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Magebreakers #1
The Flaw in All Magic
In a world of elves and dwarves and sprites and mages, Tane Carver is a human with no gift but his wits. Which, to be fair, did get him into the world's most prestigious university of magical technology.
For a while.
Until his lack of magic was discovered. And then it all came crashing down.
But when a student is murdered on campus behind unbreakable wards, Tane gets a second chance. Solving an impossible crime should be easy for the man who fooled the university's best mages for years. Except he's not counting on the head constable being an old flame who isn't so fond of him anymore. Or on Kadka, the half-crazy half-orc who insists she's his partner—whether he likes it or not.
Not to mention the masked mage who keeps trying to kill him.
Now, Tane's survival depends on the one truth that has never failed him. The flaw in all magic that those who have it prefer to ignore: the mage.
Outsmart the mage, and you outsmart the spell.
And outsmarting mages is what Tane does best.
For a while.
Until his lack of magic was discovered. And then it all came crashing down.
But when a student is murdered on campus behind unbreakable wards, Tane gets a second chance. Solving an impossible crime should be easy for the man who fooled the university's best mages for years. Except he's not counting on the head constable being an old flame who isn't so fond of him anymore. Or on Kadka, the half-crazy half-orc who insists she's his partner—whether he likes it or not.
Not to mention the masked mage who keeps trying to kill him.
Now, Tane's survival depends on the one truth that has never failed him. The flaw in all magic that those who have it prefer to ignore: the mage.
Outsmart the mage, and you outsmart the spell.
And outsmarting mages is what Tane does best.
219 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 9, 2017
About the author
Ben S. Dobson
11 books170 followersBen S. Dobson is Canadian writer who has achieved nothing of consequence. Many people like him anyway. This is inexplicable.
When he isn't writing fantasy novels, he can be found enjoying many fine, geeky activities. These include playing Dungeons and Dragons, watching Studio Ghibli movies, and playing video games (as long as they have a good storyline and require little to no skill).
You can email him at [email protected], or find him online at these places:
Website: http://bensdobson.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bensdobson
When he isn't writing fantasy novels, he can be found enjoying many fine, geeky activities. These include playing Dungeons and Dragons, watching Studio Ghibli movies, and playing video games (as long as they have a good storyline and require little to no skill).
You can email him at [email protected], or find him online at these places:
Website: http://bensdobson.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bensdobson
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 334 reviews
April 30, 2018
The Flaw in All Magic
Magebreakers, Book 1
By: Ben S. Dobson
Narrated by: Travis Baldree
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary.
I love streamline, fantasy, and books with orcs in a positive light, underdog heroes, characters you can really get to know, and a good plot. This book has all this and more. Our main guy doesn't do magic but is working for a University for mages due to a murder of one of his friends. He ends up with a new friend, a female half-orc that helps him. The story is so good!!! Lots of twists and turns and I love their partnership! True friendship.
The narrator is so awesome! There are lots of creatures in here and he is super at doing all of the strange voices for them, lol! He also performers the voices of women so well I forget it is a male narrator. I forget it is even being narrated! I feel like I am watching a movie in my head. Great job!.
Magebreakers, Book 1
By: Ben S. Dobson
Narrated by: Travis Baldree
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary.
I love streamline, fantasy, and books with orcs in a positive light, underdog heroes, characters you can really get to know, and a good plot. This book has all this and more. Our main guy doesn't do magic but is working for a University for mages due to a murder of one of his friends. He ends up with a new friend, a female half-orc that helps him. The story is so good!!! Lots of twists and turns and I love their partnership! True friendship.
The narrator is so awesome! There are lots of creatures in here and he is super at doing all of the strange voices for them, lol! He also performers the voices of women so well I forget it is a male narrator. I forget it is even being narrated! I feel like I am watching a movie in my head. Great job!.
