Magic Fire by Christopher Pike

Magic Fire
Christopher Pike
Mystery, Horror Fiction - 226 pages


Summary:

Magic Fire takes place in Southern California in the eyes of the protagonist Mark Charm. Mark is a senior in high school and has to live the majority of his daily life alone as his mother is in the hospital sick with cancer. In addition, Mark is a pyromaniac, meaning that he is obsessed with fire and lighting objects on fire. He is responsible for a good amount of wildfires in Los Angeles, yet he has been able to keep his infatuation with flames a secret from the public.

Mark has a crush on a girl named Jessa, yet he knows little to nothing about her. Her character doesn't have much to fall back on as her background is a mystery. What is known about her is that she is quite popular with men and is considered very beautiful. The only way Jessa and Mark were able to interact was when Mark walked in on her changing during a play rehearsal, which was filled with flirtatious comments and actions.

Through a complex plot containing drugs, near death experiences, and other outrageous elements, Mark discovers he has pyrokinesis the power to control fire with his mind.


Review:

I was personally disappointed with how downhill this novel went. I initially was excited to read a novel based upon the idea of the main character having pyrokinesis, but was heartbroken to discover how terrible the plot became the closer I went to the end. The beginning of it had so much potential, but as soon as the actual conflict arose, I hated the novel the more I read. As much as I want to spoil what happens to prevent anyone else from reading this trash book, Ms. Colln stated that we can't give out major spoilers, so if you get stuck reading this novel, I apologize. Just know that the Science Fiction element that could have made this novel enjoyable implemented an unnecessary and complicated plot twist that makes everything in the rest of the story unbearable and confusing to read. It could have been fine if the author left it at Mark learning he has pyrokinesis, but noooooo, they just had to add that certain something else. Also, the book cover is misleading, don't get hooked in because of the cover.

The writing was fine in the beginning, not too poetic but also not simplistic enough to bore you. It's only when the plot gets complex that everything becomes hard to understand. There's too many plot twists and unnecessary dilemmas that eventually you just end up turning in the book before you finish it. At least, I did that. I didn't have any interest in finishing the novel, so I simply skimmed through the rest of it so I can at least say I finished it.

Mark was a fine protagonist, he didn't act over-dramatically (for someone who loved setting houses on fire) and he was one of the only sensible characters in the novel. Jessa was one of the worst characters in my opinion. She eventually became too much to handle and hard to trust. This harmed the novel immensely considering Mark was head over heals for her and it was hard to see him have to go through so much because of her.

If I were to change anything in the book, and boy do I want to, I would cut off the plot from around the second half of the book and replace it with something else. Anything else would do fine. Leaving the main plot at "Mark can control fire with his mind and has no idea what to do with it" would have made a much better novel.

In conclusion, this book sucked. -2/10.