Book Review: “Magic Touch” by Jodi Lynn Nye

This book was a loan from my brother.  We sometimes have different tastes in novels, but this was a case where we both agree. “Magic Touch,” by Jodi Lynn Nye, is a fun book–not earth-shatteringly profound or deep and intense, but fun. And, considering that it was written back in the 1990’s, it may be one of the forerunners of the modern “urban fantasy” trend.

The premise is that magic is real, and that not only are there fairy godparents, tooth fairies, guardian angels, and the like, but they’re organized and unionized. Ray, a young, urban black just out of high school, is at a critical point in his life. He wants to go to college, but lacks the grades. He’s got a decent job, but his best friend is being pulled into the local gang who are out to recruit him as well. But his grandmother, who largely raised him, sends him to a meeting of a group that does community service.

The “group” turns out to be the Fairy Godparents Union, local 326. Out of respect to his grandmother Ray hears them out and allows himself to be apprenticed to Rose Feinstein, a scrappy elderly lady and long-time fairy godmother. Ray comes to find it’s all true, that there is magic, and there are fairy godparents who take on the duty of granting one wish for every child. He finds he not only enjoys granting wishes (though it’s not as easy as you’d think), but that he’s pretty good at it. Under Rose’s tutelage he becomes an enthusiastic apprentice.

But the local  Demons, Djinni and Efreets Guild wants to merge with the FGU, and for a sinister purpose. A local group of Genies wants the godparents’ powers in order to release themselves from their involuntary servitude, and they’ll stop at nothing, including recruiting local street gangs, to get their way. Ray soon finds himself in dire circumstances when FGU members begin disappearing.

The book is certainly a product of its time (CD players and in-line skates are the rage), and in more ways than one. There is no moral ambiguity in this book. Ray is a good kid trying to stay on the right path, and the bad guys are…well, bad guys. That said, I find Nye’s exploration of rules and restrictions and free will quite interesting. The FGU has rules they need to follow, though they’re largely self-imposed. Ray comes to learn that the rules have purpose, and that they are as much to help him as to restrict him.

And Ray is a good character. I truly liked him. I felt the conflicts in his life. I don’t know if Nye’s depiction of Chicago inner-city life is accurate or not, but I suspect it provides at least a partial glimpse of the challenges faced by those growing up in neighborhoods like Ray’s. Accurate or not, it’s a different life experience, which is usually a good thing to engage with.

The merging of the fantastical with the mundane is well done, I felt. Nye treats it with enough seriousness that we don’t feel the need to question too much, and treats her world and plot quite seriously while resisting the urge to descend into the gritty. It may not be the type of story everyone wants to read, but it worked for me. All magic aside, at the core of this story is good people trying to do the best they can. And those are stories that resonate with me.