Customer Reviews

Magic Lost, Trouble Found (Raine Benares)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Raine Benares, an elf and a Seeker, has enough trouble in her life without someone bringing more to her door, but when her friend and employee, Quentin, is hired to steal something from a powerful necromancer's house, she just can't let him handle the trouble alone.

The something that Quentin has been hired to steal is soon found to be more valuable and more important than either of them could ever have imagined. Before Quentin even escapes the necromancer's house, he finds himself with some unsavory company, who also just happen to want to lay hands on the very same amulet that Quentin has just pilfered.

With a little help from Raine and her family, Quentin narrowly escapes with his life. Raine insists that he hand over the amulet for safekeeping, and that's when things start to get a little wild!

MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND is an enchantingly engaging read. Devoid of the heavy depressing themes that seem to permeate popular fantasy novels lately, MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND will delight readers who like a good dose of humor mixed with their magical adventure. Author Lisa Shearin has done a superb job of crafting a fantasy world alive with elves, goblins and otherworldly creatures. With a fast paced plot, well-crafted characters and just a hint of romance, MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND is a book that fantasy lovers won't want to miss.

"Magic Lost, Trouble Found" is the first non-contemporary fantasy I have read in a long time. The title caught my eye, but it was reading the first chapter that really won me over.

Others have summed up the story very nicely. What grabbed me about Raine Benares (our heroine) was that she stuck by her friend Quentin even when she knew it was a bad idea. What continued to hold my attention was her humor and her ability to take care of herself despite serious challenges.

Up until Benares was forced to take an amulet Quentin stole, she was a moderate level sorceress. Now that amulet has increased her powers. Unfortunately, everyone in the city wants that amulet, which ties her up in politics and makes a lot of enemies.

There's a lot to like about this novel. Shearin's characters are well-written and engaging. While she has a significant cast of multiple races, she does manage to keep track of them and explain them reasonably well. The story moves along at a smart pace with very few bogs. Her world is also very well-realized--even the politics make sense. (As much as politics ever do!)

I have two complaints that reduced "Magic Lost's" rating from 5 stars. A map would have been very useful in helping to figure out where we were in somewhat complex terrain.

Second, the cast of characters was large enough and the action fast enough, that an index of characters with a brief description of their race and position would have helped a lot. Such a list will also help refresh readers' memory when this series continues, which I believe it will.

After reading several much-hyped bad first books, it was a relief to find one that's worth the cover price. This book was well done with a strong heroine, good secondary characters (I liked both Mychael and Piaris), and everything else a book needs: plot, action, several creepy settings, etc. The pacing is a little uneven, but entirely forgiveable in a first book. If you like light fantasy, this is highly recommended.

I picked this up at the bookstore the other day, desperate for something in the genre. I wish my favorite writers lived in a pocket universe where time moves much faster, and would send their completed novels back through the wormhole every couple of weeks. Sigh. But I digress...

The cover and title of this book are deceptive. They make the book appear more appropriate for the Romance aisle of the bookstore-- but that's not the case. It's a fairly standard fantasy adventure novel, with very little romance. Only a few kisses, and although the heroine does seem to go weak in the knees a bit too often and easily in the presence of A Man, it didn't bother me too much. I'd liken the book to one of those Mercedes Lackey "urban fantasy" novels, but with less actual description of violence.

The writing is consistent throughout; it's not a cringeworthy first novel. There are enough interesting things happening, and almost none of the insufferable repetition you sometimes get with this sort of thing.

Lisa Shearin takes urban fantasy and gives it a jump start with her first book Magic Lost, Trouble Found. Raine Benares can wield a sword, avoid capture from a goblin shaman, fight a soul sucking rock for her soul, and still find time to entertain the affections of two attractive men. Shearin's Mermeia gives the fantasy world a new city, full of back alleys, royal embassies, playful night clubs and Gothic ruins. Not only is her portrayal of both elves and humans superb, but she gives goblins a whole new skin to wander about in. Shearin's goblins are tall, muscled, angular, and gray-skinned with pointed ears. She spares no detail for her supporting cast, all of whom are delightful (Tam ranks at the top of my personal list). Add a hint of humor and you have a brilliant book that lives up to the expectations of the avid fantasy reader. All we can wish for is that Mrs. Shearin proves to be most prolific in her writing and provides us with much more trouble, which only magic can remedy.

