An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka (Review by Stephanie Rowitz)

Rating: 3/5

Stephen Oakwood knows that there’s a magical world out there that’s just out of his reach. The wealthy are the only ones with access to magic, and given his low-wage job, he has to find another way into the Drucraft world. He starts making his own sigils, things that wealthy people just buy at their local Drucraft store. He doesn’t think there’s anything particularly special about his ability to craft his own sigils, but when he suddenly gets noticed by the wrong people, he realizes his skills are a lot more valuable than he thought. 

I like the premise that magic typically can only be obtained by the rich. How does someone who doesn’t have money, but has grit and talent break into this elite world? By making things no one else can. Most of the book centers around Stephen making sigils, learning more about their power, and trying to avoid members of House Ashford who are hellbent on protecting their legacy. 

Personally, I think the story focused too much on Stephen’s sigil crafting. We already know he has that skill set; we didn’t need to see him making all different kinds of sigils for us to understand his value. I wanted to see him interact more with the uptight, bratty people at House Ashford. We also find out early on that both his parents were connected to the Drucraft world, but he has no idea what happened to them. I wanted to see him get closer to those answers. Instead, a lot of this book features him working alone in his room with his cat, Hobbes. Trigger warning: Hobbes gets hurt in this book and it’s described in disturbing detail, so you may want to skip that part if animal cruelty upsets you. 

All in all, I think An Inheritance of Magic is an intriguing start to a new series, and it made me curious enough to want to read the next installment when it comes out.