So I just finished four days of power reading in which I got through all three of Justine Larbalestier's books: Magic or Madness, Magic Lessons and the upcoming Magic's Child (and also had company at the same time - aren't you impressed?!). I somehow missed the boat on reviewing the first two books back when they were released (I have no idea why) and then I didn't want to read them until I had the third book so I wouldn't forget what I was reading about, so when my review copy of Magic's Child arrived last week I was all ready. As it is still a month out from publication I don't want to ruin anything but I will say that it is a very satisfying conclusion to the triology, all questions are answered, all loose ends tied up and all characters dealt with (even though some of them aren't too happy about it). So in terms of the series I know readers will be thrilled with what happens to Reason, Sarafina and the whole magic-filled gang.

As someone who is currently writing a YA urban fantasy though, I read these books on a different level from that of a general reader (writers will know what I mean here), as I was looking for clues how to do certain things or convey certain concepts in my own book. For example, I've been emailing Justine the past couple of weeks asking her about how to insert minority characters into your story. For non white authors this would seem like a blockhead question but as I wrote recently, when you are white and want to insert a black character into the story you want them to be as real a character as they can be - and not a token (and the same thing goes if you're straight and want a gay character, etc.). I was really interested to see how Justine did it, and by that I mean how she described her characters' ethnicity without making it stick out in the story - without making it obvious that she was including the descriptions soley for the readers' benefit. (This is so not as easy as it seems.) It was fascinating to see how clearly she made Reason half white and half aborigine, and JT and Danny hispanic and even Tom so very very very pale skinned and white (albino as he says). It's really a lesson in how to write, not just write for YA but write in general. And then when you get beyond the character descriptions and into the books themselves, well, that's when you learn a lot more about how to write well.

I mean really, these are books to hand MFA students and say "read these and don't come back with questions until you're done!"

As the best SFF authors do, Justine has created a wholly viable and believable world with her Magic series. But beyond that, she has tweaked big time the ideas of good and evil when it comes to magic and also played a bit with the idea of religion (not nearly as indepth as say Philip Pullman, but way more than the average fantasy book). Also, in the third book, she shows her Science Fiction roots a bit and creates almost a Sci Fi and Fantasy blend - something that is really uncommon in the two fields. They get thrown together a lot as a category, but readers know that the books are often very different. Few authors can write a fantasy novel that incudes Sci Fi aspects, but I really think that Justine has done that with Magic's Child. It's not something I'm even trying to do with my book, but as a long time reader of the fantasy genre it was interesting (in a good way) to come across here.

I also thought it was really interesting how she incorporated so many other aspects of young adult life into books about magic. There is coming-of-age going on here and romance and learning to trust, or not to trust, and seeing your parents as people and not perfect. Again, a fantasy novel can be just mostly about the fantasy aspects but Justine brings an excellent balance to her books and gives readers just as much of teenage life as she does magic. That is not easily done either and I'm sure I will be rereading passages of her books over and over again to see how she did it so well. (And yes, I'm including the whole series in the You Should Read This awards nominations - still time to nominate your fav coming-of-age book or series!)

I'll be including Magic's Child in my May column which is all fantasy titles, and I'll write a bit about the earlier two books as well. I strongly recommend the whole series though for teen readers (boys or girls), and especially if they do not typically read fantasy. More importanly though, I would tell anyone who wants to be a writer (particularly of fantasy or SF) that they must read these books. There is a lot to learn here about how to do it right, and you will find them to be not only enjoyable to read but significant tools for perfecting the craft. (Justine has also helpfully included a first draft look at her first couple of chapters of Magic or Madness and a final draft comparison. I loved when Stephen King did this in On Writing - it gives those of us struggling in first draft world hope for the future!)