Alfheim Seoul ~ Chris Coleman (Magic Parcel Service #1)

★★★☆☆

I hurried around to the garage door because I really had to pee.

What an iconic line.

Obligatory Summary

Alecia is just a regular Korean-American girl living in Seattle -- at least, she was, until she started doing magic. Then she came across a strange creature in an alley and let him eat half her soul. Now she can see and hear Iverog, but no one else can. When an older relative called Grandpa Dan tells her that he's a wizard, he takes her under his wing. But when her ability to see magical objects bring disastrous results, it's up to her to save Grandpa Dan, with only Iverog and a reluctant FBI agent to help her!

My Thoughts

I'm not entirely sure what I just read. I think I liked it though.

To be quite honest with you, this felt like a parody of 2009 MG fantasy, with some very questionable yet humorous choices (as exhibited in the quote above) and a general disregard for resolving plot holes.

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. The magic system was fun and inventive. The plot felt aimless but it's short enough and I enjoyed the characters enough that it wasn't too much of a problem. Iverog was sort of a riot; fish out of water characters are always very enjoyable. Alecia acted like the most ridiculously chill person in the entire world (she literally meets what to her might as well be a demon, who wants to eat her soul and have her eat his, so that they can share a soul, and goes "sure, why not?") and hopped from one random event to another, but she was fun and much lighter than what I usually read, especially for female characters nowadays, who all have tragic pasts and 6 love interests. Karakowski, the FBI guy, literally came out of nowhere, but he had good banter with Alecia and they worked pretty well as a team. (I have to say, though: there was weird tension between the two, but that might just be me reading into it hah)

Honestly, this gave me quality Disney Channel original vibes, so if that's something you're into, I'd definitely look into this. If not, it's funny and fast paced and it's a nice palate cleanser.

Buy the book here:

Amazon