Book: Magic Street by Orson Scott Card

Plenty of time to catch up on some reading back in Sibu.

Managed to get hold of O.S.Card's latest one-shot offering. This time a genre of fantasy, that I might describe as 'urban fantasy'... Where magic happens in the streets of an urban city. Kinda like Megan Lindholm's Wizard Of The Pigeons, Charles de Lint's The Ivory And The Horn, or Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

It's an interesting genre, where authors weave magic and mystery around aspects of city life that frequently goes unnoticed. All too often, there is the theme of homeless bag-men and bag-ladies as being practitioners of magic. Remember Mad Hattie in Sandman. And it's usually a rather im-potent form of magic or illusions, not the fancy fireballs and magic missiles from D&D.

I can't imagine there being much fandom for this genre. But it's nice to read something less mainstream once in a while. Particularly enjoy Charles de Lint, but he's not mainstream enough for me to get hold of his books easily, else I would have read more...


Magic Street also starts with a Bag-Man, who 'be-witches' an English professor into giving him a lift, and driving him back to his neighbourhood. The professor gets home to find his wife giving birth, although she wasn't pregnant when he left home that morning. When the infant was delivered, unbreathing, the Bag-Man entered the room, took the stillborn, and put it into one of his plastic bags.

And with this sinister beginning, it segways into a story of an orphan boy growing up in a well to do black neighbourhood in LA. A boy who is influenced by magic in his life, and ultimately discovers his beginnings and his fate.


One of O.S.Card's greatest strength is his characterization. He can paint a character so real that you feel that you're living in his world, seeing everything with his eyes. And you inevitably form an emotional bond with the character. Like reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird.

Card's story ideas are wonderful also. I like his short stories best.

Magic Street started out wonderful as well... But somehow, towards the end.... I begin to feel like I'm reading Robert Heinlein, a prolific sci-fi writer whose stories always start out strong, but the finish always leaves you unsatisfied. Like fake Viagra that wears off mid-coitus... But in both authors, it is their skillful characterizations that made their books most enjoyable, so I kinda forgive them for their flaccid endings.

The protagonist is an abandoned child named Mack Street. He's raised by Cecil, a boy that found Mack. I don't think it's a coincidence that the two main characters are named Mack and Ceese.

Mack grows up and meets Puck and Titania as the story builds towards a showdown with a force of great evil.

Pretty standard fantasy fare. But the characters are interesting.


"What fools these mortals be..."
-----Puck, A Midsummer Night's Dream-----