ARC Review: The Science of Magic

Of Sorcery and Science by Mike Chen

Publication Date: September 8, 2026

Summary from NetGalley:

A teen who is The Chosen One in a fantasy realm finds himself a nobody back home—that is, until magic appears in the real world and he must re-enter the portal to save a doomed realm.

Months after entering a portal, becoming a powerful mage, and saving a distant realm, disgruntled Asian American high schooler Andy Lao returns home to find that absolutely no one believes what happened to him. In fact, things are worse than ever before as his subpar science and math grades make him a target of his parents’ disappointment. But how do you think about tests and college applications when you’re The Chosen One of a magical land?

One day, at the portal’s location, Andy sees a glowing bit of mana on the ground. And with that, magic is possible again. But when a mysterious, surly teen girl comes through the portal, she claims to be the Chosen One … and that Andy’s the one who doomed the realm. Together, they’ll save magic—because the answer lies in modern science.

ARC provided by Running Press via Netgalley for an honest review.

Confession:

I really enjoyed this new and first YA novel by one of my favorite authors. I liked the characters and the story, but it did read a bit younger than YA at times. I think the author could have gone a bit deeper into the science aspect of the story. I also would have liked a bit more time spent in Garriod, that part of the story felt a bit rushed.

Andy is a pretty typical teen with some issues. I think many kids will be able to relate to him. He has a lot of pressure on him from his parents to do well in school and get into a good college. But Andy struggles with concentrating on his school work after he comes back from saving a magical world. He longs for the days when he was the Chosen One and felt like he was doing important work. No one believes him of course, except for his best friend, and even he has doubts.

Julia is also a great character and is a nice counterpart to Andy. She is more confident about her science and math skills and even enjoys solving problems. She originally comes from the nineties, so when she steps into Andy’s world she has a bit of catching up to do. She takes most of it in stride though. I liked the juxtaposition of her life in the nineties with Andy’s life in the present time.

What I really liked about this story was the lack of any kind of romance between these two. This is a story about a friendship and about solving a problem. Way to many YA fantasy and science fiction books are still all about romance, so this was a nice thing to see. There is a lot of talk about gender identity, Andy’s best friend, Rich, is nonbinary and Julia is probably bisexual (she is still exploring) but this story line also doesn’t take over the main narrative. It is just who they are.

This is a mixture of science fiction and fantasy. Both Andy and Julia try to explain how the mana worked, at least as far as it’s stability and potency. There was a lot of experimentation and using the scientific method to do this. This was interesting but it did slow down the narrative, mostly because of the lack of action. I think a bit more time spent in Garriod would have been nice, as that part did seem a bit rushed.

Overall I did enjoy this one. I think many young adults who like science and math, but find fantasy silly, might end up enjoying this one. It will also be good for those kids who are looking for a good story without a romance taking center stage.