February 13, 2020
4,75 stars - becoming 5 stars rounded up - English Audiobook 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Realy Nice to hear this book while I was in waitingrooms, trains and in the bathtub. Orcs and Humans, underdogs in their world, becoming unwillingly Hero’s. Friendships and allianties you do not expect. Twists and turns along te way. I liked it. Fantasy to listen too. Nice voice who is telling the story. 🦋🦋🦋
Realy Nice to hear this book while I was in waitingrooms, trains and in the bathtub. Orcs and Humans, underdogs in their world, becoming unwillingly Hero’s. Friendships and allianties you do not expect. Twists and turns along te way. I liked it. Fantasy to listen too. Nice voice who is telling the story. 🦋🦋🦋
February 4, 2019
Well, that was entertaining, my inner child is giggling and clapping.
The plot was simple (from the first scene I understood that one guy is trouble) and the most of characters were quite artificial but I liked the concept of the magical world, humor and, of course, Kadka. She pulled off the story.
The plot was simple (from the first scene I understood that one guy is trouble) and the most of characters were quite artificial but I liked the concept of the magical world, humor and, of course, Kadka. She pulled off the story.
August 12, 2023
Ah, nice adventure with plenty of suspense. Just as exciting as my first read.
March 6, 2018
I think I found this by looking through the steampunk category on Amazon. It's more magepunk than steampunk, with magically driven engines and an airship lifted partly by spells; a steampunkish/dieselpunkish feel to the setting, but with lots of magic-as-technology and an assortment of fantasy races (elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, goblins, and so forth).
Because this is pretty close to what I often write myself, I read it with great interest. Because it's extremely well done, I also read it with great enjoyment.
The protagonist is a man without magical ability who was able to fool the magical university authorities for several years using a combination of sleight-of-hand and bluff, culminating in a dissertation which revealed his deception, and argued that only someone without magic could really understand it, because the flaw in all magic is the mage. Mages, being human(oid), are subject to error, and egotistical blindness to their own errors. (I was reminded of the flaws in computer programs introduced by programmers.) He's a rogue, but an ethical one, a little bit obsessive, and courageous when he needs to be.
His sidekick is a half-orc who has come to the island where magic is still freely practiced because she wants to see amazing sights. Her sense of awe and wonder is a beautifully handled part of her character, and asserts itself even when she's in great peril. She's a good-natured character, contrary to orc stereotypes, and despite the fact that she's experienced prejudice her whole life (her orcish relatives see her as too human, and everyone else sees her as too orcish). I enjoyed the fact that she was the muscle in the pair. It's a simple, even a common, trope-switch to make the woman the physically dangerous one, but the main character's easy acceptance of it without any discussion gained the book extra points with me.
Both characters are terrific, with enough backstory to feel real and sympathetic, introduced (like the worldbuilding) just when it's needed, and just as much as it's needed for the reader's understanding. Their collegial relationship is a joy to see, particularly since there's no attraction between them, but there is respect.
The plot is a mystery/thriller, with a locked-room murder (of someone who mattered to the protagonist); politics (including echoes of current real-world politics of the arrogant, regressive far-right sort); fights, pursuits, and edge-of-the-seat physical danger; and roguish cleverness. The pacing, I felt, was a good balance between keeping things constantly moving and not failing to pause for reflection.
On top of excellent editing, this all-around facility with the craft of writing helped push this into 5-star territory for me, and made this one of my favourite books this year. I'm very glad to have discovered another author who I can trust to tell a good story well.
Because this is pretty close to what I often write myself, I read it with great interest. Because it's extremely well done, I also read it with great enjoyment.
The protagonist is a man without magical ability who was able to fool the magical university authorities for several years using a combination of sleight-of-hand and bluff, culminating in a dissertation which revealed his deception, and argued that only someone without magic could really understand it, because the flaw in all magic is the mage. Mages, being human(oid), are subject to error, and egotistical blindness to their own errors. (I was reminded of the flaws in computer programs introduced by programmers.) He's a rogue, but an ethical one, a little bit obsessive, and courageous when he needs to be.
