Face adversity with a smile.
"While all and any are welcome to attend the regular meetings of Magicals Anonymous, or even pop by at our drop-in surgery, we do ask that if you are inclined to spontaneous combustion or actively leaking organic fluids from the unwinding hollows of your flesh, you use the overalls provided"
— Notice pinned to the offices of Magicals Anonymous, 89C Little Lion Street, London
Magicals Anonymous is an Urban Fantasy series by Kate Griffin (a pen name of Catherine Webb]). It is a sequel to the Matthew Swift series that follows a new protagonist, shaman Sharon Li.
The story opens with the formation of a new community support group for the mystically inclined. Meanwhile, London faces new threats that not just any old magician will be able to face alone.
The novels include:
- Stray Souls (2012)
- The Glass God (2013)
Tropes featured include:
- Abusive Parents: After being stripped of his wizard powers, Huntley pushed his daughter into casting dangerous, advanced spells far too young, using the sudden glut of his attention after years spent ignoring her for his career to manipulate her to the point that she was happy to fuel the glass god from her own life and die for him.
- Ambition Is Evil: Arthur Huntley.
- Anthropomorphic Personification
- Anyone Can Die: Toned down from the previous series, but still apparent.
- Arc Words: In Stray Souls: "Don’t look back. It wants you to look back."
- Backstory: The previous series functions as this for characters like the Midnight Mayor and organizations like the Aldermen.
- Badass Bureaucrat: The Aldermen.
- Barbarian Tribe: The Tribe.
- Barrier Maiden: Greydawn
- Beware the Nice Ones: At the end of The Glass God, Sharon herself says that she's all about cups of tea and talking about your issues and trying to understand your fellow beings' point of view, and Matthew is fire and lightning and is probably the one who'll be remembered as a badass, but that doesn't make her an ounce less dangerous. Packs an extra punch because she says it right after she's sacrificed Huntley to Old Man Bone and he realizes what she's done.
- Big Damn Heroes: Rhys and Sharon each do this for each other in Stray Souls; Sally and later Matthew Swift in The Glass God.
- Blessed with Suck: Magicals Anonymous exists for people like this.
- Kevin is a vampire, which would normally be pretty awesome, except his body rejects any blood type that isn't O and he is very mysophobic.
- Blood Magic: Plays a major role in Stray Souls.
- The Chosen One: Rhys says he was "almost" this for the urban druids.
- Doctor's Orders: Where Dr. Seah is involved, this is bound to happen.
- Deadly Euphemism: What Sharon and Rhys initially think Kelly means by "decontamination". (Subverted, however, as she really does just mean cleaning up.)Rhys: "There's something about people all in black saying decontamination, see, which really makes my nose itch."
- Eldritch Abomination: Old Man Bone.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Dog.
- Good Is Not Nice: Most Aldermen characters fall under this. They may be polite, but they will not hesitate when confronted.
- "Hell Yes" Moment: The return of the Midnight Mayor in The Glass God.
- Heroic BSoD: Sharon has one after killing Zhanyi.
- Human ResourcesGretel: "Are humans resources?"Kevin: "God, yes. But like everything else on the planet, they're a resource that's been screwed up."
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: Sometimes when Jess is upset, she turns into pigeons, whether she wants to or not.
- Oh, Crap!: Happens in The Glass God when the lights go out while they're in a room with someone who turns into a monster in the dark.
- Plucky Girl: Kelly Shiring, to the point her optimism routinely draws incredulous looks.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: And how!
- Rousing Speech: A later "scholar's" version of Sharon's Rousing Speech is contrasted with what she really said.
- Run or Die: This is often the case given frequent encounters with insurmountable enemies.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The Midnight Mayor's attitude toward restricting politics.
- Someone Has to Do It: Crompton's rationale for making sacrifices to Old Man Bone; Sharon using Old Man Bone's blade on Arthur.
- Spirit Advisor: Dez to Sharon, much to her disappointment.
- Switching P.O.V.: The narration generally follows Sharon, but commonly shifts elsewhere.
- Talking with Signs: Sally the banshee, out of politeness for other peoples' eardrums and internal organs.
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Tear Jerker: The death of the Builders. You'd think the first victory of Magicals Anonymous would be a triumphant scene, but the way the builders go, you actually feel sorry for them. - Tempting Fate: Immediately after Sharon argues that the Builders wouldn't want to be in a room full of all sorts of magical creatures, it's revealed that they have in fact already infiltrated the Magicals Anonymous meeting.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Swift gives an actual one over Sharon's phone.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting
- Would Hurt a Child: When the chips are down, Kelly Shiring kills the teenager powering the glass god. Not that she's happy about it; this is one of the few times she loses her perpetual peppy smile.
