fancybone's review against another edition
3.0
A quick, fun easy read, and a fun idea.
I wish we'd seen more of Wiz learning magic; he seemed to go from nothing to writing a compiler for it, after discovering one spell on accident and talking to Shiara about magic in very general terms. In a fantasy novel, it still felt unrealistic.
Also, of course the relationship was obviously going to happen, and Bal-Simba's actions revealed at the end were pretty guessable, it still vaguely irks me to have such an obvious "of course she'll fall in love with him, she's a damsel in distress!" conclusion.
I wish we'd seen more of Wiz learning magic; he seemed to go from nothing to writing a compiler for it, after discovering one spell on accident and talking to Shiara about magic in very general terms. In a fantasy novel, it still felt unrealistic.
Also, of course the relationship was obviously going to happen, and Bal-Simba's actions revealed at the end were pretty guessable, it still vaguely irks me to have such an obvious "of course she'll fall in love with him, she's a damsel in distress!" conclusion.
webgambit's review against another edition
4.0
Computer programming = Magic. Every nerds dream. Solid book, easy to read.
araleith's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book. I like how they did the whole programming meets magic thing, and how there was kinda a love story but not really. :D
archerofyail's review
2.0
I remembered liking this book the first time I read it. After reading it a second time it's flaws are very apparent. The whole "programming magic" concept is amazing, and it would be cool to see how it could work, but it's not explained in the slightest, and only shows up in the last 1/4th of the book. I would love if they went into specific details on how exactly he created an interpreter, a text editor, a debugger, etc. with magic, but it's just handwaved away, with no explanations other than "he wrote some stuff down".
It also takes way way too long to get to the central plot point, as most of the book is just world building and Wiz traveling and being (and moping about being) useless. And when he does start using magic programs, there's not a whole lot of cool stuff he does with it.
Also, as has been said in many a review, the ebook version has an atrocious amount of mistakes. So many straight up spelling errors that can be caught with a spell checker are just there, in the published ebook. It's mind-boggling to me how that can even happen. Whoever let this go out the door should be embarrassed.
It also takes way way too long to get to the central plot point, as most of the book is just world building and Wiz traveling and being (and moping about being) useless. And when he does start using magic programs, there's not a whole lot of cool stuff he does with it.
Also, as has been said in many a review, the ebook version has an atrocious amount of mistakes. So many straight up spelling errors that can be caught with a spell checker are just there, in the published ebook. It's mind-boggling to me how that can even happen. Whoever let this go out the door should be embarrassed.
gitarrlillan's review
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
thepinknarwhal's review
3.0
Fun story but a bit cringey in the way the author chose to describe women.
lijadora's review against another edition
3.0
Original idea to apply computer science concepts to a fantasy world with magic.
Besides that the plot is high-fantasy predictable - and the characters are cut from cardboard. Kind of expected that so not much of a disappointment.
(that doesn't mean I won't read the next books in the series...)
Besides that the plot is high-fantasy predictable - and the characters are cut from cardboard. Kind of expected that so not much of a disappointment.
(that doesn't mean I won't read the next books in the series...)
jamestomasino's review against another edition
3.0
It was a little strange mixing 80s computer programming with a fantasy series but it was a fun read. I wouldn't recommend this series unless you also have a geeky love of coding because, honestly, beyond that quirk it's not really that good. Still, it gave me a smile. I may continue the series, but not right away.
ninj's review against another edition
3.0
Was okay, fairly generic stuff though the programming bits are a saving grace.