Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier is the first book in a trilogy where magic is real. Reason has been raised by her mother out in the Australian bush, running from her grandmother who tried to get custody when Reason was a small child. Reason’s mother, who started running at age twelve, has told Reason that her grandmother is an evil woman. But then Reason’s mother is taken to a mental institution and Reason is placed with her grandmother. Reason tries to reconcile the differences between what her mother told her about her grandmother and what she is seeing with her own eyes. Readers come to realize that Reason’s grandmother is truly magic, a fact that Reason realizes as well when she walks through a door and suddenly is in New York City.
My favorite part of the book is that fact that the lines between evil and good are blurred. No easy answers are given even in the end. The writing is well-done: clear combined with poetic images. There are no cardboard characters in the book, even the villian has reasons for his actions. I look forward to the next in the series, not hoping that more things are made clear but looking forward to more of the complex dance of good and evil, right and wrong.