Review of "Born of Illusion" by Teri Brown

Born of Illusion by Teri Brown


Genre: YA/Historical Fiction/Fantasy

Page Count: 373

Plot Synopsis: "A gifted illusionist, Anna assists her mother, the renowned medium Marguerite Van Housen, in her stage show and séances, easily navigating the underground world of magicians, mediums, and mentalists in 1920’s New York. As the illegitimate daughter of Harry Houdini—or so Marguerite claims—sleight of hand illusions have never been a challenge for Anna. The real trick is keeping her own gifts secret from her opportunistic mother. Because while Marguerite’s own powers may be a sham, Anna possesses a true ability to sense people’s feelings and foretell the future.


But as Anna’s powers intensify, she begins to experience frightening visions of her mother in peril, which leads her to explore the powers she’s tried so long to hide. And when a mysterious young man named Cole moves into the flat downstairs, introducing Anna to a secret society that studies people with gifts like hers, she is forced to confront her past and rethink everything she’s ever known. Is her mother truly in danger, or are Anna’s visions merely illusion? And could the great Houdini really be her father, or is it just another of Marguerite’s tricks?" (Summary from goodreads.com)

Review: Born of Illusion by Teri Brown is an interesting story about Anna Van Housen, the illegitimate daughter of Harry Houdini, who has a dangerous secret about her supernatural powers. It follows classic YA novel format with an insecure, but still beautiful teenage girl with mysterious powers who meets and falls for two boys.  The love triangle is at first something that I hated, but I enjoyed how the author worked with it and mad it not so typical. 

Although I didn't predict a lot of this book, it still felt rather predictable. The writing wasn't stellar either, but it wasn't horrible; it was just average. Everything about this book was relatively average. Anna as a character is decently interesting, the story is nothing I haven't seen before, and the plot is alright. The fact that Anna is supposed to be Houdini's daughter, something which is neither totally confirmed or denied, was a bit weird for me. I'm still not certain that I liked that idea, but I didn't hate it either. 

This was pretty typical YA and is a good read if you don't have anything else going on at the moment. It's a quick read and was pretty enjoyable. 

The sequel Born of Deception is coming out on June 10th and I think I'll check it out.

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