Unbound by Jim C. Hines

Unbound
by Jim C. Hines

This is the third of Hines’ “Magic Ex Libris” quartet of novels — the fourth one is already out as well but I’m a little behind on my fantasy reading! As a result of the events of the second book, Michigan librarian/magic-user Isaac Vainio has had his physical connections to magic use stripped away from him, and he has been been ejected from the organization of magic users he belonged to. Simultaneously, a young protege he was supposed to protect has been taken by dark forces, and the two squabbling groups of “good guys” are finding themselves being defeated on multiple fronts by the ancient evil magician. Isaac’s quest in this novel is to try to find and rescue his missing protege, recover his stolen magical abilities, and stop the spread of evil in the world — all with limited resources and almost no allies to speak of. On top of that, but in this contemporary fantasy series, set in our modern world, the existence of real magic and the people who make use of it has now been revealed to the general public, making things even more complicated.
Though a lot happens in the course of this book, it still felt a little like a “bridge” volume in the series — an entry that carries the reader from the major events of volume two and connects with the connecting final volume. If you’re following Isaac’s journey, you won’t want to miss this, but Unbound is definitely not a place to jump into this series. None-the-less, I look forward to the final volume, Revisionary, which is high on my to-be-read pile right now!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Libriomancer, Codex Born, and the concluding volume Revisionary, all by Jim C. Hines]

[ official “Magic ex Libris” page on the official Jim C. Hines web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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