Webmage by Kelly McCullough

If you like these two things, you’ll love this series. First off: hilarious, horny, and sometimes brooding heroes like Ravirn, who sweeps the story away with his goofy charm and impeccable habits of getting into trouble. Secondly, if you’re a fan of great storytelling and world building, you’ll love this Greek gods meets cyber magic.

Title: WebMage
Author: Kelly McCullough
Series: Webmage Book 01
Publish Date: July 25, 2006
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased

Publisher’s Description: Ravirn is not your average computer geek. A child of the Fates—literally—he’s a hacker extraordinaire who can zero in on the fatal flaw in any program. Now that twenty-first-century magic has gone digital that makes him a very talented sorcerer. But a world of problems is about to be downloaded on Ravirn—who’s just trying to pass his college midterms.

Great Aunt Atropos, one of the three Fates, decides that humans having free will is really overrated and plans to rid herself of the annoyance—by coding a spell into the Fate Core, the server that rules destiny. As a hacker, Ravirn is a big believer in free will, and when he not only refuses to debug her spell but actively opposes her, all hell breaks loose.

Even with the help of his familiar Melchior, a sexy sorceress (who’s also a mean programmer), and the webgoblin underground, it’s going to be a close call…

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

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Kat Mandu says…

Ravirn is a child of the Greek fates and with the help of his trusted AI/familiar/portable laptop Melchior, he’s been able to get himself out of a lot of trouble. Well, until now. He’s turned down an offer made by his Aunt Lechesis – a plan that involves digitally enslaving all of humanity. With Furies and goddesses after him, he’s got to turn to unexpected allies to help get him out. But deal-making with the Greek gods is an awesome way to wreck your plans.

Ravirn is young and full of innuendos, especially since he hooks up with a cyber-sorceress named Cerise. She’s also a child of the fates (though from different lines, no incest here) and a computer-magic whiz. With her help and the help of the WebGoblin who saves his life, they’re able to stop Lachesis temporarily with their computer skills.

The characters really make this book for me. They’re funny and badasses for the most part; intelligence and magic go hand and hand and Ravirn proves he’s smarter than even he believes, until he does something pretty stupid cause he’s goofy and likes chaos.

This is an exciting start to a very awesome series. However, I did have a couple issues. I’m not exactly a computer guru and so some of the terminology really had me scrambling to keep up with what was going on. I think I could have used some more details explaining certain things but for the most part, the story was easy to get a “feel” for. The only other thing that bothered me was the rushed ending. Yes, it’s left pretty limitless to what could happen, but it all flew by so fast that I got whiplash trying to figure out what just happened. I had to reread a few times.

Other than that, I was totally happy with this series. Recommended for fans of computers and fantasy. This is such a unique idea. A big shiny four!

Oh, and did anyone see that gorgeous cover? That’s one of the many wonders by Christian McGrath, a dear friend and cover artist for some of the best urban fantasy/sci-fi out there. It’s honestly the reason I got this book but once I read it, I loved it, so that made it that much better. I encourage you to check out his work at www.christianmcgrath.com because I’ll bet you’ll fall in love!

Kat’s Best Cover: WebMage – Christian McGrath. Just like the cover reveals, Ravirn is sexy, fast, and a techno-wiz. I’ve loved this cover since I first laid eyes on it. Since I recently read and reviewed this, it seemed fitting that it would earn the award. Christian McGrath does a wonderful job as usual.

Other reviews…

• Bewildering Stories
• Blogcritics
• Fresh Fiction

If you like this book…

…certainly check out the rest of the Webmage series. You might also try works by J. F. Lewis, Christopher Stasheff, or John Levitt.