I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish!

The story was fast paced, but not exhaustingly so, and never felt like it had any dead moments. The inclusion of spanish dialouge was enjoyable (I don't speak any spanish myself) and for me made the story more immersive. I liked the magic system used, and would have loved to sit in on Pablo's lesson. Pablo was an interesting character with a depth, hubris and flaws to him that made him just as much likeable as it made me want to smack him upside the head, and tell him to just dip out and catch a break. Poor man went through a lot in these pages!

Some of the side characters had a bit of a "filler" quality to them, where they were probably meant to have a deeper impact. I think that might have been that there isn't enough pages in one book to give them more space. Both Hellas and Espinoza come to mind, but I felt this particularly in the case of Georgina; As much as her impact and importance to Pablo was introduced, the space she was given wasn't enough to give me a sense of closeness to her. When the closure between her and Pablo happened I didn't really feel anything, even though I recognised the impact the author was going for (doing my best to say this without giving spoilers). If this had been a duology, and the side characters had more space to introduce themselves and their importance/influence in Pablo's life, I think the story would have greatly benefitted from it. I personally wanted to know a little more about them.

And though I had hoped for a different ending - the one provided was a bit anticlimatic and left something to be desired - I was left with a question I thought worth pondering; did Pablo end up fulfilling the mastermind's plan behind the grand plan after all? I see what you did there author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Marcus X. Figuerola and Bannermen Books for the eArc, it was a treat to read.

Mayhem! Magical chaos, indeed! This was fun! I say chaos, but more accurately, it’s a world with a rich magic system, that has many aspects, and many possibilities for using it. We also meet a lot of varied characters, including non-humans, which adds to the chaos, but many of those character strands are woven together eventually.

Anyway. Loved the prologue. Great humor and setup. (There is humor throughout but also a few spots that were gory or sad.) I loved the school and the different disciplines of magic. (I would totally take a class from Pablo.) And as I read, I was thinking that exploring the disciplines and seeing more of the teachers would be a good way to continue this if it became a series. Also the magic lends itself to pondering some moral questions. Also loved this for being in Miami with Cuban-American culture and some Spanish.

I enjoyed watching the plot unfold, it was a fun story and at one point it was so exciting that I had to make myself slow down to pay attention, haha. I wish some of the relationships were a bit more developed. We do really get to know Pablo, and info about his past was smoothly integrated. But otherwise it seems more about the action. Which is fine, there is a lot going on, that probably keeps things moving.

The ending surprised me a bit but I thought it was highly fitting. :) Although it did change how I was envisioning this as a possible series, haha.

Figuerola has crafted a fabulous urban fantasy tale that hooked me from its first page. Free of the genre's worst tropes, Figuerola masterfully weaves magically mundane worldbuilding, well paced action, introspective flashbacks, and a touch of mystery in a story that loves Miami like only a local could.

Dr. Diaz lives in a world of demons and dissertations, trolls and traffic, ghosts and gangsters. Cell phones, due to their personal connection to their owners, turn out to operate inadvertently as phylacteries, requiring special care around evil spirits and the like. The book is sprinkled with these deliciously interesting intersections of the magical and the mundane (always my favorites in sci-fi and fantasy).

After a fantastic prologue written in the style of an anniversary news broadcast, we're dropped into the perspective of Professor Diaz. He lives in a Miami where magic has returned and you can even major in it at FIU. Like Harry Dresden before him, Pablo is stressed and overworked, principled and passionate, carrying more than his fair share of cares.

Pablo is a fighter, but he's no superhero. There are real, tangible limits to what he can do with magic and a physical cost to every one of his choices. Every action sequence is accompanied with creative uses of magic and real consequences, both for Pablo himself and the residents of Miami. Often the solution to the problem isn't "punch it harder with magic", and it's incredibly refreshing to see a protagonist approach problems more like Vision than Captain America.

I could gush for paragraphs about this story and our main character, but I don't want to say more to rob anyone of getting to know him the way I did (or to have to hide this review behind a spoiler tag). Suffice it to say we get to see Pablo on his worst days, and the way he responds to the various challenges and his personal history with the rest of the cast gives depth to the character and makes him feel like a real person.

The only thing that keeps this from being a five-star review is a somewhat unsatisfying ending. The climax itself is great, but the epistolary epilogue attempts to wrap up everything a little too quickly and neatly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bannermen Books for an advance digital copy of this novel!

Thank you for allowing me to review this.

I overall enjoyed this book. Magic City Mayhem takes a logical, clever approach to magic. The combination of modern day takes on magic, combined with historic takes on magic through Pablo's practice was refreshing. I appreciated seeing the classic healing spell we all were taught as a kid used in here as well ;)

I liked the bilingual aspect of the novel, but some of the translations felt a little lacking in context. Otherwise it was very easy to understand and great practice for someone learning spanish.

I think that the characters were all VERY well fleshed out. That seems to be the biggest strength in the novel. Each character had a distinct personality that you could feel through each book.

Figuerola weaves a beautiful story in here. I can hear the music playing when Pablo goes through the streets. I can feel my stomach tie in knots when he makes questionable decisions to exact his form of justice.

I liked the ending, I felt like it made sense for his character. Not every hero needs to have a fantastical ending, I felt like this was fitting for Pablo. Overall this was pretty good to me. Sometimes it felt like the author was trying to tie some ends up, but otherwise this was good! I found it humorous, unique, and sharp.