His sidekick is a half-orc who has come to the island where magic is still freely practiced because she wants to see amazing sights. Her sense of awe and wonder is a beautifully handled part of her character, and asserts itself even when she's in great peril. She's a good-natured character, contrary to orc stereotypes, and despite the fact that she's experienced prejudice her whole life (her orcish relatives see her as too human, and everyone else sees her as too orcish). I enjoyed the fact that she was the muscle in the pair. It's a simple, even a common, trope-switch to make the woman the physically dangerous one, but the main character's easy acceptance of it without any discussion gained the book extra points with me.
Both characters are terrific, with enough backstory to feel real and sympathetic, introduced (like the worldbuilding) just when it's needed, and just as much as it's needed for the reader's understanding. Their collegial relationship is a joy to see, particularly since there's no attraction between them, but there is respect.
The plot is a mystery/thriller, with a locked-room murder (of someone who mattered to the protagonist); politics (including echoes of current real-world politics of the arrogant, regressive far-right sort); fights, pursuits, and edge-of-the-seat physical danger; and roguish cleverness. The pacing, I felt, was a good balance between keeping things constantly moving and not failing to pause for reflection.
On top of excellent editing, this all-around facility with the craft of writing helped push this into 5-star territory for me, and made this one of my favourite books this year. I'm very glad to have discovered another author who I can trust to tell a good story well.
June 3, 2022
4 stars- English Ebook
Ido love a rebel and an underdog, and Tane was both! He was a human kicked out of Magical University for daring to fool the arrogant professors into believing he had magical powers - when all he had was "magic" tricks and sleight of hand and basic common sense. Now the University has asked him to help find the killer of a student, though they don't really think he can do more than their magical constables. Head of these constables is Tane's ex-girlfriend, a half-elf called Indree. She still has not forgiven Tane for disappearing from her life when he left Uni, though he did it for the best of reasons.
Tane is joined in his search for the flaw in the system, and thus to hopefully uncovering the murderer, by a female half-orc, Kadka. I really liked her as she had no magic, but was a superb fighter and saved Tane's life several times.
The book was fast paced and no swearing. There was some interesting magic and not too much technical detail (but just enough) about the engines, etc. on the airship and other devices. A recommended book about magic and various non-humans. It was a stand alone book with no cliffhangers, but there are obviously going to be more books with these characters having different adventures.
Ido love a rebel and an underdog, and Tane was both! He was a human kicked out of Magical University for daring to fool the arrogant professors into believing he had magical powers - when all he had was "magic" tricks and sleight of hand and basic common sense. Now the University has asked him to help find the killer of a student, though they don't really think he can do more than their magical constables. Head of these constables is Tane's ex-girlfriend, a half-elf called Indree. She still has not forgiven Tane for disappearing from her life when he left Uni, though he did it for the best of reasons.
Tane is joined in his search for the flaw in the system, and thus to hopefully uncovering the murderer, by a female half-orc, Kadka. I really liked her as she had no magic, but was a superb fighter and saved Tane's life several times.
The book was fast paced and no swearing. There was some interesting magic and not too much technical detail (but just enough) about the engines, etc. on the airship and other devices. A recommended book about magic and various non-humans. It was a stand alone book with no cliffhangers, but there are obviously going to be more books with these characters having different adventures.
Read
October 8, 2023Nothing against this book, I'm just going to dip out as I thought it was queer and found out 28% in that it's not.
March 31, 2023
4.5 rounded up
Oh, this was fun! It's like a secondary world (rather than alternate-Earth) gaslamp/steampunk version of what I desperately WANTED the movie Bright to be, with a city full of different magical races with mages and non-mages and a human teaming up with an orc to solve a mystery, but fun and actually well-done! Except the leads aren't cops themselves. It reminded me of a story/worldbuilding prompt I once saw, something along the lines of, "Wizards trust magic as much as software engineers trust software, which is to say, very little." Except that the mages in this world do trust magic, too much in fact (more like cocky tech bros 😆), but our magicless MC is very aware of the weaknesses and...well, flaws in all magic. 😆 It also gave me vibes of a grown-up version of the animated Netflix show Daniel Spellbound, which is something I'd wanted, and a lot of the general vibes were reminiscent of Arcane/League of Legends (admittedly, I've only watched the show, not played the game). It was great.
