The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic

By F.T. Lukens

Desperate to pay for college, Bridger Whitt is willing to overlook the peculiarities of his new job—entering via the roof, the weird stacks of old books and even older scrolls, the seemingly incorporeal voices he hears from time to time—but it’s pretty hard to ignore being pulled under Lake Michigan by... mermaids? Worse yet, this happens in front of his new crush, Leo, the dreamy football star who just moved to town.

Fantastic.

When he discovers his eccentric employer Pavel Chudinov is an intermediary between the human world and its myths, Bridger is plunged into a world of pixies, werewolves, and Sasquatch. The realm of myths and magic is growing increasingly unstable, and it is up to Bridger to ascertain the cause of the chaos, eliminate the problem, and help his boss keep the real world from finding the world of myths.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Duet Books
• Release date: Sep 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781945053382

F.T. Lukens

F.T. Lukens is a New York Times bestselling author of YA speculative fiction including the novels Spell Bound, So This Is Ever After, and In Deeper Waters (2022 ALA Rainbow Booklist; Junior Library Guild Selection), as well as other science fiction and fantasy works. Their contemporary fantasy novel The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic was a 2017 Cybils Award finalist in YA Speculative Fiction and won the Bisexual Book Award for Speculative Fiction. F.T. resides in North Carolina with their spouse, three kids, three dogs, and three cats.

Reviews for The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic

[ezwarych · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.I was extremely excited to read this as it includes pretty much all of my interests, and I was not disappointed. It was an exciting story complete with realistic relationships, an adorable romance, cryptids, and teenage insecurities. It's really hard to find a good book with a developed, interesting plot and a gay main relationship. In fact, the relationship was depicted as normally straight relationships usually are and the main character's problems with coming out were also treated realistically. The writing style was fun to read and while the protag was snarky, the author seemed to know when it was too much, a pitfall that's common for sarcastic ya protagonists. The protagonist also had insecurities I feel a lot of teenagers can relate to and his actions had real consequences. Her interpretation of fae, cryptids, and myths was also unique, refreshing, and even touching. I can't wait until this book is published so I can buy a hard copy!

[Catherine McClory Diedrich · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovely Surprise - really, I didn't think I was going to like it that much. There's so much on Scribd that's not quite ready. But this was. Great worldbuilding, good characters, a good pace, and (refreshingly) a love story about teenagers that involved teenagers acting like teenagers.

[smichellehos · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh my goodness! I simply don’t have the words to tell you how much I loved this book! The story is fun and a little quirky, but also keeps you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out the big plot twist.

[widdersyns · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So fun and cute.

[catkin026 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received this copy from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. This fact does not influence my rating.There are many attempts by authors to try and draw in the reader with an opening scene, but describing the main character (Bridger) attempting to climb up the side of a house as thoughts flash threw his mind of exactly why he's in the situation in the first place is definitely a good one for me. The author makes sure that any needed information is quickly provided to the reader, so there is no confusion, and then anything really important that drives along the plot and keeps the reader interested, is sprinkled through the entire novel. Nothing revealed jars the reader out of the story, but drives it even further forward until the book reaches its' peak and everything around the main character explodes. Very little is left unanswered, as every single point has a reason behind it, and none of the characters, Bridger or his best friend Astrid, Pavel (his new boss) or Pavel's assistants to the object of Bridger's interest (Leo) are left to be flat one-dimensional characters.There were moments that I wished that there was less of Bridger telling the reader of what he had heard or what happened when he interacted with someone or something else, but I do understand that not everything could be filled out to be an entire scene. It may have made the book clunky, causing the entire story to stutter with this slight off-topic, and this would have ruined how once I started the book, I couldn't put it down until i had finished it. This did mean I was up until 3am with work in the morning, but I view it as worth it.I did enjoy the world that was created, as the author made sure that there was enough detail written in that the reader can picture it. The mingling of the world that we know of today, with how the magical creatures effect the real world without anyone even realising it. I would have liked a bit more description from what Bridger learned from the book that is the title of this story, though I did enjoy how the creatures that played minor parts in the beginning of the story returned and were given more explanation. I am guessing that in later books (crosses fingers), more of these magical creatures will be brought forward to play a part in Bridger's life.There is only one gripe that keeps this from being a book that I will place on my shelf is due to the ending. It has been mentioned in other reviews of how the ending crashed in on itself. The problem presented to Bridger doesn't have the consequences that would be expected, considering how skillfully the author manages to weave in such issues on every other minor plot point. It felt extremely sudden, as if a deadline needed to be reached and the author ran out of time to properly expand and infuse enough detail to keep it up to par with the rest of the story. I had no problem with the actual final outcome, but I felt that it had been reached too easily and didn't cause Bridger to face the consequences the entire situation would realistically face.All and all, I will be looking out for the next book in this series, if there is one. If the next one continues on the brilliance of the first one, and doesn't have the pitfall of the ending of the first one, then I will go back and buy the first just so that I have all available at my fingertips.