Book Review: Magnify
A review of Christian fantasy Storm & Spire (Book 1): Magnify by Stefanie Lozinski
Hey, y’all!
While I’m still on my June sabbatical as far as Vaporous Realms stories go, I had the chance to finish reading a novel titled Magnify that I started in December. Storm & Spire is a series of short Christian fantasy novels by independent Canadian author Stefanie Lozinski. In the spirit of helping other indie authors, I wrote up a 5-star review and posted it on Goodreads. But I also think this is a series some of you, our Substack subscribers, would genuinely enjoy, so I’m reposting here. Have a lovely weekend!
When I rate a book "4 stars," it's because I found it a worthwhile read—I'm decidedly not sorry I took the time to read it. To get 5 stars, a book must capture (or even expand) my imagination in a substantial way, whether intellectual or emotional.
For about forty percent of the book, I felt it was on track for 4 stars, despite efficient world-building, a personable protagonist, and a fairly quick dive into action and thematic development. Considering how many of my favorite fantasy novels start slowly, perhaps it was all happening too suspiciously fast for my old-school sensibilities. To some extent, relationships, plot, and theme were falling into place a little easily for my taste.
Don't get me wrong: I was enjoying the read! But it wasn't a page-turner for me; I wasn't entirely immersed. In hindsight, maybe I had a sense of being told the stakes were high before I really felt the stakes were high. And though the author crafts an interesting relationship early on between two protagonists, it fell shy of capturing my imagination.
Until it did. No spoilers here, and every reader's experience will surely differ somewhat, but approaching the middle of the novel, this finally became a compelling, 5-star page-turner that I finished in one lengthy sitting.
The characters are well-defined and empathetically depicted, including a wonderfully unlikely protagonist who's an everyman on the inside (instead of being some kind of Homeric hero in a peasant costume). The use of dragons as a race and POV makes Storm & Spire stand out.
The worldbuilding is not overwrought or burdensome, but it's thorough and thoughtful, as revealed in the light sprinkling of unessential setting details that make the world subtly, satisfyingly plausible.
The narrative is a happy balance of predictable and surprising, with interesting twists and turns that seemed plausible (for the most part, and I found myself willing to forgive the few exceptions).
It's a consciously "clean" book in terms of content and language. The author manages to be charming and in-world consistent about this, which helps maintain the book's overall literary quality IMHO. (Incidentally, in terms of quality, the book is well-proofread.)
There's no Tolkienesque effort to disguise or submerge the Christian themes and language, or real-world religious parallels in general. Again, I found it's all sensical in-world, and it also reinforces the theme of embracing truth unashamedly.
This a long way of saying, whatever your first impressions, stick with it. Come back to it if need be, until you hit that point where you can't stop. If Christian fantasy is up your alley, this is an entertaining and wholly worthwhile read. Note that it's the first in an going series, so there's a decidedly "to be continued" sort of ending—but it's also a satisfying read in itself. I'm looking forward to further development of the dynamics between characters as the story continues. I know I'm ready to read through the rest of the series and anything else this talented author has to offer!