Member Reviews
WOW, what a way to end the series. This book had me hooked from the beginning. I quite enjoyed the overall storyline and obviously the great well-crafted characters. Sad to see it's over but looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.
This book is full of everything I love—southern witches, family drama, morally grey characters and heroes (anti heroes?) who find a way to turn their trauma into the kind of power that connects and heals. Throw in psychic dream lands and highly specific diverse magic systems in the melting pot of New Orleans and just (bring fingers to mouth in a kiss gesture)...marvelous.
I was given a free e-copy of this novel by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
I have not read a novel by J.D. Horn before, but I will add him to my list of authors that I follow.
The Final Days of Magic is the third and final installment in J.D. Horn's Witches of New Orleans series. I strongly encourage anyone who reads this series to start at the beginning. I did not and I was confused and lost at quite a few turns. At one point I decided to stop and read reviews on the first two books.
In the final installment, Alice Marin has been freed back into the modern world, and magic appears to be dying. Follow Alice as she comes to grip with her own family's secrets, and finds love with Nathalie, a psychic with her own troubles. Alice must work with both living and dead allies to put a stop to whatever is using her family to destroy the New Orleans witches, while also confronting her own past.
Without having read the first two novels, I was immediately hooked with how similar the familial interactions were to Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches. I very quickly realized that it had some obvious differences that made the story unique and, in my opinion, far superior plot them. It seems when one delves into the world of supernatural families, there is a certain obligation of political drama that must be attached. J.D. Horn certainly provides that with the Marin family but extends it into the Perrault and the Boudreau families before connecting them all. I found the character list at the beginning of the book to be quite helpful, but I would have appreciated a glossary at the end of the various French-Creole and Voodoo words used.
I will say the ending came surprising quick and felt very anti-climax to me. I was expected a bit more "bang for my buck" given the personalities that were involved. The author's writing made it easy to imagine Evangeline in her club with Sugar the cat, Alice's anger at Nicholas, and Fleur's love for Lucy. I could also imagine the streets in New Orleans and the French Quarter. Having those imaginings is why the ending felt rushed.
Overall I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.
This entire series was good but this book was a great finale! while I felt there had been threads in the previous books that had been dropped and left me feeling a little dissatisfied this book managed to tie everything together and answer those previous plot holes. I would recommend this series for anyone who is interested in Magic inspired tales but it wouldn't be the first series I recommend to someone.
This book did leave me feeling a little disheartened with how everything ended up I did appreciate the writers ability to keep me guessing throughout the story. I would rate this a 4/5 only because there were a few things I didn't care for. This doesn't mean however that you wouldn't absolutely love it!
After the overwhelming success of American Horror Story: Coven the world has been craving more New Orleans witch crews, and they can look no further than the trilogy from J.D. Horn. In this third installment, Nathalie Boudreau is a psychic battling her own demons and team up with others to draw their magic to defeat the destructive forces of the past.
Throughout the book there is dedication to intense world-building of the magic, mysterious forces, and mythology through, often laborious, monologues or flashbacks. And I found the transition between characters and point-of-views a bit challenging to follow which made it difficult to read on-the-go.
All in all, I enjoyed the care with which J.D. Horn painted the vibrant history of New Orleans. And I enjoyed the strong, yet flawed, characters which made for a relatable and devious cast of characters.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
Really good! The ending i’m still digesting but loved the ride of this book.
This third and final installment is about Once caged in an illusory realm by blood relatives, Alice Marin has been freed into a world where the last remnants of magic are quickly passing away. Dissolving with them is the unity among witches…and their sanity. Grappling with the revelations of her true parentage—and her burgeoning relationship with Nathalie Boudreau, a psychic with her own demons—Alice and her allies, both living and dead, must draw on every skill they possess. It’s the only way to defeat the destructive forces borne of the horrifying history of Alice’s own family. That means unlocking the final secrets of The Book of Unwinding.
Now, on the longest night of the year, the streets of New Orleans will become a battleground as Alice and the few she can trust engage in a war amid the final days of magic. But the revelations that lie ahead may be too dark to escape.
I’ve enjoyed the ride but this one felt a bit rushed. There was a nice clear ending to the series. The switch between the three main characters was a little distracting along with the long explanations of the mythology. Sometimes overwhelmed me. But never the less, it’s been worthy.
I'm not going to really review this book, because I didn't read the first two, and maybe that is the reason that I didn't really enjoy this book (obviously), but I wasn't a huge fan of the writing and the characters, either, so who knows. I didn't like this enough to go back and read the first two and I DNF'd.
This novel is a good one that I’ve read this year! The characters are so dynamic yet relatable. I loved the flow of the story. It held my attention the whole time.
I recieved an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book and will recommend it often to lovers of mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels!
I went into this book not reading the first two books. So I was a bit lost, but I found the story, the parts I figured out, interesting. I would definitely go back and see how the first two are in the series.
The best of the trilogy, The Final Days of Magic provides a dramatic conclusion. I struggled to get through the two earlier books and almost DNF'd them. Horn has improved as a writer and I would consider trying new releases.
I love J.D. Horn! The books are well written and I recommend them for young adult and adult readers. The description of places are right up there with Anne Rice.
This book was a bit difficult to get into. About 75 pages in I had to stop because it wasn't as engaging as I would have hoped.
