Trigger Warning: The Magic List: Girl Invictus by Mark Tiro contains depictions of violence and rape. If you are triggered by such depictions or otherwise wish to avoid reading them, proceed with caution.
Happy Friday, readers and writers! I want to start this weekend with a special look at a new release from author Mark Tiro. You might remember him from my reviews of his books Implicit: Soul Invictus and All These Things (The Spirit Invictus Series Book 2). I have been given the honor of reading and reviewing an advanced reader copy of the third book in The Spirit Invictus series, The Magic List: Girl Invictus.
The Magic List, like the other books in The Spirit Invictus series, takes us back, but this time we are not taken back to Maya’s other lives or even just her past. Instead, The Magic List takes readers back to the most traumatic moment of Maya’s childhood, a moment of familial betrayal alluded to in All These Things. Following this tragedy, Maya finds herself in an infinite tunnel of endless light and love with no memory of what has happened to her. It is in this tunnel that she encounters a mysterious, formless being called David, someone—or something—she has known through almost every life of her spirit’s journey. This time, though, David has a special gift for her: a magical list. Anything Maya writes on this list will come true—just not always in the way Maya expects it to.
From one item on her list to the next, Maya is forced to face the consequences of her reckless wish-making, and these consequences are only the tip of the iceberg she must explore in order to learn the truth. All the while, Maya is left wondering: why does this list keep going awry? Why is nothing she asks for turning out the way she wants? What is David trying to teach her with frustrating riddles? And more importantly, why does she keep reacting violently to the sound of her brother Tom’s name—is there something more that she has forgotten?
In true Spirit Invictus form, The Magic List is a complex story about spiritual exploration, philosophy, and examining the emotional nature of mankind. The first-person perspective thrusts readers right into the turmoil of Maya’s adventures, and the conversational voice that Maya assumes as the narrator makes the character easy to relate to and heightens the emotional impact of her story. However, this book is not a light read. The conversational voice certainly makes the book easier to follow and more captivating, but the first-person perspective also removes all barriers between the reader and Maya’s mind as she reflects on these events. The narrative is pure Maya, uncensored; readers get glimpses at what is going on outside of Maya’s narration, but overall, her journey is our journey, and her confusion is our confusion. It is a chaotic form of storytelling which I’ve only ever come close to with one other writer—William Faulkner in Benjy’s section of The Sound and the Fury—and while Tiro mostly pulls off this method, there were still moments which I got confused as to what was happening and was forced to stop and think about what must have happened.
Even with such confusion, this novel is still gripping and more straightforward than the first book in the series, Implicit: Soul Invictus. The surreal tone of the first two books carries into this one, but the amount of surrealism falls somewhere between Implicit: Soul Invictus and All These Things. Maya’s wish fulfillment provides an otherworldly experience for the reader, but the main story and themes remain intact and plainly visible throughout, allowing the reader to remain grounded even as Maya’s fantasies takes us on wild adventures. Tiro’s work is certainly not for those looking for strict realism, but those who enjoy more fantastic tales that make you think will definitely want to read The Magic List.
The ever-changing nature of the narrative made it hard for me to form any attachment to the characters with three exceptions: David, Maya’s brother Sean, and Maya herself. Regardless, my ties to these characters were enough to keep me anxious to find out what happens and why all of this is happening. David, for a spiritual being, can be quite the smartarse, and I loved him for it. He’s the wisecracking hippy friend that many of us secretly wish we had, someone you can go to for wisdom and guidance but is also there when you just need a fun and loving friend. Sean, similarly, is the supportive and loving sibling we all want for ourselves and hope to be for those we consider our brothers and/or sisters. He is the typical older brother—existing in his own world yet still present in Maya’s—but is clearly close to his sister and much more sensitive than he’d probably admit. These two characters, who acted as guides for Maya in different ways, help remind the reader through the cacophony of Maya’s wishes what is actually happening to her.
Maya is, by far, the most complex and developed character and for good reason, considering that she’s narrating her own story. She is fun but annoying, both selfless and selfish, and simultaneously smart, naïve, and oblivious. Sometimes I liked her as a person, and other times…not so much. She grows tremendously by the end of the book, and that is what made me like her as a character. At times she seems a little flat or narrow-minded, but she is portrayed that way so that she may develop and become a new person.
I must warn readers that this book does not have a happy ending. At least, not entirely. It has what I would refer to as a “bitter-sweet” ending. It is fulfilling and exciting, a fitting conclusion to this story, but it is not the happily-ever-after that people have come to expect from so-called “uplifting” stories. The Magic List ends on a strong note, but if you are expecting everything to be tied up with a neat little bow by the time you finish a book, you will want to pass on this one.
Overall, The Magic List by Mark Tiro is an engaging and emotional piece of surrealist, spiritual fiction. Living the narrative so completely through Maya’s eyes may lead to some confusion, especially as more “realities” are created by Maya’s list, but things are cleared up enough by the end to understand what has happened and the lessons Maya is supposed to learn even before she recognizes them herself. You can easily read this book without reading the first two, but doing so will ruin some of the “ah-ha” moments you could experience as things from the other books start to reappear here. You should not pick up this novel casually as it does take a long time to digest fully, but it is a very satisfying read once you have the time to read and appreciate it.
The Magic List by Mark Tiro is not currently available for purchase, but I will let you know when it is released on Amazon.
To learn more about Mark Tiro, The Magic List, and The Spirit Invictus series, make sure to visit Tiro’s website, Facebook account, and Facebook author page.
Do you know of any books I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!
Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011