If you like stories about young men finding their way in life, if enemies-to-lovers in a world full of magic is an idea that appeals to you, and if you’re looking for a read that is passionate, funny, and full of youthful enthusiasm, then you will probably like this novella. Someone Connor can rely on to have his back-once he lets go of his preconceived ideas about what a great mage is really like. Landyn is also a very warm and loving boy, and someone who is loyal once he’s made a friend. I suspect most of that is due to him having no social life and spending all his time studying. But Landyn is also a great mage, much more advanced than many of his peers. He is a water mage to Connor’s fire talents, he is quiet where Connor is loud and in-your-face, and he is lonely where Connor is surrounded by friends-at least until Connor falls from grace and ends up a pariah. Landyn is, in many ways, Connor’s opposite. Yes, he is a pretty nasty bastard in the beginning, but with a father like his? I’d expect him to have some issues. I loved watching the slow steps he takes as he sulks his way through self-pity, then anger, then finally understands what he is supposed to learn. The Oracle gives him a task worthy of a coming-of-age challenge, and for quite a while, it looks as if Connor might fail. If he were an adult, I wouldn’t bet on him being able to change, but he is a teenager and there is hope. He is selfish, believes he has a right to be adored, and has his life mapped out for himself.

Yes, Connor is that sort of a teenager before the Oracle interferes and puts him in a situation where he will either learn to be himself or sink into obscurity (as Connor would put it).Ĭonnor, in his mind, has already won everyone’s praises before he has even passed his Senior Trial.

Once Connor has been removed from his opinionated and egocentric pedestal, so to speak, help comes from the most unexpected direction and someone Connor wouldn’t ever have considered worth his time. As they say, “pride goes before a fall” and that is what happens here. What a great novella! I love it when characters really learn something in a story, and boy, Connor has a lot to learn. Landyn is a water mage, and everyone knows mages with opposing elements can’t work magic together.Ĭonnor is left with a choice: work alone and fail or swallow his pride and work with Landyn to find a way to combine their magic in a display the Archmages will never forget-if they don't get kicked out of school in the process. This is an act unprecedented in their school's history. But his plan for fame and glory is disrupted when the Oracle sticks him with Landyn Glendower for Senior Trial. He's powerful, popular, and he has a plan.

Connor Roth is a fire mage who’s going places.

Recipe for Magic by Agatha Bird