It’s the end of an era – or, a series at least. Splintered Magic is the fourth and final book of The Mirror series, a series by four authors following a curse that one family has been dealing with for several generations. You can check out my reviews of the first and second books, Broken Wish and Shattered Midnight. Here are my thoughts on how the whole thing ended.
Title: Splintered Magic (The Mirror #4)
Author: L. L. McKinney
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Publishing date: July 18, 2023
Genre: YA Contemporary Fantasy
My Rating: 3.75/5
Summary:
Can dreams come true when you’re living with a family curse?
NEW YORK CITY, 2000
Twins Trey and Tai are not like other high schoolers. Trey struggles to suppress his surging magical abilities, which continually impede his dream of making first chair cello in orchestra. A budding photographer, Tai just wants to take pictures and maybe find someone to take them with. But disturbing images keep appearing in Tai’s camera lens, reigniting the twins’ search for their mother, who mysteriously disappeared ten years earlier. As the two discover more clues, Trey and Tai also uncover strange secrets about their magical ancestors and about a cunning villain who threatens their very survival. Together, Trey and Tai must work to unearth the past and preserve the future of their family.
*Thank you to Disney Hyperion for a free e-copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.*
I have to start by saying that this has been such a fun series to read. It’s really cool seeing this one family through different time periods and different cultures blending together. And while I won’t spoil the ending, I will say that I did find this a satisfying conclusion to a fun adventure. I really liked that we got to follow twins this time. Trey and Tai are close but have very different powers and personalities, which helps to give different perspectives to the drama going on. This story has magic, family, bisexuality representation, and…oh yeah, guys in white suits coming after the twins and forcing them to run for their lives. It feels like a nice blend of light action and coming of age.
I will say, the pacing did feel a little slow for me, so a few times I did find myself skimming over a section. But overall I found the plot simple yet satisfying, and the characters were likable. One thing that was a little bit harder for me was the casual use of the n-word. It’s used in the colloquial way that some Black teens use it, especially at that time, so it didn’t feel out of character or in a way meant to be offensive. But for me personally, it’s really uncomfortable to read, so if you’re similar to me that’s something to be mindful of. It doesn’t take away from the story but it did lessen my personal enjoyment a little bit.
My favorite parts of the book were the family moments between the twins and their dad. It felt so real and relatable. Their dad is protective and caring and will clearly do anything for his kids, and is also silly and likes to make jokes, while at the same time helping them stay in line. It really highlighted for me the overall importance of family as the focus of the book, of the series. I love stories that focus on the beauty of family – a beauty that can exist even when there’s family mistakes and secrets and disagreements. And this book connected back to all of the other ones in such a nice way, again highlighting that value of family. It was really cool and made it all seem full circle.
Overall, loved the series. If I’m ranking this one out of the other books in the series, this one was probably my least favorite, but that has more to do with how much I really loved the other ones, especially the first two. Splintered Magic stands as a solid conclusion and I think other fans of this series will be satisfied too.
Have you been keeping up with this series? Which book is your favorite?
Thanks for reading!
Faith Noelle 