As a thank, you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced readers copy I shall give an honest review of J.D. Horn’s last installment in the Witches of New Orleans series “The Final Days of Magic.” After following J.D Horn’s writing for nearly a year and a half I can honestly say this finale was worth the wait. Following the events that occurred in part two ( The Book of the unwinding) Alice Marin, and her family of Witches had a score to settle and in this series finale do we see what it has been leading to. The novel acted as a companion to its predecessors acknowledging areas of foreshadowing as well as areas filled with potential for more. As you enter this novel are you greeted with a list of characters and their various associations within this world. This was something I appreciated for there were many characters both lead and supporting. This often does not occur and is worth mentioning. The world of Magic and Witchcraft that J.D. Horn has created is something I have immensely enjoyed in these novels and is an aspect I looked forward to learning more about as each novel progressed. It is this type of world-building that captured my imagination and importantly my attention. This trilogy offered inclusiveness and made unlikely characters heroes albeit if redemption was their choice. This novel is one that should be read and re-read for I feel there may be an opportunity to return to these characters but alas is simply a fan wanting more. Perhaps it is best to be left where we are and know we can return to this set featuring a family of Witches in New Orleans once again.. Overall I highly recommend this and cannot limit my praise for this novel and series. On Goodreads, I gave this novel four out of five stars.
(2.5 stars)
The Final Days of Magic is my last shot at the New Orleans Witches series. And I’ve discovered that none of the characters matter very much to me. Even if author J.D. Horn writes another book in the series, I won’t be following along. I’m disappointed to be leaving the series feeling this way. But, so it is.
The Marin family of witches is a hot mess. Nicholas is a control freak, and his sister Fleur comes back to New Orleans to get her life together after splitting with her D.C.-based husband. The newer generation isn’t much better. Alice is back from being held captive in both physical and metaphysical locations. Lucy is teenager extraordinaire, who manipulates Fleur every chance she gets.
The crux of the story remains the same as the first two books. Magic is dying among the covens of New Orleans. Nicholas seems poised to stop at nothing to bring it back. And, of course, install himself as King of the Witches.
Alongside the Marins, we have Evangeline Caissy, another witch who was previously in a relationship with Nicholas. She owns a now-iconic business in the French Quarter, a club with exotic dancers and plenty of tourists. But her new relationship is tainted by her long-dead love, Luc Marin. And she’s exploring her relationship with another coven of sorts. It’s comprised of her dead mother and aunts, who inhabited this world in the guise of giant crow-like birds.
Next we have the Perrault family, especially Lisette and Manon. They have family connections to voodoo, and are trying to put their lives back together again after some tragedies in the second book.
Our last main character is my favorite, Nathalie Boudreau, who is a chauffeur and psychic. She’s involved with everyone above, but also reconnecting with her family of origin North of the city. I liked her burgeoning relationship with Alice, and also her struggle to manage her abilities.
My conclusions
Look at that, it takes so many paragraphs just to explain the main characters. I hardly have space to discuss the plot, which basically just comes down to witchy power struggles. The variety of characters means the story has tentacles all over the place. Honestly, it’s hard to keep track even after three books with these folks.
And, while I liked Evangeline, Nathalie, and Lisette, I didn’t appreciate the male characters at all. And no one gets enough time for me to truly fall in love with their story. It all just felt fractured to me.
Magic is also a central character and plot driver. The question is whether its dark or light side is going to dominate New Orleans. Different characters attempt to push it where they prefer. And magic is having none of that. Instead, it prefers to be in control.
For the first half of the book, I thought Horn was turning story-arc tradition on its head. Of the three books, the craziest, most spectacular event seemed to live in the first book. Authors usually hold the wildest wildness for a later book. And then I realized I spoke too soon. Horn pulls out all the crazy stops for his ending in The Final Days of Magic. Wowza!
Still, I much prefer his Witching Savannah series. The Witches of New Orleans books are all just so-so for me.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to NetGalley, 47North, and the author for a free digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Unfortunately there has been too much going on in this trilogy to have any time pass between reading each book. I read the first two books back-to-back but waiting a year to read the third and final book makes it impossible to follow so many characters. The character recap/backgrounds in the beginning was helpful but not enough to get through the book with a clear idea of what is going on.
Review: I didn’t like this series as much as I hoped. This is the Third. This series begins with
I do like that it’s free to read on Kindle Unlimited and Audio through KU as well. I was able to listen to it be read to me while laying in bed. Loved that. Overall, I would recommend it but.. know I didn’t like it. Something that could be enjoyed just .. not by me.
This was downloaded through Netgalley free in exchange for an honest review.
Thankyou to NetGalley, 47North and the author, J. D. Horn, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The Final Days of Magic in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
This book is the third in the Witches of New Orleans series. It is a satisfying conclusion to a wonderfully written series.
The characters are well drawn and compelling with enough intrigue and suspense to hold your interest until the last page.
Well worth a read
Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.
I don't normally dive into a series without reading any of the previous books, but I did with this one. Having read the Witching Savannah series (in full) previously, I was already familiar with the author, and jumped into this book without thinking. Not a good idea. I had no context or background for the Witches of New Orleans, the series that this book is tied to. This being the third book in the series...well at lot probably happened in the first two that explained the mess of confusion in this last book.
The overall impression I had was that this book was tying up a lot of loose ends, that a lot of tumultuous events had happened in the first two books that resulted in difficulties for the main characters, and that there was a depth to the "history" built into this book that I was just barely able to experience. However, not having read the previous books, I felt like an outsider looking in. I was barely able to keep up with the characters and events because I just didn't have the background knowledge to do so. The writing, as in the Witching Savannah series, was good and did not detract from the story. The book moved at a pretty good pace. I think at some point I'll just have to read the first two books to fully comprehend everything.
Beautifully written and full of intrigue and suspense, The Final Days of Magic draws you into a magical world. Absolutely captivating and thrilling, I couldn't wait to see how this amazing book ended.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.