Book Review: Magictorn

Title: Magictorn
Author: Leia Stone
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

What It’s About: Sloane stays in her prison and talks to Logan via the mindspeak. She has no idea where she is besides Ireland, but Logan tells her that they will find her–in the meantime, the Druids come to see her. Steven, who wasn’t actually killed, brings a truth witch with him and Logan asks her questions to elicit certain types of Answers to trick the truth witch. It works–the truth which says that she’s not lying but he also says that he struggles to believe her. Then, she tells the truth which where to find the Eye in order to get him to leave her alone in peace.

Logan warns Sloane that Isaac’s friend is coming and sure enough, it turns out that it is a fairy. The fairy uses her bow and shoots arrows to make the metals disappear, so Sloane has to shift in order to make the escape. As they fly away, Ardan creates a tornado, but Sloane manages to evade it with the fairy’s help as she had turned them both invisible.

The fairy takes them both to a car and they drive through the forest/ woods until they come to the airport, where Logan and the gang are waiting for her. The fairy then demands to be paid–she wants a molar from Sloane, which shocks her but they pull it out and Sloane passes out from the pain. Danny later tells Sloane that it was a nightmare to watch the fairy eat Sloane’s tooth and grow. She also sees the tattoo on Logan’s arm of Rueben’s bear and is saddened by the loss. Keegan blames himself because it was his idea to separate them, and Sloane wants to take out Ardan as soon as possible. Isaac reminds her that her earth wand was destroyed, and Griddish is dead so she has nothing to bound her magic back into the earth. Danny asks her about her mom’s necklace, and Isaac says it might be exactly what they need so they head to Arizona.

While Logan and Keegan dig up the grave, Isaac gets permission from Sloane to bury her mom the druid way without the box. Danny then takes Sloane for a ride, and he tells her that he had a sister–a pureblooded witch with the affinity for healing, who got killed by a drunk driver. Danny admits that he wasn’t right for a long while after that loss, and Sloane empathizes with him, saying that she’s the same after the loss of her mom. But she admits that Logan makes her feel okay, and Danny says Keegan does that for him. Danny then tells her that he has this feeling of being watched, and Sloane confesses to him that she told another sorcerer about the Eye. Danny tells her that he’s not strong enough to shield them both from the Eye and they need Eva, so Sloan texts her, telling her the truth, and they head back to the cemetery. By the time the two get back, there’s a beautiful soft glow as Lily’s essence is joining with the earth. A white flower sits at the center of the mound, and Isaac tells Sloane that it is a life flower–confirmation from the earth that her mother’s essence has been received and redistributed. He also tells her that it will smell like her, which Sloane confirms after sniffing it. Isaac then hands her the pendant, and she puts it on in the cemetery as a precaution in case it reacts and sends more druids after them.

The pendant brings a huge reservoir of magic to the front, and the dragon side of Sloane does not like it. Isaac asks her to test it at the cemetery in case the dragon does come out. Sloane tries and finds that it’s more powerful magic than ever before, which makes Isaac gleeful that Ardan will die a very fiery death.

On their drive back to California, Lynn calls Eva and tells her that her pendant had started working the same night that Sloane put her mom’s pendant back on. It must be that Sloane’s fire magic fed her mother’s pendant and into the other connected pendants to protect them. Lynn also reveals that she named her daughter Lily, after Sloane’s mom, but that the baby has been a challenge. Eva did manage to put a protection spell on a small space in the ranch before they went for Sloane, and this spell will enable her to shift, but Lily cannot leave the room. Unfortunately, Eva has a very limited supply of the magical ingredients, so once they run out they are done and will have to face the consequences of what the shifting baby will bring.

When they return to the ranch, Nadine and Gear come up to them holding hands. Sloane is reminded again that Rueben is gone and Roxy tells her that they were not raised to think that death was sad, but rather that he died protecting the Skyborn, which is the greatest glory. Roxy tells Sloane that her family is proud of him, though of course he is missed. On their way back to the camp further in, Nadine tells Sloane that when she left the pack for Dee’s pack, and while Sloane and Logan were out pulling out scales, Gear had burst into her house, declared his undying love for her before throwing her on bed. The girls agree that Keegan’s rule of no dating is stupid and Roxy eyes Dominic. Sloane sees Casey and Geoff, who are now good friends, and then gets to see Lily, while Lynn keeps begging Lily to change back from her dragon from. She goes home to her cabin and spends some time with Logan.

