John Mauro's Reviews > Splintered Magic

My SPFBOX review of Splintered Magic is published at Before We Go Blog.

“Please, no more cat food. He tilted his lovely face and blue eyes at me. I prefer premium cuts of chicken, fish, and beef. Oh, and make sure you get some cream, the cat said.”

Splintered Magic is Jilleen Dolbeare’s contemporary low fantasy starring Brigid Donovan and her magical talking cat, the illustrious Mr. Mittens.

Brigid is recently divorced, forty-two years old, and seeking to begin a new chapter of her life at her recently inherited family estate. The building itself resembles a haunted house more than a quaint country home, and Brigid intends to give it some much-needed tender loving care.

In a move that would make Haruki Murakami proud, Brigid also inherits the home’s hyperintelligent talking cat, Mr. Mittens. Brigid quickly forms a friendship with her new feline companion. The banter between Brigid and Mr. Mittens becomes one of the most entertaining aspects of the novel.

There is a strong HGTV quality to Splintered Magic. The author devotes significant page time to Brigid’s home repair adventures and the personal relationships that develop with her contractors.
There is plenty of magic hiding beneath the surface of her hometown. Brigid also discovers magical powers of her own as she pieces together the secrets of her family history. The action in Splintered Magic is fairly low stakes for most of the book, but it builds up to an intense climax that kept me flipping the pages.

While all the characters in Splintered Magic are fully-grown adults with plenty of life experience, the book is written in a rather young adult style. Jilleen Dolbeare’s prose is very easy to read, but I felt a major disconnect between her writing style and the maturity of the characters involved.

Splintered Magic is not a complicated book: it’s fun summer reading for fantasy fans who also enjoy watching the occasional HGTV. Brigid is a relatable, easy-to-root-for protagonist, and Mr. Mittens is an absolute delight. However, I felt that the writing style fell short of expectations, which warrants a cut from the SPFBOX competition.