the characterization of the characters; the potential of the magic system rather than the actual use of the magic system as plot device. I'd love to have seen what these books might have been like written say in another ten years when the author has several more novels under her belt. But as they are, I can't really recommend them.Read more ›
In this second book of a duology A.M. Dellamonica explores the chaos that ensues when a kind of magical contagion (unleashed by accident in "Indigo Springs") spreads throughout the mundane world. Dellamonica attacks the problem with a sort of fiendish glee and cheerful energy; I grinned my way all through it. Though it is book two of two, it also successfully stands alone for people who are giving Dellamonica a try for the first time.
When I see the word "magic," I immediately think "fantasy;" but "Indigo Springs" and "Blue Magic" seem to me to be at least as much science fiction as anything else. Think of magic as a virus, isolated over the centuries by a small group of Fyremen dedicated to protecting the unwary and destroying both the virus and all of its vectors (people who have learned to channel the virus into productive applications); think of a small number of geographically segregated "wells" (existing in the wild, so to speak, unknown to the Fyremen) in which the contagion has over the years become concentrated and contained, like radioactive waste, in silos, under pressure; and then imagine what it's like when the seal of one such well begins to fail, with potentially catastrophic consequences for everybody on Earth.
Now think of a small group of volunteers working feverishly against time to mitigate the impacts of the existing leak; to contain the domino effect as the reverberations of the leaking magical energy, spreading world-wide, threaten to destabilize other such wells and set them off; and to derive a final and positive resolution to the problems this creates.... That's the task set for the heroes of "Blue Magic," and in the end the solution they've found is not only deeply satisfying but joyfully predictive of the development of a new reality interface for us all.
Fun characters, intriguing concept, convincing settings, high stakes and the triumph of intelligence over brute force: I recommend "Blue Magic" (and "Indigo Springs") for readers who are in the market for a cheerful romp through an original landscape over a solid story-telling foundation en route to a happy ending.Read more ›
This is the sequel to Indigo Springs and I believe the final book in the Astrid Lethewood series. This was a much more linear and well-thought out book than Indigo Springs. I enjoyed the creative ideas in this book, even though at times the writing was still a bit ambiguous.
This book details the story of how Astrid is trying to control the release of magic from the well so that it doesn't destroy the world. It also focuses on Sahara's trial and her followers. In addition to that Will's children have been stolen by their mother who is a follower of Sahara and Will is desperate to save them. The story is told from many different perspectives and it worked well for this book.
This is a much more linear story than in the previous book and not quite as hard to follow. It was also a very creative story; I love the idea of leaking magic creating an eco-disaster of epic proportions.
Astrid is struggling, she is the keeper of the well. She is trying to release magic slowly so that the world won't be destroyed. The release of the magic is inevitable...but if it can be somewhat controlled the fall-out might not be quite as bad. She also needs an heir to pass the magic on to and she hopes it will be Will (the negotiator who worked with Astrid in the first book).
While Astrid struggles to try and heal the world Sahara is trying to rule it. Sahara is egotistical and pretty much insane. As time goes on the military is beginning to figure out that Sahara isn't the one with power...Astrid is.
Adding to the chaos are the people trapped in the other place, the place where the blue magic flows from. They want to get out but if Astrid lets them all out at once the magic will explode into the world and destroy it....
In this book we get to know all of the characters much better than we did in the first book; they all become very real and very interesting.
The real strength of this story is the creative idea behind the world being irreversibly contaminated with a long contained magic. Also Astrid builds a community which is focused on letting people do what they want to do, it ends up being an interesting type of society.
There is a lot going on in the story and, as with the previous book, the story gets a bit ambiguous at points. Sometimes it's a bit confusing to figure out what's going on. Still I thought it was worth dealing with this confusion to read the outcome of this very creative and interesting premise to a story.
Overall this was an intriguing urban fantasy read. It won't be for everyone because the story can still be a bit ambiguous and confusing at times. This book was much more well thought out and linear than the first book, Indigo Springs. We also get to learn a lot more about these characters and really get to engage with them. Recommended to those who want to read some urban fantasy that's a bit different and has an eco-twist to it.Read more ›
