'Off to Be the Wizard' by Scott Meyer (Book 1 of Magic 2.0)

Official Summary:

Martin Banks is just a normal guy who has made an abnormal discovery: he can manipulate reality, thanks to reality being nothing more than a computer program. With every use of this ability, though, Martin finds his little “tweaks” have not escaped notice. Rather than face prosecution, he decides instead to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and pose as a wizard. What could possibly go wrong?

An American hacker in King Arthur’s court, Martin must now train to become a full-fledged master of his powers, discover the truth behind the ancient wizard Merlin…and not, y’know, die or anything.

Review:

With a kitschy title, an 8-bit cover graphic and playful description I just couldn't resist - can I go so far as to say this book won me over because it's adorable? Of course I can because my blog = my rules. Can't say that a book is adorable too often... in fact this might be the first time in my entire life I've gone and done that. Although, come to think it, I'm not in the business of reviewing children's books. It probably comes up a lot more in that genre. So, let's all agree that the word 'adorable' isn't used much with books marketed to adults and leave it at. (/tangent)

'Off to Be the Wizard' is not a stuffy, inaccessible nerd-fest like you might want to think. Heck, I almost missed out because immediately following the thought that this title was totally adorable (see above) was the thought that anything this cute has got to be so heavily infiltrated with geek references that I wouldn't be able to get past a few pages without wanting to hurl it against a wall.* In fact, the author does a great job at keeping the story light without letting it float away.

My one and only complaint is for roughly 30 pages, the middle of the book borders on the edge of fluff filler. So much so that I almost feel like it could have been cut out completely without consequence to the overall storytelling. Outside of that though, the title starts and finishes on high notes that kept me interested and I'll probably be throwing book 2, 'Spell or High Water' onto the T.B.R. pile.

Bottom Line: 'Off to Be the Wizard' isn't just a cute cover with a catchy title. It's a good story with a surprisingly thought provoking premise. If you've ever attended a comic con, PAX or something like it, then I think this title is right up your alley.  

*Proverbially of course - I can't go hurling my Kindle against a wall. It might break, and then I'd be sad. 

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'Scarlet' by Marissa Meyer

Official Summary:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.  

Review:

Oh boy - I love this! Oh boy, oh boy, oh - I really, truly, absolutely, love writing reviews like this! It's reviews, well more importantly the titles that inspire these reviews, that keep me reading and keeping this blog in the first place. But I should stop gushing like a little girl and get on with it.

When the first book in the series, 'Cinder', hit shelves, it caught my attention with its simple, gleaming red high heel cover, it got added to my TBR pile and spent about six months staring up at me. Eventually, I got around to it and I couldn't put it down. I stayed up and polished it off in about five hours... on a work night. I fell in love with Cinder and the strangely dystopian world in which she was forced to exist.

So you can imagine how excited I was to find out that 'Scarlet' by Marissa Meyer was already in the works. I was giddy even - and I don't get giddy all that often... seriously, that just doesn't happen too often. But even the giddy wore off and turned into self-doubt.

Was book one really as good as I thought it was? Was I drunk on a late night reading high? Would book two keep the same pacing? Would it have the same charm?

And what do I do when I start to doubt a title? Or, even more pointedly, don't want a "book two" to ruin the awesomeness that is it's "book one"?

Well - I stall. I stall even though I'd pre-ordered this title on the day I finished 'Cinder' and the title appeared on my Kindle just a day short of two months ago. But I didn't have the nerve to crack it open until only a week ago. What a big mistake that was. Honestly, I spent months worrying about absolutely nothing while I should have just been a big ball of excited energy. No, if you must know, I didn't have the stamina to finish it in an all night reading bender, I did get through it in two (much shorter) sittings.

Bottom Line: Fairy tales, romance, dystopia, androids, robots, spaceships and aliens (well kinda aliens)... Do you like any of these things? How about just a hankering for one of the best fairy tale refreshes in existence? This one is a must.

I mean it.

Click here to pick up 'Scarlet' (Lunar Chronicles #2) and add it to your TBR pile immediately!

Waiting List - March Edition

February has been long, cold, and it dumped an historically high pile of snow that's somehow managing to maintain an icy grip on the surrounding landscape. All I can say is that I'm glad that we're out of the worst of it and I'm looking forward to March's promise of slightly warmer temps as spring starts to eek out a hold on this little corner of New England. 

Besides killing my motivation, February's casualties also included two titles that were slated for review this month: 'Domestic Violets' by Matthew Norman & 'The Witch's Daughter' by Paula Brackston. In past months there's usually a reason for this type of oversight, but this time it comes down to just not having enough time over the weekends (thank you Nemo for the 3 day power outage) to get the reviews written. Simple as that. In other words, expect these two title reviews posted up sometime in the following week... assuming another natural disaster doesn't whip through unexpectedly and rip out some more of my town's already deteriorated infrastructure.  

Two more pieces of news and then onto the regularly scheduled March reading list. The first is a warm welcome to all the new subscribers! And to all the regulars, I'm honored and excited that you've stuck with me. Your patience will soon be rewarded. We have some big things happening in the next few months here on T.T.P. that I can't really talk about in detail yet. So to all the lurkers, if you haven't subscribed yet I promise that you don't want to miss out on some of the stuff coming down the pipe. Remember, you can always subscribe by email here, or by using any of the links in the right-hand sidebar.

The second piece is remember to vote in this months poll. I'm always looking for ways to improve and what's good for me might not be the best for you - so tell me this: Do you want T.T.P to post the official book summaries before the reviews or not? We're currently at a tie and voting ends in about a week so you know what to do.

Now, for the best part. The books planned for March have me really excited:

• Marissa Meyer's next book 'Scarlet' in the Lunar Chronicles.  
• 'Beautiful Creatures' co-authored by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
• 'A Friend of the Family' by Lauren Grodstein
• 'The Wild Ones' by M. Leighton

Last, but certainly not least, this month's Bridal Title segment will be a review of 'A Practical Wedding: Creative Ideas for Planning a Beautiful, Affordable and Meaningful Celebration' by Meg Keene. It was recommended to me by a few people that I've spoken with, so I'm sure I've already got unrealistically high expectations.  

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