"Wage Slave Rebellion" by Stephen W. Gee
Aug. 11th, 2015 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckro"Imagine what would happen if a magician’s workshop had sex with a scientist’s laboratory. Now stop that, because it’s weird, and not helpful at all."
Mazik hates his crappy job as a weapon salesman, and his friends aren't particularly happy as wage-slaves either. So he decides is time to put his magic skills to actual use and strike out on his own. Time to be his own boss! Time to become an adventurer!
The influence of Terry Pratchett on this could not have been clearer. There are places where you're pretty sure that Houk is Ankh-Morpork with the serial numbers filed off. There's also the footnote style, and the similar sensibilities in wordplay. (Though Pratchett was never a big fan of splashy magic, as this guy very much is, and did not dedicate anywhere near as much detail to his fight scenes. And Pratchett didn't drop f-bombs.)
But this is also clearly a fantasy overlay on a story about modern-day Gen Y folks. Young people in soul-crushing dead-end jobs who have obvious but unused talents strike out on their own and succeed wildly despite opposition from the old guard? So, yeah, there's a bunch of wish-fulfillment here. And I'm not going to deny that Mazik is a bit of a Marty Stu. (In case you weren't clear about that, the epilogue where he goes back to see his old company will fully cement it.)
That all said, it's the first of the KindleUnlimited books that I would recommend as worth reading. There are a number of genuinely clever bits and funny lines. Could it have used a little more editing and tightening? Sure, but it's also a tiny press first novel. I'd love to see what this guy could do under an editor who'd force him to make his hero more human and be more ruthless with his word count.
I also do appreciate the world-building. This is the first magitek fantasy setting I've seen that had a universally-used cell phone spell. He splits magic into arcane and divine sets, but they work under different rules that D&D standard, and arcane magic is basically just blasts and shields. And everyone had some shield and buff magic, even the half-assed fighter-casters, which neatly explains their durability and endurance. (I suspect this would make a fun tabletop rpg system, if it isn't already.)
Overall: It's not Terry Pratchett in his heyday, but it's a fair stab in that direction and a very good first outing. Modern escapism for the fantasy-loving frustrated 20-something.
Mazik hates his crappy job as a weapon salesman, and his friends aren't particularly happy as wage-slaves either. So he decides is time to put his magic skills to actual use and strike out on his own. Time to be his own boss! Time to become an adventurer!
The influence of Terry Pratchett on this could not have been clearer. There are places where you're pretty sure that Houk is Ankh-Morpork with the serial numbers filed off. There's also the footnote style, and the similar sensibilities in wordplay. (Though Pratchett was never a big fan of splashy magic, as this guy very much is, and did not dedicate anywhere near as much detail to his fight scenes. And Pratchett didn't drop f-bombs.)
But this is also clearly a fantasy overlay on a story about modern-day Gen Y folks. Young people in soul-crushing dead-end jobs who have obvious but unused talents strike out on their own and succeed wildly despite opposition from the old guard? So, yeah, there's a bunch of wish-fulfillment here. And I'm not going to deny that Mazik is a bit of a Marty Stu. (In case you weren't clear about that, the epilogue where he goes back to see his old company will fully cement it.)
That all said, it's the first of the KindleUnlimited books that I would recommend as worth reading. There are a number of genuinely clever bits and funny lines. Could it have used a little more editing and tightening? Sure, but it's also a tiny press first novel. I'd love to see what this guy could do under an editor who'd force him to make his hero more human and be more ruthless with his word count.
I also do appreciate the world-building. This is the first magitek fantasy setting I've seen that had a universally-used cell phone spell. He splits magic into arcane and divine sets, but they work under different rules that D&D standard, and arcane magic is basically just blasts and shields. And everyone had some shield and buff magic, even the half-assed fighter-casters, which neatly explains their durability and endurance. (I suspect this would make a fun tabletop rpg system, if it isn't already.)
Overall: It's not Terry Pratchett in his heyday, but it's a fair stab in that direction and a very good first outing. Modern escapism for the fantasy-loving frustrated 20-something.