The next day, she begins to train again, this time using her druid magic, but she’s still not sure how she will be able to balance the druid magic to keep her dragon. Sloane trains for a week and at the end of the week, Logan teaches Sloane how to take back dragon essence from the druids. He explains that when they kill a druid, the green magic leaks out, and they can take it back if they are able to handle it–some dragons are only able handle only their own magic, while others are able to take on more magic. Sloane tries and is able to take on more dragon magic, so she will be able to do that when she meets druids. Suddenly, she gets a call from one of the Skyborn–Dylan and his girlfriend Maggie, who tell her that they are an hour away but they have a red-haired druid on their behind. Dylan tells her that he only trusts her or Lily so Sloane tells him that she is coming.

Sloane and the rest of her pack find Dylan and Maggie at the location where they ran out of gas. Dylan is in his dragon form, and Maggie is trying smoke spells but they have over a dozen druids surrounding them. Sloane faces off against the red haired druid, and ultimately manages to shed her but not before the druid gets her in the stomach. Sloane then tries to sneak up on some druids in the trees, but all hell breaks loose and Keegan gets stabbed. Danny cries out and somehow kills the druids, before coming to Keegan and trying to save him. Logan freaks out but Eva cannot do anything, so Sloane has them marge Keegan through the trees. She gets on a call with Isaac, finds a sequoia, has Keegan laid out in front of it, and using Isaac’s guidance, she manages to heal both Keegan and herself. Keegan declares that he will never talk crap about druids ever again, and Danny asks him to marry him, to which Keegan says yes. They return to Dylan and Maggie, talk to them a bit and then return to the land.

Isaac tells Sloane that by taking out Ardan they will be taking out the most powerful one at the top, effectively weakening everyone else in the druid structure. Isaac asks about the necklace and then tells her that it’s pretty powerful, but that it seems to be snuffing out her dragon much faster. Sloane does not want to lose her dragon, so Isaac tells her that he was able to get the ashes of Sloane’s earth wand back, but Danny and Eva could not return it to its original form. There’s one last resort, however–a friend of his that is an alchemist who may also be able to fix the staff, but the man also hates Isaac and may kill him on the spot because the last time they saw each other, Isaac was in bed with the guy’s wife.

The two return to the campfire, to Dylan telling a story about Maggie attempting a potion for the last time. Eva asks her about her percentage of magic and Maggie tells her it’s probably around 20%, so Eva reads her palm and turns out that she’s at least 45% magic, but that her mom had an affinity for healing. Eva offers to train her and Maggie jumps at the opportunity. Then Keegan makes the announcement that the rule of no dating in the pack is no longer enforced, and they can do whatever they want, but to not come crying to him that it didn’t work out. Dom prowls towards Roxy and kisses her.

The next day, the group goes to see the Alchemist, and en route, Sloane falls asleep and sees the truth witch tell Ardan that he’s figured how to transfer Sloane’s fire druid magic to him, but Ardan is unhappy that they do not have her. When they arrive to the alchemist’s house, Rufus at first wants to turn them away thinking that they are selling things, until Logan shows him his hand shifting into dragon scales. Rufus and Isaac had met after Faery fell and they were part of an alliance that was all about helping each other adjust. Sloane is not sure why Rufus would help them when he has so much money, so Isaac tells her that Rufus’ wife was Skyborn and Rufus had loved her more than anything else, so he was betrayed when he found Isaac with her in bed. Sure enough, as soon as Rufus sees Isaac, he starts choking him until Sloane threatens to light Rufus on fire. Rufus lets Isaac go, revealing that he had turned Isaac’s lungs into metal, which he feels Isaac deserved for sleeping with his wife, after Rufus had pressured her for a child. Rufus argues with Isaac, saying that he wanted a child or none at all with his wife, and then Isaac says that he got his wish, which results in Rufus decking Isaac in the jaw. Dom shoots a gun into the foyer and asks if Rufus is done, to which Rufus responds that he feels much better now. Isaac asks for help and to do it for Sloane, Logan, and Laney, who was Rufus’ wife.

