Kevin Turner is an extremely accomplished writer. When I started out reading The Magi I was drawn to the fact that Elijah Hawk reminded me of Harry Potter. Harry's parents were killed by his enemy and Harry didn't understand at first that he was special and there was a "plan" for his life. Such is the life of Elijah Hawk. He awakes with a feeling that something in his house is wrong and he needs to get out, escape. He does so and runs into his father in the yard. His dad tells him to run and to know that there is a plan. That is the last time he sees any of his family alive. Elijah is sent to live with his uncle until his uncle is "supposedly" arrested, and the creepy detective who originally questioned him about his parent's and sister's death comes for him. He is delivered to Saint Phillip's Academy in Canada. He is befriended by Roddick, one of his teachers. Essentially he is rescued from there, along with his roommate Samuel. They are taken to Savenridge where a group of Magi live. Elijah fits right in. He learns that the Maliphists are after him. Now all he needs to do is stay alive and find out why they want him dead.

I'm not sure I could really tell you how much I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it enough to write the name and author on the board at school and told all of my students that if they had an e-reader they needed to purchase this book. If they didn't own an e-reader they needed to order the book as soon as possible. This is going to be one of those books that is hard to wait for the sequels.

Kevin Turner is someone I admire for several reasons. Like me, he is a middle school English teacher. I am a published author. I know we should never compare our writing to another and I won't. We write different genres. However, I am striving to create the type of story and voice that flows as well as Kevin's. His writing is pure magic. I was there in Savenridge with Elijah. I was in the Maliphist's prison with Elijah. I could visualize the characters and the landscape. I could feel the power. The most intriguing part was the science. When Elijah began to study the elements I realized I'd never really thought about the properties of water and how it reacted. It was a refreshing story to read and one I will tell everyone about. ( )

Anyone who knows my reading style, knows i'm not a huge fantasy fan and that my tastes are geared more towards contemporary fiction. The Magi is one of those books that makes me think why the heck do I not read more fantasy?? I absolutly loved this story. Kevin Turner is a brilliant writer who created this utterly magical world that any reading fan young or old can and would enjoy. If your a fan of Harry Potter, then you should check these books out because they have the potential to become as big as J.K. Rowling's series. I'm not alone in this characterization many of the other reviews i've read have also compared this series to Harry Potter, not because the storys are similar but because the magic is real and compeals you to want to keep reading.

The characters emotions were real and Elijah the main character was very relatable, and his emotions rang true. His emotions were up and down with the events that took place, as they should have been, and everything fell into place for me. This is the first of The Magi series and I cannot wait for Kevin Turner to continue the amazing character developing, and world building that started so strong in the first book. I have no complaints for this book other then I couldn't put it down, so not much else got done while reading this book. ( )