Per FTC guidelines this review for Corruption: Grumpy Old Wizards Book 2 by John O’Riley is for a book received for free in a Goodreads.com First Read Giveaway.
It shames just a little to admit that I had accidently signed up for this book giveaway on Goodreads.com and was none too thrilled when I found out I had won. Sometimes happy accidents occur in our lives and winning Corruption by John O’Riley is thankfully one of those times. This is an extremely well written novel, and as an added surprise was a wonderful read.
This is the second book in Mr.O’Riley’s “Grumpy Old Wizard Series” but easily works as a stand-alone novel. Set in a world where magical abilities are the norm, but people with more powerful magic abilities, called category 6, are rare. These wizards are able to do practically unlimited magic, but whose skills have been strictly curtailed by the government. One of the benefits of being a category 6 is the slowing of the aging process, so although she looks to be in her 20’s, Josephine O’Connor is actually 83 years old. It was humorous beyond words for me to read time and time again of this group of twenty-something’s sitting around drinking coffee and playing rummy every morning, an event I remember my own grandmother doing with her friends. During this novel Josephine is confronted by not one, not two, but three secret societies, two of which threatening world domination, and all of which want her to join.
Mr. O’Riley sprinkles just the right mixture of comedy, and drama into the novel. In the ultimate cougar attack, Josephine ends up dating an 18 year old college freshman. This May to September romance is an adorable dose of humor and lightness. All the characters are well developed and the novel moves along at a brisk pace, but the reader is not left with a feeling that character development or plot has been rushed. I would strongly recommend Corruption by John O’Riley to fellow readers, and am planning to purchase the 1st and 3rd novels in the series myself.