Harry Potter Meets Jessica Jones

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The first thing to catch my eye about this title, I will admit, was the cover. Bright, brash, and cocky--and the book was just like it. Think Jessica Jones meets Harry Potter, meets something entirely itself. In Magic for Liars, Sarah Gailey spins a magical fantasy about a real-world death, tying together mystery and magic, digging through to truths that transcend other-worldly abilities, because they are rooted in this one.
Ivy Gamble is a hard, bitter woman. Estranged from her family and operating as a PI, she is used to the less savory side of life. But, when a representative from Osthorne, the school where her twin sister teaches comes to ask Ivy to solve a murder, she must face people and truths even less palatable to her than adulterers and cheats. For, Ivy's sister Tabitha is magic, while Ivy has not, and the world of mages has always been elusive and cold to Ivy. But, in order to solve the murder of a beloved teacher on the campus of Osthorne, Ivy must blend into her surroundings, gain the trust of the students, and find a way to navigate her troubled relationship with her sister. She must shove aside her mixed feelings about magic to discover the truth. Is something mystical at fault, or merely the evil of people regardless of their magical abilities?
As for the two main genres in which Magic for Liars partakes, the book does credit to both. It fleshes out the fantasy world fully enough for its purposes, and although the system of magic and its workings are left ambiguous, this is natural since the main narrator is not herself magic and thus does not understand its nature. The mystery around which the plot centers is intriguing enough to keep readers hooked, and circuitous enough that it keeps them guessing for a while. One criticism I have is that it did feel a bit formulaic: the whodunnit goes along a familiar pattern of introduction, interviews, a period of misplaced certainty, and then the big reveal. I suspected the answer a little over half-way through, although Gailey did through in a satisfying number of twists.
But the strengths of the book really lie in its deeper human concerns, beyond either magic or mystery. Set in a high school, most of the main characters are in the process of becoming the selves they want to be, of determining their future identities. They cast themselves in roles they think they are supposed to fill, waiting for something to happen to solidify them into their adult versions, and to help them find meaning in their young lives. But, it is not just the high schoolers who feel this way. Ivy Gamble, having grown up without magic, now has a sense of double vision, imagining the self she might have been had she been born with her sister's power. Ive realizes gradually that she has been living her life in regret and resentment, wishing for that other self. It is interesting to watch an adult go through the same process of self-discovery as the teenagers are, both trying to find the courage to be the people they are rather than the versions they think they ought to be.
Magic for Liars was a quick, fun read, with a lot to say to people who are still in the process of personal formation. Although it is set in a high school, it is not just for young adults, but rather for anyone still feeling the pull of identities in different directions. Likely, Gailey's own experience and life history gives them the ability to parse through these themes with finesse. The magic is well-executed, and the mystery entertaining. The author blends the real and the imagined seamlessly, not changing the parameters of the existing world, but just bending them a bit to accommodate something a little extra. Altogether, Gailey's genre-blending debut novel is a thorough success.