Sloane explains to Rufus that her staff was destroyed by Ardan and they need his help restoring it. As soon as Rufus hears Ardan’s name, he tells them to come in. They go into Rufus’ study and he starts working on the staff. Isaac tells him, when asked about his land, that he’s there with six sky born and fifty shifters. Rufus asks if he can help, and Isaac says that it’s up to the pack. Keegan responds that if Rufus fixes the staff, he can come any time. Once Rufus gets all the ingredients mixed, they have to leave the staff alone for a full 12 hours. As they rest, Eva calls to tell them that Dee’s wolves found druids encroaching on the land and they make a plan to draw the druids away from Isaac’s land.

The following morning, the staff is ready and Sloane gives it a try outside in the garden. It works really well, and Rufus tells Sloane to kill Ardan as repayment, before giving Keegan a heavy box–full of gold because Rufus knows just how much this operation is costing them, and Laney would’ve wanted to help.

Sloane, Keegan, Dominic, Nadine and Danny go one way. Logan, and Gear go another way. Both Sloane and Logan turn into dragons for a minute but Sloane’s dragon does not want to change back into the human form, so she flies around with Danny on her back as he’s making her invisible until she finds Logan and lands on top of him. Logan flies all three of them to safety, and it turns out that her dragon did not want to shift because she was afraid of being eaten alive by the druid magic. Logan promises the dragon that he won’t allow anything to happen to their mate bond, or to the dragon herself.

They have to fight their way out, and Sloane uses her anger to unleash her power, and burn most of the druids alive. Then she also kills Steven with a gun, making sure he stays dead this time, before taking back the dragon magic that Steven’s body had released. They get back to the car and head back to Isaac’s land.

Isaac finds her alone at some point once they’re back, and she confides in him that she feels horrible for what happened. He tells her that earth druids are about life, beauty and healing, but rarely about destruction. He adds that Earth has her moments of destruction and it may not feel good for her but it’s a necessary cleansing. Sloane tells him that she doesn’t want to be the reason there are no druids left; that she doesn’t want to stoop to their level.

Isaac tells her that he purchased all of this land in order to run a school for earth druids–for all kinds to teach how to use their powers together for the betterment of each other, not against each other. This gives something positive for Sloane to work towards. Isaac also confides in her about what happened with Laney–it was 1955, there were no fertility treatments and they weren’t sure if doctors could see anything supernatural. Unfortunately, Laney and Rufus could not conceive, though there were also never any reports of an alchemist and a skyborn having children. So Laney came to him with the proposal of sleeping together, and that they would tell Rufus if the pregnancy took. Rufus caught them before they even did it and kicked them both out. Laney was so emotional that she couldn’t control her dragon and shifted about 10 miles from his house at a motel. This brought the druids to her, resulting in her murder, which Rufus blames on Isaac.

Sloane meets the skyborn twins from Mexico–Isabella and Marco, who have extensive military training and would like to work with the members of the pack to protect and strengthen the defenses. Logan also tells Sloane that Eva is going to run out of ingredients to protect Lily because she is so fascinated with shifting, as the one ingredient they need–unicorn blood–does not exist.

The following day, Sloane trains with Casey by her side. At one point, Eva and Logan come and tell her that the spell is so thin around Lily that it is a matter of hours before the place is crawling with druids. There is nothing else that can be done at all to stop Lily from revealing them. Isaac comes by and tells them that it might be a good thing because they can get the fight over with–even with hundreds of druids, none of them can create sinkholes and throw fire. The pack makes a plan–Dee’s team will be in the trees, while the kids, the parents and the baby will be in a hut with Sophie in them. Dylan, Isabella, Marco and Sloan would be fighting outside to protect them.

