Burning Down the House

by Jean Marie Ward

(Ginger Blue Publishing, March 2025, 90 pp.)

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

This novella is the first in a series to be known as “Sorcerer vs. Sorcerer.” It begins with a mysterious fire devastating the home of an aging wizard. A younger magician investigates the arcane items contained in the burning mansion. He discovers a bottle containing a djinn; in this case, a female fire spirit.

Attempting to obtain the djinn’s magic for himself, he winds up with her inside his body. A meeting with a mentor who has a history of getting him out of scrapes leads to chaos when the djinn is freed from his body. The situation leads to a conflagration at the nightclub owned by a rival magician and, as the series title suggests, a duel of magic between the two sorcerers.

This synopsis fails to capture the story’s mood, which is much less serious than I may have indicated. When the magician has the djinn inside his body, it causes him to be extremely fat, a fate which is used for comic effect. The setting is a fantasy version of modern New York City, and there are frequent references to pop culture throughout, often in a humorous way.

The aging wizard and his nonmagical wife, who appear in the early part of the story, play no part in later events, and are simply there to set up the plot. The two rival magicians are slightly more developed, but the djinn is the only really interesting character.

The story ends with a cliffhanger, obviously intended to encourage readers to continue the series. This has the effect of making the work seem like part of a novel rather than a complete novella.

Firmly fitting into the genre of urban fantasy, this tongue-in-cheek tale will best appeal to those who enjoy fast-paced magical hijinks.

Victoria Silverwolf likes the Talking Heads song that shares this story’s title.