The Magic And The Healing

by Nick O'Donohoe

BJ Vaughan is in her last year of vet school—and in the first year of mourning her mother’s death. Her grades have slipped, and she wonders if she really is capable of working with animals after all.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441000533
• Release Date: May 1994
• Publisher: Ace
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.0" x 1.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

A read-it-so-much-that-it-fell-apart favorite

When I first read this book, I was in the sixth grade and had borrowed a friend's copy. I immediately bought my own, and right now, almost 10 years later, it still has a place of honor on my shelf. The binding is cracked, the pages are dog-eared, the cover, sadly, is bent -- as a young girl, I didn't realize that not all books stayed in print. It is truly an adventure that I willingly read again and again... and every once in awhile, I type "The Book of Strangeways" into my library's computer. Just to see if anything shows up. :)

A favorite fantasy

Not only does this book truly examine the lives of the animals presented (rather than leaving it at "griffins are vicious animals"), making them rounded, interesting species, it also examines the life of one very important veterinary student, and vet work in general. You truly feel for the characters, and I think that's part of the main draw. You want to come back again and again... you want to meet them, and you grow attached. It's very accurate information wise... and it also draws attention to a very real human disease. I first read this entire series, then insisted my mom read it, and she fell in love with it. Unfortunately... it doesn't end with the last (?) book.

Veterinary Fiction is hard to come by.

I agree with the other reviews - six years after receiving a copy of 'The Magic And The Healing' it is still one of my favorite books. Of course I'm biased, being a vet student - I like to see my profession put in such a good (and pretty darn accurate) light!

Very good and original fantasy

O'Donohoe again shows that not all of TSR's current or former writers are hacks. Having enjoyed his Dragonlance stories for their humor content, I looked forward to this book. It surprised me for numerous reasons - its true originality, its realistic take on university life, medicine and life in general, its interesting (if somewhat one-dimensional) characters and its habit of pulling off a surprise on its readers occasionally. If you can track down a copy of this fine work, do so.

A fantasy novel with a surprisingly human touch.

The beauty of "The Magic and the Healing" is in how author Nick O'Donohoe writes beyond his gimmick: that mythological creatures sometimes need medical care, a concept that seems so self-evident you wonder that it hasn't been written about before. But protagonist B.J., a veterinary student, has medical problems of her own, which she hides from the other main characters, and that's the brilliance of O'Donohoe's work. By keeping B.J.'s difficulties private, the reader is granted a view into her introspection, rather than a series of lectures by others as to how she should cope. When B.J. finds herself in a new world that challenges everything she thought she knew about veterinary medicine -- after all, none of her patients have ever been able to talk back before -- she has no choice but to heal herself so that she can keep from hurting others. And the process is beautiful.