373 pages
English language
Published April 5, 2014
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.
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.
When a dude thinks he's not sexist, but he is actually sexist but clueless, this is what you get.
When a dude thinks he's not sexist, but he is actually sexist but clueless, this is what you get.
Fun premise though it was frustrating at times. Felt like large plot holes were introduced in order to make it follow a typical story narrative. I will probably give the sequel a chance to see if it improves.
Characters make many seemingly crazy decisions, especially near the beginning -- your best idea for an escape button is.. medieval England? Before even checking to see if your phone will work from there? Why not like.. the roof of some building in the same city? Also seems ridiculous that the wizards would make their robe/hat/staff an actual requirement of casting all their magic.. sure, you can wear them if you want but it's just an unnecessary complication added to justify all the wizards in the story being dressed as wizards, and it gets predictably taken advantage of.
As a side note, it seems hard to believe that a bunch of independent computer …
Fun premise though it was frustrating at times. Felt like large plot holes were introduced in order to make it follow a typical story narrative. I will probably give the sequel a chance to see if it improves.
Characters make many seemingly crazy decisions, especially near the beginning -- your best idea for an escape button is.. medieval England? Before even checking to see if your phone will work from there? Why not like.. the roof of some building in the same city? Also seems ridiculous that the wizards would make their robe/hat/staff an actual requirement of casting all their magic.. sure, you can wear them if you want but it's just an unnecessary complication added to justify all the wizards in the story being dressed as wizards, and it gets predictably taken advantage of.
As a side note, it seems hard to believe that a bunch of independent computer nerds would rely on one centralized shell without having any programs hosted on their own computers as backup in case the shell stopped working.
I have read this book countless times. It's short, but incredibly awesome.
The humor always makes me laugh. And I love the "magic system." It vibes with my view of the world.
I have read this book countless times. It's short, but incredibly awesome.
The humor always makes me laugh. And I love the "magic system." It vibes with my view of the world.
The book has a good premise and does some interesting things with it. Some of the plot was a little predictable and I thought most of the characters were flat. It was kind of a fun read, though. I didn't think it was that funny, but it was light-hearted.
The book has a good premise and does some interesting things with it. Some of the plot was a little predictable and I thought most of the characters were flat. It was kind of a fun read, though. I didn't think it was that funny, but it was light-hearted.
It reminds me of Discworld, except for magic it's just manipulating reality in a computer file. I didn't particularly like reading Discworld series but this book I liked quite a bit. I suggest listening the audible version because probably the delivery of Like Daniels makes it so much funnier. Which is good because funny is what really makes this book work, too. I'm also just really drawn to the idea that reality is a simulation but somehow you can modify the reality any way you want.
It reminds me of Discworld, except for magic it's just manipulating reality in a computer file. I didn't particularly like reading Discworld series but this book I liked quite a bit. I suggest listening the audible version because probably the delivery of Like Daniels makes it so much funnier. Which is good because funny is what really makes this book work, too. I'm also just really drawn to the idea that reality is a simulation but somehow you can modify the reality any way you want.
Fun concept and amusingly familiar "nerd" types of characters doing precisely what I would expect them to do in Medieval England. I just kept questioning how a network connection worked back then...
Fun concept and amusingly familiar "nerd" types of characters doing precisely what I would expect them to do in Medieval England. I just kept questioning how a network connection worked back then...
Generally very enjoyable. I found a few bits to be a bit obviously engineered for a specific joke, but it wasn't too distracting.
I'll be picking up the next two in the series at some point soon.
Generally very enjoyable. I found a few bits to be a bit obviously engineered for a specific joke, but it wasn't too distracting.
I'll be picking up the next two in the series at some point soon.
Very slow start. I almost gave up on this one but it gets much more interesting when he makes it to medieval England. Interesting world with lots of potential for the future. There were some self imposed limits to the time travel that I didn't really understand with some other frustrating parts but I would cautiously recommend if you find the premise intriguing. Also, very bland writing style that does grow on you with time.
Very slow start. I almost gave up on this one but it gets much more interesting when he makes it to medieval England. Interesting world with lots of potential for the future. There were some self imposed limits to the time travel that I didn't really understand with some other frustrating parts but I would cautiously recommend if you find the premise intriguing. Also, very bland writing style that does grow on you with time.
I have read this book countless times. It's short, but incredibly awesome.
The humor always makes me laugh. And I love the "magic system." It vibes with my view of the world.
I have read this book countless times. It's short, but incredibly awesome.
The humor always makes me laugh. And I love the "magic system." It vibes with my view of the world.
Fun, light, fairly interesting. I enjoyed reading this quite a bit.