This book reminded me a bit of The Magician's Guild by Trudy Canavan at the beginning. There were swashbuckling characters stealing an object from a necromancer, goblin attacks, and some political intrigue. The main character seemed intelligent and the magic was presented nicely. All of that got me really excited about the book, then it fell apart. There wasn't much of a plot since the amulet was stolen within the first few pages. We found out the properties of the amulet shortly after that. That doesn't leave much to discuss in the last 200 pages. In addition to the lack of plot, was the bad writing style. It felt a bit clunky to me, and I had a hard time following dialogue. Many characters were presented, but each only popped up occasionally. I don't feel like I got to know any of the characters. A nice idea and setup for a story that went horribly wrong. Like I said, I really wanted to like the book, I gave it many chances, but in the end I skimmed through some of the passages, just trying to get through. There wasn't enough mystery, action, suspense, or character development for me to give this more than one star.

I enjoyed the humor and the voice of the novel. There's a good deal of fast paced action, steamy sexual tension between Raine and Tam and Raine and Mychael, and wisecracks throughout. The goblins rock! I was so excited to see sexy goblins. B-)

There's plenty of conflict and romping twists and turns in the story and it pretty much held my attention all the way to the end. The dialogue overall is snappy and there's some excellent one-liners in the narrative. Description is Lisa's strong point--I had no trouble visualizing the setting, characters or the action. The fact there's gunpowder (and explosions!) only makes it even better.

On the whole the characters come across as well-rounded and developed, with personalities and histories all their own. The quirky, off-beat cast of minor characters is a lot of fun and I hope to see many of them in the sequels.

At times there's lot of exposition which tends to drag things down. I didn't really need a huge explanation on everything and everyone that Raine encountered so soon.

Some of the modern turns of phrase and anachronisms really jarred me out of the novel; because this is not set in our world, a handful of anachronisms don't mesh with the fantasy world.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for me was the races (physical appearance aside). When I pick up fantasy, I generally like to see a touch of "otherness" in the fantasy races. Even if it's just cultural aspects or an unusual trait. I like it when the author can make me think, however briefly, that these races aren't human.

In MLTF, other than skin color, some pointy ears, and fangs, there seems to be no difference between elves, goblins and humans as sentient races. Perhaps that was the intention (is there really that much difference between the races?) but even so, I was hoping for just a little more spice in what makes these races different from each other. They all come across, basically, as humans with cool make-up jobs.


That being said, I applaud Lisa for making her goblins elegant, sophisticated, dangerous eye-candy when it comes to looks.

MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND was a good debut. The cover art is colorful, attractive (if a bit deceptive--this isn't a romance) and has a playful font. The story gets going moderately quickly and continues at a fast clip until the climax. And did I mention sexy goblins?

If you like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, you will probably enjoy MLTF.

As others have already mentioned, within the first 30 pages or so I got lost in all of the characters that were being introduced. Here are my issues with this book.
1. Too many characters.
2. Too much handed to you via first person narration.
3. Two possible love interests? Enough already! Is this even necessary?
4. Level of the plot is YA!

I'm not sure how anyone rated this anything above three stars! I will not be reading the sequel. The only reason I finished reading this title is that I lived in hope that at some point the author would redeem herself. Unfortunately, the only way I was able to get through the entire book was by reading every other page and then simply skimming the pages that I actually stopped on.

In a richly built land, called Mermeia, Lisa Shearin presents us with a strong heroine, Reine Benares of modest talents and great courage. This well written, fast paced story is filled with magic, intrigue and thrills galore. The central character, Reine Benares is a seeker; an elf sorceress with street smarts, courage and middling talent, who finds herself on the other end of normal circumstances - the one being sought after instead of being the seeker. After taking possession of a ancient artifact, known as a beacon, which she is unable to rid herself of, she is in a race against time against those trying to find her and the beacon.

This novel was had interesting supporting and main characters, moved along at a nice pace and was a great read. This is my first time delving into this type of novel and it was a great surprise. Shearin fleshes out the world and it's inhabitant's quirks and politics in way that endears you to them and makes you feel like you're right alongside the heroine throughout her journey.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Magic Lost, Trouble Found" and will purchase the next book in the series coming out this year.

This is one of those "hard to classify" books. It has a fantasy setting, but definitely has an urban fantasy feel to the characters and the pacing.

I thought that the story flowed well, the pacing was right, and we are introduced to a cast of colorful and mysterious characters. The main issue was concluded, to a point, but there is definitely enough to warrant several more books (and given that there are 3 others with more coming out next year, that's a good thing).

There were a few times when the characters would say a line that didn't seem to fit the character and the environment (now, if the setting had been LA or Atlanta, I would have bought it), but those were few and far between, and right now I'll attribute it to minor inconsistencies in a first novel.

I'll definitely try the next one.