This book is VERY worldbuilding heavy. There's a lot going on and a lot the reader needs to know, and the book isn't long, so some parts were a touch info-dump-y as it relied on the trope of "an expert character meets a character with no knowledge and thus has to explain things," but there truly isn't a way around it, especially in a short book, and it was all good worldbuilding. If you like books with intricate and deep worldbuilding, you might love this. If complex worldbuilding bores you because you want to get on with the story, you probably won't like this.
The plot itself was all right. It was fairly predictable and it almost frustrated me how long it took them to figure out the mystery and who the bad guy was, but it was still enjoyable and satisfying.
I really liked the characters. Tane Carver strikes the delicate balance of cocky and likeable, and I don't often like cocky characters. Kadka was so much fun. And it was kinda nice to read a book with a casual, platonic male/female friendship.
This book loses some points for using the "we fought as much as we made out" trope, which I don't find romantic/funny/chemistry, it's just unhealthy and dysfunctional. I'm hoping if those characters get back together as hinted at, it doesn't lean into that unhealthy behavior, but has them mature.
But, this book gains many points for not having any of the gross misogyny or sexualizing of every female character that ruined my enjoyment of books like The Dresden Files. This book also had pretty low content, possibly only PG level.
Overall, this was a fun change of pace from my usual fare of mostly romantic fantasy, and I recommend it.
Oh, this was fun! It's like a secondary world (rather than alternate-Earth) gaslamp/steampunk version of what I desperately WANTED the movie Bright to be, with a city full of different magical races with mages and non-mages and a human teaming up with an orc to solve a mystery, but fun and actually well-done! Except the leads aren't cops themselves. It reminded me of a story/worldbuilding prompt I once saw, something along the lines of, "Wizards trust magic as much as software engineers trust software, which is to say, very little." Except that the mages in this world do trust magic, too much in fact (more like cocky tech bros 😆), but our magicless MC is very aware of the weaknesses and...well, flaws in all magic. 😆 It also gave me vibes of a grown-up version of the animated Netflix show Daniel Spellbound, which is something I'd wanted, and a lot of the general vibes were reminiscent of Arcane/League of Legends (admittedly, I've only watched the show, not played the game). It was great.
This book is VERY worldbuilding heavy. There's a lot going on and a lot the reader needs to know, and the book isn't long, so some parts were a touch info-dump-y as it relied on the trope of "an expert character meets a character with no knowledge and thus has to explain things," but there truly isn't a way around it, especially in a short book, and it was all good worldbuilding. If you like books with intricate and deep worldbuilding, you might love this. If complex worldbuilding bores you because you want to get on with the story, you probably won't like this.
The plot itself was all right. It was fairly predictable and it almost frustrated me how long it took them to figure out the mystery and who the bad guy was, but it was still enjoyable and satisfying.
I really liked the characters. Tane Carver strikes the delicate balance of cocky and likeable, and I don't often like cocky characters. Kadka was so much fun. And it was kinda nice to read a book with a casual, platonic male/female friendship.
This book loses some points for using the "we fought as much as we made out" trope, which I don't find romantic/funny/chemistry, it's just unhealthy and dysfunctional. I'm hoping if those characters get back together as hinted at, it doesn't lean into that unhealthy behavior, but has them mature.
But, this book gains many points for not having any of the gross misogyny or sexualizing of every female character that ruined my enjoyment of books like The Dresden Files. This book also had pretty low content, possibly only PG level.
Overall, this was a fun change of pace from my usual fare of mostly romantic fantasy, and I recommend it.
March 10, 2024
I really enjoyed this one. If you like Legends & Lattes, you might like this one. The audiobook is narrated by Travis Baldree and the fantasy realm is similar to the one he writes in. I am looking forward to book 2 in this series.
