Book Review: A Fistful of Sky

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

A Fistful of Sky     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Class/Genre:   Fantasy   Woman Main Character
Ace, Nov 2002, $23.95, 368 pp.

The LaZelles are rich, own a beach front estate in California, and are witches and warlocks except for the patriarch who is not descended from a line of mages. The children come into their powers after they reach adolescence, all that is except for Gypsum who at the age of nineteen shows no evidence that she will wield magic. She accepts the fact that she is the odd sibling and just when she thinks her life will be normal she "transitions’ into a witch."

Gyp’s powers are not like her brothers and sisters. Her specialty is curses and she must curse someone or something several times a day or she will get sick. Some of her curses turn out to be funny, some are very scary, but none are ever dull. The longer Gyp practices, the more she refines her gift and something very surprising occurs that shocks not only her but her entire family.

A FISTFUL OF SKY is a very beguiling and magical coming of age tale. The heroine goes through some very funny experiences as she comes to grips with her new found powers that will bewitch readers by her looking like a teenage version of Samantha’s befuddled aunt. Nina Kiriki Hoffman has a flair for the dramatic and the unusual.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner

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