torridgambit's review against another edition
2.0
cute idea. different from what i normally read. and a geek world which i dont get to be in enough anyways in my day to day life. but the dynamics and personalities were a bit too shallow for my taste..
jmhobbs's review against another edition
3.0
Good idea, poor execution. I didn't like the writing style at all. Rather amateurish.
ribert's review against another edition
3.0
This book is self published and has a lot of typos and grammatical issues. That said, the plot was pretty good and the pace was terrific. I'm certain that other reviews will go into the plot in detail (because that's what people here seem to want to do for some reason) so I will just say it's about a somewhat regular guy's entrance into the world of con artists. Why? For a girl, of course.
chuckmunson's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent! The hacker version of the Monkeywrench Gang.
mcmillan's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. I can get behind any story with a comic book nerd as the hero. The characters are great, and the story grabs hold of you from the very beginning. I love con operations, and I love geeks, so this book really worked for me.
theartolater's review against another edition
4.0
Giving the writing a 2, but the sheer amount of fun I had reading this a 4.5, I think a 4 is fair.
Paul is getting fired from his job tomorrow. His job is being the creative force behind a pretty big deal of a video game, and the rest of the top-level guys want him out. Paul ends up meeting Chloe at the Mexican restaurant he's hiding out in, and suddenly Paul is in the middle of a massive con to try and get what he's truly owed from the company.
Thus begins the wild ride that is Geek Mafia. The plot is strung together by a bunch of fun, tech-heavy heists, the characters are fun and fascinating, and the book reads like a really freewheeling action movie - this means there's not a ton of depth going on, but it really doesn't matter much in the end because you're enjoying yourself so much.
If I have any complaints, it may be that the author is clearly seeing himself in the main role here. Not a big problem - write what you know. However, a lot of less-than-necessary opinionating along the way kind of throws things out of whack a bit. If you dislike that sort of thing in your fiction, this may be fun enough for you to be able to let it slide, but that might be my only issue. I'm really, really looking forward to the sequel (which I already have on my Kindle). Highly recommended if you're a nerd into something different.
Paul is getting fired from his job tomorrow. His job is being the creative force behind a pretty big deal of a video game, and the rest of the top-level guys want him out. Paul ends up meeting Chloe at the Mexican restaurant he's hiding out in, and suddenly Paul is in the middle of a massive con to try and get what he's truly owed from the company.
Thus begins the wild ride that is Geek Mafia. The plot is strung together by a bunch of fun, tech-heavy heists, the characters are fun and fascinating, and the book reads like a really freewheeling action movie - this means there's not a ton of depth going on, but it really doesn't matter much in the end because you're enjoying yourself so much.
If I have any complaints, it may be that the author is clearly seeing himself in the main role here. Not a big problem - write what you know. However, a lot of less-than-necessary opinionating along the way kind of throws things out of whack a bit. If you dislike that sort of thing in your fiction, this may be fun enough for you to be able to let it slide, but that might be my only issue. I'm really, really looking forward to the sequel (which I already have on my Kindle). Highly recommended if you're a nerd into something different.
tallyhotel's review against another edition
3.0
The back half totally made up for the front half. Not sure if I'll continue the series or not.
mngwinn's review against another edition
2.0
More than a bit of a Mary Sue, with some pacing issues. It was fine, I suppose.
rosseroo's review
3.0
Inspired by his own firing from a Silicon Valley gaming company, Dakan has written a fun, breezy tale of revenge and con-artistry in the '00s. Paul is an indie comic-book creator who heafs out West to try and turn his Eisner-winning world into a computer game. However, in the opening pages, we meet him as he is kicked to the curb by his friends/partners. Conveniently, he soon meets an alluring young woman who offers the prospect of financial and karmic revenge against his backstabbing, intellectual property thieving ex-friends. Wacky hijinks ensue as Paul gets drawn deeper and deeper into the world of a mysterious loose group of thieves who operate as a kind of hard-partying hacker collective. Of course, all is not quite as it seems, and anyone who's seen even a few con-artist movies will be able to spot some of the twists and turns Paul's headed for. My only two complaints is that as with many books, the feats of hacking seem somehow too easy (which may well just be my own naivete), and the gang of hackers isn't developed well enough. There are only really three of them who are fleshed out, which makes it kind of simple to spot the villain of the bunch. Similarly, Paul's a little too much of a shlub everyman to really connect with as a protagonist. On the whole, it's a fairly fun, well-paced variation on some classic themes designed to appeal to the titular geeks (one elaborate scam involves forging valuable comics that have been graded and sealed), but not so compelling that I'm likely to seek out the two sequels (Geek Mafia: Mile Zero and Geek Mafia: Black Hat Blues).