May 14, 2018
Wow, what a fun book! I just finished it and that's all I can think. It was so entertaining, from the beginning to the end. The world Dobson has created in The Flaw in All Magic is a charming blend of high fantasy setting, urban fantasy plotting, and magepunk—or would that be ancrystpunk?—technology, alive with enchanting characters.
Tane and Kadka make a great murder-solving tagteam of misfits: the only man without magic in a city of mages and a wide-eyed wanderer half-orc away from her frozen homeland. Their back-and-forth was as entertaining as their action-packed investigation. From the first page, I was sucked in, trapped like a wraith in brass, completely helpless to stop reading. The last 30% flew by in a jumble of adrenaline, excitement, and certain death, but I could've read forever about this fascinating world filled with magic engines and topcoats and bluecaps and too-clever-by-half protagonists, villains, and bystanders. I'm so glad the second book is out already, I can't wait to see what Tane and Kadka get up to next!
Tane and Kadka make a great murder-solving tagteam of misfits: the only man without magic in a city of mages and a wide-eyed wanderer half-orc away from her frozen homeland. Their back-and-forth was as entertaining as their action-packed investigation. From the first page, I was sucked in, trapped like a wraith in brass, completely helpless to stop reading. The last 30% flew by in a jumble of adrenaline, excitement, and certain death, but I could've read forever about this fascinating world filled with magic engines and topcoats and bluecaps and too-clever-by-half protagonists, villains, and bystanders. I'm so glad the second book is out already, I can't wait to see what Tane and Kadka get up to next!
March 6, 2018
The Flaw in All Magic reminds me a fair bit of some of the better The Dresden Files Collection 1-6 books, back when Butcher use to be a writer. Only in this, Tane is magicless in a land full of mages. Dobson has created a charming world and a full set of extremely likeable characters. The book starts off with a girl being killed, and throughout the story you learn enough about her that the death hurts more at the end of the book than the beginning. All and all a great book and I can't wait for the next one, I hope this turns into a long running series like The Dresden Files use to be.
September 2, 2017
Predictable Fun
Dobson's book is oddly light and humorous, despite the gruesome murder and genocidal conspiracy.
Like any decent mystery, the tale is twisted but littered with clues. And like any good mystery, there are enough clues to solve it.
Unfortunately, I had it worked out by the third mark; the story was good enough to keep me going, with solid characters drawn from classic archetypes, and the world building I have come to expect from a part of The Gamers production team.
A solid fantasy mystery adventure. Worth your time.
Dobson's book is oddly light and humorous, despite the gruesome murder and genocidal conspiracy.
Like any decent mystery, the tale is twisted but littered with clues. And like any good mystery, there are enough clues to solve it.
Unfortunately, I had it worked out by the third mark; the story was good enough to keep me going, with solid characters drawn from classic archetypes, and the world building I have come to expect from a part of The Gamers production team.
A solid fantasy mystery adventure. Worth your time.
December 5, 2022
I'll be honest, I checked this out hoping it was a gay romance. That being said, even though there are no queer characters in the book I loved how much fun it was. If the story was just about Tane, I probably would have stopped midway through. Kadka however is the voice of the people. Pointing out all the ways he is clever but an idiot. She protects him while being a total wildcard herself. I look forward to more adventures where Kadka is the muscle and where her and Tane take turns on who is being the reasonable one.
September 28, 2021
This Book was just a real fun ride.Just a light hearted read with lovable characters and I just love the duo.
I was a little off puting at first thinking it like it will be a boring book boy but it was a good one
I was a little off puting at first thinking it like it will be a boring book boy but it was a good one
May 5, 2023
This was a lot of fun, and I continue to be madly in love with Kadka. I will 100% be continuing this series.
October 4, 2023
A fun, quick, mystery romp. Kadka, the short sword-wielding half-orc is one of the best characters I've read this year and hopefully I'll get around to the other books so I can see more of her.