Isaac has one last training with Sloane, trying to get her to light a leaf on fire with her mind. She then realizes that there is earth between her and the leaf, through the energy zipping through the grass and the earth communicating with her. Sloane manages to light the leaf on fire, and then they get informed that the druids have arrived.

Except, it’s only Ardan with sorcerers creating a yellow protective bubble around him. Isaac tells her it looks like a kidnapping attempt to get her. But there are also druids creeping up and a fight breaks out. Sloane tries to break through the bubble and Isaac manages to sink Ardan into the earth a bit, but then Ardan blinks out of the protective bubble and blinks back into it with Nadine. He tells Sloane that if she leaves with him, he will leave Nadine and everyone else alive. Sloane is about to give herself over but Logan cages her, and Ardan tells them that his army is en route to finish them off, but no matter what, he will have Sloane’s power even if he has to take her friends and kill them all one by one. Ardan disappears with Nadine, and Sloane transforms into a dragon, and starts taking down the sorcerers while everyone is still fighting. Logan reveals to her then that everyone had taken a pact that they would not allow Sloane to be taken because it is clear Ardan needs her power to defeat Isaac.

They make another plan–Dee’s pac, the parents and all the kids would go to Rufus’ house. Keegan’s pack will go to Ireland to get Nadine and end this.

The pack gets to Ireland and Minka, the fairy helps them. Her friend, Paisley wants a tooth, and Mink asks Isabella for it, who freely gives it up, which freaks out Sloane at how relaxed she is about it. Then Isabella and Marco go a bit away and shift, which causes about half of the druids at the castle to go after them. While they wait, Isaac tells Sloane that she’s at her most powerful when she’s angry, and he advises her to get livid. Isaac then announces their presence with a tremor in the earth. Before anything else can be done, Ardan kidnaps Sloane and takes her to a farm he owns not too far from the castle. With the truth witch’s help, he cuts her in s such a way that he starts stealing her magic. Sloane pushes back, snapping the bands and burning them. She also burns the truth which but does not harm her staff. Sloane then begins to fight Ardan on her own, until Isaac arrives and helps her. They manage to use their staffs to box Ardan in and she uses her fire magic to light Ardan up, while Logan shoots him, having arrived with Nadine to help them. Once they’re sure he’s dead, Sloane takes her magic and the dragon magic back into her body.

They celebrate that Nadine is fine, but then Sloane realizes that Isaac isn’t. He had gotten stabbed at the castle but came there to fulfill his life’s purpose–to help her. Sloane asks Eva to help and she tries but tells Sloane to figure it out. Sloane questions Isaac on what she could do, but he tells her that nothing really ever dies, for through earth all is reborn and then he loses his consciousness. Eva manages to get Isaac’s wound closed, but Sloane has to take over and she makes a makeshift tree out of her staff and one of Isaac’s staff. With Logan’s help, she heals Isaac back to healthy.

1 year later, Danny and Keegan get married in Hawaii, and Logan is Keegan’s best man. Nadine reveals to Sloane that she and Gear got married. Isaac, Sloane and Logan had opened the Earth School Isaac dreamed of three months prior. They currently have five students, and Danny is the sorcery professor, Eva teaches fairy Magic. Logan and Sophie are working with training Dragons, while Isaac and Sloane work with the druids. Rufus had become a benefactor of the school, giving them money and Nadine and Gear are groundskeepers.

After the wedding, Logan and Sloane take a walk on the beach and he suggests names for kids. Sloane agrees that in three years they can start trying for kids, and Logan’s face lights up in sheer joy.

My Thoughts: I thought this was quite a fitting ending for the series and I’m happy that they’ve had such a happy ending. There are a few things that are quite a bit convenient, and swept under the rug–like the fact that Rufus and Isaac never really seem to work out (or at least we are left guessing that they did) their enmity, but Rufus is a benefactor of the school. Overall I did find it to be entertaining to read, but if you’re going for an engaging factor–like is this book really engaging I would say no. It’s a good book if you want to pass the time in the train and read something quickly, but it’s certainly not one of those things I’d take on a flight and be happy with.