by Lee Edward Fodi
Spell Sweeper was a fun twist on the typical magical school and Chosen One story.
The main character, Cara, is a student at a secret magical boarding school off the coast of Canada. However, Cara is not an amazing student. She doesn’t have enough magic to be a wizard, so she’s been moved to learning how to be a Magical Occurance Purger–a MOP. Whenever the magical Field is accessed by a wizard doing magic, they leave behind magic dust that can cause all sorts of problems if it isn’t cleaned up. Hence the need for MOPs.
But Cara hates being a MOP. And she hates Harlee Wu, the greatest wizard the school has ever seen, and the supposed “Chosen One”.
However, when tears are being left in the Field after magic is used, Cara begins to wonder if Harlee isn’t as magical as she seems and if her magical abilities are coming about through darker means.
Cara has an awesome character voice. She is full of so much spunk and sass. The other characters had great voices too.
The story is set in the real world, and only people with magic know about magic. The rest of humanity are called Blisses, because “ignorance is bliss”. This creates some interesting tension for Cara, as the rest of her family are Blisses.
One of the things I really appreciated about Spell Sweeper was the fact that things that seemed random and insignificant were tied to the plot and not just random things.
For those who are careful about reading about magic: the magic in Spell Sweeper doesn’t require spells (at least not verbal spells). Characters are wizards or training to be wizards since they have magic. Wizards use talismans to help them access the magical field. A talisman used by someone other than the wizard who created it is an occuli, and is essentially dark magic.
Overall, Spell Sweeper was a fun read, and I think that fans of magical schools and snarky heroes will enjoy it.
Cautions: brief uses of rude humor; brief mentions of side characters vaping and smoking; brief mentions of a side character having two moms; brief non-graphic violence
***I received an e-arc of Spell Sweeper through Netgalley. All opinions in this review are my own. Spell Sweeper releases November 30, 2021.***
Hailey Huntington 