August 27, 2018
Good, old-fashioned fantasy adventure w/mystery investigation
I enjoyed this, even if I did feel the wish to Gibbs-slap Tane a few times — he learned no lesson from how much hurt & anger he caused Ree before, and still tries to "protect" both of the very different but very capable females in his orbit from letting them make their own decisions to be involved! Still, I liked all the meant-to-be-likable characters, and enjoyed the plot. It even has an airship, with what was to me an obvious bit of "famous last words"-type foreshadowing early in the book.
It's unusual and refreshing to have a story set in a magic-using world where two of the three leads have no magic of their own, just possibly some purchased spell-devices — no over-powered heroes here! Magecraft is depicted as a cross between dealing with a maliciously word-twisting djinni (albeit merely formless energy) and debugging a computer program. We learn that Tane has a real and tragically personal, passionate cause in advocating for wider education in magic; he's not just trying to show he's cleverer than the mages.
The writing is quick-reading and very well edited. I didn't mark a single goof, which if you've seen my other reviews is quite uncommon. I'm looking forward to the forthcoming sequel, The Emperor's Mask. Our newly-fledged team of professional magic-investigators for the magicless will have to deal with SEMI-SPOILER
N.b., the story ends at 93%, followed by an excerpt not of TEM, but of the author's epic fantasy The Swampling King. The sample was good, and the world intriguing, but I'm not sure I'm going to follow BSD into a plot that (from Amazon's blurb) sounds more rulers-&-machinations-oriented. Individual capers are more my "thing" than kingdoms.
I enjoyed this, even if I did feel the wish to Gibbs-slap Tane a few times — he learned no lesson from how much hurt & anger he caused Ree before, and still tries to "protect" both of the very different but very capable females in his orbit from letting them make their own decisions to be involved! Still, I liked all the meant-to-be-likable characters, and enjoyed the plot. It even has an airship, with what was to me an obvious bit of "famous last words"-type foreshadowing early in the book.
It's unusual and refreshing to have a story set in a magic-using world where two of the three leads have no magic of their own, just possibly some purchased spell-devices — no over-powered heroes here! Magecraft is depicted as a cross between dealing with a maliciously word-twisting djinni (albeit merely formless energy) and debugging a computer program. We learn that Tane has a real and tragically personal, passionate cause in advocating for wider education in magic; he's not just trying to show he's cleverer than the mages.
The writing is quick-reading and very well edited. I didn't mark a single goof, which if you've seen my other reviews is quite uncommon. I'm looking forward to the forthcoming sequel, The Emperor's Mask. Our newly-fledged team of professional magic-investigators for the magicless will have to deal with SEMI-SPOILER
N.b., the story ends at 93%, followed by an excerpt not of TEM, but of the author's epic fantasy The Swampling King. The sample was good, and the world intriguing, but I'm not sure I'm going to follow BSD into a plot that (from Amazon's blurb) sounds more rulers-&-machinations-oriented. Individual capers are more my "thing" than kingdoms.
March 12, 2018
I know it's a harsh rating but it deserves it.
It's written like the opposite of the dresden files: A normal man in a world of wizards. It may sound like a compliment but it's not.
It's not much of a story and very little plot. It does have a semi coherent narrative but like most of these "List bad things to happen to the character and try to make a book out of it" books it doesn't actually need the main character to move along and if the villain had only stopped attacking the MC then (s)he would have succeeded.
That's exactly the kind of lame Jim Butcher plot device that prove Character bashing plots are useless.
It does sort of work at the end but at no point is "The flaw in all magic" anything more than a Deus Ex used to pull the MC's cojones out of the fire bad writing cornered him into.
If you were expecting Sam Vimes or even Tiffany Aching levels of magic outsmarting you are in for a dissapointment.
It's written like the opposite of the dresden files: A normal man in a world of wizards. It may sound like a compliment but it's not.
It's not much of a story and very little plot. It does have a semi coherent narrative but like most of these "List bad things to happen to the character and try to make a book out of it" books it doesn't actually need the main character to move along and if the villain had only stopped attacking the MC then (s)he would have succeeded.
That's exactly the kind of lame Jim Butcher plot device that prove Character bashing plots are useless.
