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Zauberer
Mira Hall’s life was finally starting.
Ten years of struggling her way through medical school, hospital rotations, and working at the local bookstore so she could afford a little apartment and keep food on the table.
All to earn that coveted white coat and degree in the back seat of her car that she plans to hang on the wall in her own practice.
Yup, her life was finally going exactly as she planned …
That was until she was forced off the highway and into a pole by an eighteen-wheeler and straight into the ICU of a secretive doctor’s care…
That was until she discovered she could move things with her mind…
That was until she found out the hot bookstore owner she worked for was actually a wizard.
Jove Brandt, the owner of Bindings—a small shop with big secrets in the basement and the attic—is delighted to discover that the woman he’s cared for has a unique power so he could introduce her to his community.
A community that needs someone like Doctor Mira Hall.
Zauberer is a story of a woman of science thrown into a community of magic in the City of Brotherly Love.
Ten years of struggling her way through medical school, hospital rotations, and working at the local bookstore so she could afford a little apartment and keep food on the table.
All to earn that coveted white coat and degree in the back seat of her car that she plans to hang on the wall in her own practice.
Yup, her life was finally going exactly as she planned …
That was until she was forced off the highway and into a pole by an eighteen-wheeler and straight into the ICU of a secretive doctor’s care…
That was until she discovered she could move things with her mind…
That was until she found out the hot bookstore owner she worked for was actually a wizard.
Jove Brandt, the owner of Bindings—a small shop with big secrets in the basement and the attic—is delighted to discover that the woman he’s cared for has a unique power so he could introduce her to his community.
A community that needs someone like Doctor Mira Hall.
Zauberer is a story of a woman of science thrown into a community of magic in the City of Brotherly Love.
438 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 11, 2024
3 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 25, 2026
Urban fantasy can be a lot to manage from those not already dedicated to the subgenre. Often centered around a sassy heroine who discovers or develops powers in adolescence and faces an explicit love triangle while also trying to negotiate school/early work life and battling some forces of evil through which she will eventually advance to some position of high royalty is somehow never knew she was involved with, they rarely have much to distinguish them from each other. One can quite get their fill from a few episodes of Buffy and move on.
A. Derstine, however, has created a nice gateway urban fantasy in Zauberer. Easy, elegant prose, she ages up her heroine to give realism to the chosen career, that of a General Practitioner, at which she of course excels, and softens the invariable love triangle to more of a background trifle that can be dealt with later. While there are clearly sequels to follow, Derstine also takes care to tie up the story so the novel is complete. While the dialogue is at times questionable, Doctor Mira Hall's sarcastic wit is more believably placed in conversation and the exposition is notably better handled that is usual in this type of work.
Time is taken to introduce us to the world, and the fan service reaches Ready Player One levels of forwardness, but Zauberer is a refreshing take on an otherwise worn out genre riddled with trope and schtick. A happy reminder that just because something has been infiltrated by quick-sale trope-riddled schtick and poisoned by tacky commercialism, a passionate writer can still bring something unique and engaging to the table.
A. Derstine, however, has created a nice gateway urban fantasy in Zauberer. Easy, elegant prose, she ages up her heroine to give realism to the chosen career, that of a General Practitioner, at which she of course excels, and softens the invariable love triangle to more of a background trifle that can be dealt with later. While there are clearly sequels to follow, Derstine also takes care to tie up the story so the novel is complete. While the dialogue is at times questionable, Doctor Mira Hall's sarcastic wit is more believably placed in conversation and the exposition is notably better handled that is usual in this type of work.
Time is taken to introduce us to the world, and the fan service reaches Ready Player One levels of forwardness, but Zauberer is a refreshing take on an otherwise worn out genre riddled with trope and schtick. A happy reminder that just because something has been infiltrated by quick-sale trope-riddled schtick and poisoned by tacky commercialism, a passionate writer can still bring something unique and engaging to the table.
Displaying 1 of 1 review