Much Ado About Magic (Enchanted, Inc. #5) by Shanna Swendson

 

[caption id="attachment_78" align="alignright" width="317"] Much Ado About Magic (Enchanted, Inc. #5) by Shanna Swendson[/caption]

Note: There are five books in the Enchanted, Inc. series, but instead of writing a ridiculously long review detailing my deepest emotions about every book I’m going to write a short-er-ish series summary and then review the last installment, Obviously, the review will elude to events in the previous books. I’ll note a stopping point before the review starts so, if you don’t want spoilers, you can stop reading. If you’re still reading, that is. Anyone here? Hello?

I began the Enchanted, Inc. series on a plane to Cancun. I wanted a light, fun vacation read. And I knew between fussy infants, turbulence, and Hubby looking out the window and trying to figure out what we were flying over (which I had nothing to contribute since my ability to tell direction exited the plan when the fasten seatbelt light went on), my concentration level would be the equivalent to that of a squirrel on an IV drip of Mt. Dew.

The series is told from the perspective of Katie Chandler, a 20-something ex-small town Texan gal living her dream in the strange and wonderful Big Apple. But that dream didn’t come without a few boogiemen – namely her bipolar boos, Mimi, who derives joy in torturing her secretary (Katie).

When she’s not surviving her 9-to-5, Katie enjoys the company of her roommates and reluctantly going on the blind dates they set up for her. But Katie’s – for lack of a better word – down-to-earth-ness results in guys liking her...as a sister. She’s just too normal.

One day, Katie receives a bizarre job offer from a company called MSI. Although she’s sure it’s a scam, her desperation to escape her dead-end job and, most importantly, Mimi, spurs Katie to at least entertain a meeting with the recruiters. She learns that MSI stands for Magic and Spells, Inc., which is a corporation that researches and develops spells for magical persons.

Oh, and MSI’s CEO happens to be Mervyn Ambrose – better known as “Merlin.” Yes the Merlin.

Katie learns she’s an “immune” – a rare individual who cannot be influenced by magic. This makes her extremely valuable to MSI since she can read over contracts and documents between MSI and other magical parties to make sure they are not being influenced by spells.

She accepts the position in the Verification Department, but her experience in marketing quickly pulls her into a new position to help combat a serious threat facing the company. One of its former employees, Idris, has gone rogue is selling spells – many of which are ethically questionable and even dangerous.

It’s up to Katie and the rest of the MSI team to put a stop to Idiris and his spells before someone gets hurt.

And that’s the set up for the books. Although the timeframe in the books is only about six months, the books began publication back in 2006. There was a four-year gap between the fourth and fifth books due to author Shana Swenson taking time off to work with NASA to develop Curiosity and train as an Olympic fencer. Of course none of that is true (at least not that I’m aware of), but I couldn’t find a reason for the delayed fifth book, so I made something up.

OK, READY? STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS! DOING SO COULD RESULT IN SPOILERS AND THE WEST NILE VIRUS.

Seriously.

Much Ado About Magic by Shanna Swendson 

★★★★★★★★☆☆

In Much Ado About Magic, Katie has just returned to New York after moving back home to Texas in effort to prevent her from being a target (and a distraction to Owen). Idris is in MSI custody, but his spells are wreaking havoc across the city. MSI’s ethically deficient competitor, Spellworks, is not only selling the mischievous spells, but they’re making double the money by selling the anecdotes. It’s desperate times for MSI and Ramsay, the former CEO who retired after bringing in Merlin, has returned as an advisor.

If things weren’t awful enough, someone is trying to frame Owen for all crimes committed by people under influence spells.

Instead of just having to save MSI, Katie must save Owen. And, with most of the magical community being thwarted by the nefarious spells, Katie must do most of it alone.

This, by FAR, is my favorite book in the series. In the beginning of the series, I thought Katie was a little naïve for her age and the story was a little fairytale-ish. Katie – who just found out magic exists – waltzes into MSI, receives a promotion and is giving advice to a thousand-year-old wizard for “brilliant” ideas that were more-or-less common sense. There were quite a few “well duh” moments when the answers to a conflict or problem were basically spelled out for Katie, Owen and Merlin and they didn’t see it.

With an exception of the second book (which was centered around some enchanted shoes and seemed beyond silly), the series seemed to slightly mature with each additional book . But whatever Swenson was doing or taking between 2008 and 2012, it worked. Oh my gosh! She breathed new life into the series.

The characters came back with a new energy and more personality than any of its predecessors. I especially liked Katie 2.0 – she was still the same character, but she had a new sassy attitude that fit the smart, take-charge woman that I always felt she was.

For example, Katie is about to go into a jewelry store where a robber is holding hostages and using a barrier spell to block any would-be rescuers (police or magical). Of course, being immune to magic, Katie is the only one who can get past the barrier and try to stop him. Reluctantly, Owen agrees and asks Katie, “You’ll be careful won’t you? Her reply: “No, I plan to recklessly endanger myself just to annoy you.” It may not seem like a significant exchange, but it showed Katie’s strength as she humorously mocked Owen for trying to treat her like a delicate flower.

The plotline drastically improved, too. For four books they’d been chasing Idiris – who was rather dimwitted and didn’t have the attention span to really do much damage. He shouldn’t have stood a chance against MSI, yet he kept getting away and coming back as the same, watered-down villain. I was tired of Idiris and welcome the introduction of a new villain – one that was powerful enough to cause real trouble.

I enjoyed that the story finally filled in clues about Owen’s past – who his real parents were and the reason for his strange upbringing. Most of it wasn’t all that surprising, but there were a few parts that I didn’t expect. And I was impressed how Swendson managed to tie it all together. Bravo!

I haven’t read if this is the last of the series, but given the ending – with so many things wrapped up – I wouldn’t be surprised. If so, it was a good place to leave off. If not, I’ll look forward to following Katie and Owen to their next adventure. (Here’s the part where I act like a girl and think it would be totally freaking cool to have a future book centered on their wedding and some evil force that’s trying to stop it). Check it out...if you like modern-day fairytales. Skip it if...you don’t like frivolous books with happy endings.