It does sort of work at the end but at no point is "The flaw in all magic" anything more than a Deus Ex used to pull the MC's cojones out of the fire bad writing cornered him into.
If you were expecting Sam Vimes or even Tiffany Aching levels of magic outsmarting you are in for a dissapointment.
April 19, 2019
Pleasant enough.
5 stars to Kadka.
5 stars to Kadka.
October 14, 2017
Sort of a light magic-detective story.
The plot is that the main character isn't actually magical, but competes with mages due to being extra smart. The problem these stories tend to run into is that if the main character gets plot-induced stupidity it's extra disappointing.
This was okay. I'll probably get the next one.
The plot is that the main character isn't actually magical, but competes with mages due to being extra smart. The problem these stories tend to run into is that if the main character gets plot-induced stupidity it's extra disappointing.
This was okay. I'll probably get the next one.
October 13, 2017
An Excellent murder mystery
wrapped up in spells. The characters are fun, the pace is good, no noticeable proofing errors. I thoroughly enjoyed this. It reads quickly, but it still felt worth it.
I will buy or pre-order the next book. So glad I found this one.
wrapped up in spells. The characters are fun, the pace is good, no noticeable proofing errors. I thoroughly enjoyed this. It reads quickly, but it still felt worth it.
I will buy or pre-order the next book. So glad I found this one.
July 5, 2018
Not bad. A short book, so it wasn’t overly twisted or complicated and it had a fast pace. I’m hoping there will be a bit more character development in the future, but other than that…quite enjoyable.
September 12, 2017
Page turning goodness
In a cross between a detective story and fantasy tropes, Tane Carver was a relatable character who guided the tour to his world of conflicts.
In a cross between a detective story and fantasy tropes, Tane Carver was a relatable character who guided the tour to his world of conflicts.
February 24, 2018
3.5 to 3.75 Star, good start to a series and likable characters, I will continue with the series.
June 28, 2018
I've got a little bit of a soft spot for magical investigation stories, so this novel, which combines investigation with action and a whisper of social criticism, was right up my alley.
The Magebreakers, a wizard fraud and a foreign warrior woman recently released from her employment with the police, are a charming and funny duo and it's great to see a relationship between man and woman that doesn't turn romantic for no reason.
The thing that put this rating over the top for me, that earned this book its fourth star, is that the setting isn't overblown, but it's interesting enough that I want to know more about the world, as well as hearing more about the main characters' adventures together. It takes a rare work to make me feel that way, and Dobson's light touch with the worldbuilding is just right.
The Magebreakers, a wizard fraud and a foreign warrior woman recently released from her employment with the police, are a charming and funny duo and it's great to see a relationship between man and woman that doesn't turn romantic for no reason.
The thing that put this rating over the top for me, that earned this book its fourth star, is that the setting isn't overblown, but it's interesting enough that I want to know more about the world, as well as hearing more about the main characters' adventures together. It takes a rare work to make me feel that way, and Dobson's light touch with the worldbuilding is just right.
September 8, 2022
I really enjoyed this series starter. The lead is a clever non magical who is brought in to help figure out what initially appears to be the magical version of a locked door murder. He excels in finding the loop holes in spells. Along the way he picks up as a partner a half orc who is the brawn to his brains, and who is charming in her delight in being surrounded by magic. I thought this was a fun adventure in a what others have aptly called a magepunk world (steampunk but with magic powering the tech instead of steam).
January 19, 2024
This is a really fun read with an interesting premise and likeable characters. It loses a few points because it is ostensibly a whodunnit and I had guessed the culprit very early on. Additionally, it would have got a few more points if the world itself hadn't been so reminiscent of a D and D Eberron setting. However, none of this really undermined my enjoyment of the story and I will definitely be dipping into his other entries in the series.
October 11, 2018
The book was quiet good without any of the usual OP hero or too lucky hero. The story was also quiet interesting. The story world is very vast and quiet interesting. Looking forward to reading the next book soon.
November 24, 2018
Pleasant, fast read.
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