Review: Titan Magic

Titan Magic by Jodi Lamm
Release Date ~ September 30, 2011
E-copy received from author for review

Goodreads Synopsis:
Mute, heartless, and tormented by auditory hallucinations, Madeleine Lavoie never questions why her family has hidden her from the world. But the night her brother casts her out, she learns the mysterious voice she thought existed only in her mind is no delusion, and no matter how hard she tries, she can never disobey it.

Now Madeleine must find her own voice in a cacophony of powerful tyrants, monsters, and gods. If she fails, she will forfeit her life and the lives of everyone who loves her. But if she succeeds, she may finally gain the ability to love someone in return.

Titans?! Sign me up! I've never read a book about titans before, so when Jodi contacted me about reviewing Titan Magic I jumped at the chance.

1. First person narrative:Titan Magic fully immerses you into Madeleine's head, lending the book a great sense of mystery and it held my attention while keeping me curious about whatever it was that was going on. In the same way that Mara Dyer is described as an unreliable narrator in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, we're left in the dark as much as Madeleine is. And even then she isn't sure of who she is or what's happened to her, making this a very interesting read and mystery.
2. Thoughtful, complex story:
   The more I think about Titan Magic, the more I ponder exactly what it was I wanted to happen- nothing felt entirely clear to me about it, and I mean that in a positive way. It isn't a perfect a world, and neither are its characters; but there was something really raw and dark about all of it. It ended up being more twisted than I had expected, but I stayed interested nonetheless.
3. A remarkable ending:
   The ending was bittersweet to me, at best. It wasn't a perfect "happily ever after" sort of deal, but it wasn't a heartwrenching broken kind of finale either. But I think that was the point; to leave us with some questions, and for what it's worth, I really liked Jas and was fascinated by how things ended for him. It was unexpected, and left me feeling a bit unsettled at first but at the same time it just felt like the RIGHT way to finish things off.

All of this being said, because it was such a complex story there were times when many of its twists and turns left me the impression that the most important themes were convaluted a bit and lacking in the poignant impression they had the potential to make.

But the amount of creativity and thought poured into this made it an absolutely worthwhile read for me. I haven't read a fantasy like this, and I think Jodi raised some questions about life and love that I've been wondering about ever since I finished reading it.

3.5 out of 5