Deep Magic is the first book in the series of the same name. It was written by Gillian St. Kevern. It is the story of Oliver Evans and his return to his grandmother’s home several months after she had passed away. Ollie had been traveling around the world for several years, spending most of his time in Australia. He returns to the island to discover he has forgotten much of youth and needs to unlock their mysteries.
His memory of his childhood on the island does not match the one most people around him remember. He begins to get hints about the fantasy stories he told as a child. They slowly start to come back, until he remembers that all the fanciful stuff, he thought was pretending, was real.
During his childhood, he met a boy in a hidden cave near the ocean. They made up a story about his friend being a prince, and Olly a knight. As Oliver grew up, he discovered this was no ordinary boy. He was a morgen, most commonly known as a siren. The two have affection for each other, but initially don’t understand it. As they grew older, Myrhydion eventually professes his love, but Oliver becomes scared, because he is only 16, and can’t imagine committing himself to someone like that for the rest of his life.
As an adult looking back and realizing what happened, Oliver has to piece together why he lost his memories, and come to terms with the fact that this magical other world exists, and that he has always had magic within him.
I enjoyed this book more than I had expected. It has a slow start, but the further I read I found myself being ingrained in their world. The story goes a long time before any magical elements are introduced. For a time, I questioned if it was truly magic, or did they only believe it to be.
At the core of the story was understanding what it meant to love someone and how to recognize true love from obsession. The book is a bit more of a difficult read than most stories like this that I had read. The chapters were quite long and I had to plan out when I would sit to read it.
Several characters come into play who reside in the village. It was amusing to see how they knew magic existed but outwardly denied it. By the halfway point of the book, I had realized it was the start of a series, so I wondered if it would have a happy conclusion or the start of something bigger.
I am happy to say, that I enjoyed the ending. I had a suspicion as to what was happening, and I was mostly right, though some of the minor details I got wrong. One could say this was a more mature modern telling of a Little Mermaid story. Worth checking out, and I intend to continue the series and see where the story goes.
Available on Amazon
Esteban Q Mathieus 