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willrefuge's review against another edition
4.0
4 / 5 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2019/08/17/book-review-flex-by-ferrett-steinmetz/
When I see the word bureaucromancy, what comes to mind are singing muppets, dancing file folders, and papers flying around in a tornado. Somehow, when I try to picture this as a method used to fight evil, done by a skinny white guy with one foot—the whole thing falls apart. Actually, the entire book kept picturing Paul Tsabo as a Louis lookalike out of Left 4 Dead, made difficult by the author attempting to curtail my imagination with the constant reminders that Tsabo was white. Thrown in videogamemancy, crystallized magic that can be eaten, and, well, just all the bureaucracy… and here you have Flex.
Flex is an alternate history urban fantasy with an interesting (if bizarre) magic system. Its’ users—known as ‘Mancers—have the ability to affect time and space and the laws of physics with their magic, but these abilities are weak at best. Their real talent lies in the ability to concoct a solid-state, edible magic—called ‘Flex’—which endows the user with the ability to spit in the face of logic, reason, and physics and pretty much make their own destiny. Until it wears off and the Flux hits. And they typically die. Violently.
Former cop Paul Tsabo is an insurance adjustor working for Samaritan Mutual, specializing in any claim involving ‘mancy. Seeing as Samaritan doesn’t cover ‘mancy related cases, and since magic is a fickle beast in nature—Paul is in high demand. Not to mention, as a cop, Tsabo was responsible for many, many ‘Mancer arrests, until the time where he lost his foot and was forced to retire.
The scene opens with a murder. Anathema has begun her spree of terror—a killing via the Flux of her Flex—one death that will soon give way to many. And it starts with Paul Tsabo.
Though ‘Mancy kills the intro character and his date, it also saves Paul Tsabo and his daughter. And yet there’s an issue. Samaritan will (shockingly) not pay the reconstruction surgery for his daughter, Aliyah, who has been horribly burned. And so Paul is out to prove to them that he’s worth it: by hunting down and capturing Anathema. So begins the adventure that will lead Tsabo on a merry chase, kill hundreds of people, involve sex, more sex and so, so much violence.
It was a pretty good read—good plot, sub-standard setting and lore, interesting and unique characters—and one that I really don’t have too much issue with. My only real issue was with the sheer amount of sex and violence within. I was thoroughly unprepared for it. If you have any delicate sensibilities, be forewarned! Or maybe skip it. Otherwise… Flex is highly entertaining, if weird. I mean, it can be really, really strange sometimes. But it’s still good. I even took a two month break in the middle (there were a couple other books I really had to get through) and was able to pick back up as if nothing had happened.
I guess what I’m saying is it’s like a good beer: bold and refreshing, but not too complex.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2019/08/17/book-review-flex-by-ferrett-steinmetz/
When I see the word bureaucromancy, what comes to mind are singing muppets, dancing file folders, and papers flying around in a tornado. Somehow, when I try to picture this as a method used to fight evil, done by a skinny white guy with one foot—the whole thing falls apart. Actually, the entire book kept picturing Paul Tsabo as a Louis lookalike out of Left 4 Dead, made difficult by the author attempting to curtail my imagination with the constant reminders that Tsabo was white. Thrown in videogamemancy, crystallized magic that can be eaten, and, well, just all the bureaucracy… and here you have Flex.
Flex is an alternate history urban fantasy with an interesting (if bizarre) magic system. Its’ users—known as ‘Mancers—have the ability to affect time and space and the laws of physics with their magic, but these abilities are weak at best. Their real talent lies in the ability to concoct a solid-state, edible magic—called ‘Flex’—which endows the user with the ability to spit in the face of logic, reason, and physics and pretty much make their own destiny. Until it wears off and the Flux hits. And they typically die. Violently.
Former cop Paul Tsabo is an insurance adjustor working for Samaritan Mutual, specializing in any claim involving ‘mancy. Seeing as Samaritan doesn’t cover ‘mancy related cases, and since magic is a fickle beast in nature—Paul is in high demand. Not to mention, as a cop, Tsabo was responsible for many, many ‘Mancer arrests, until the time where he lost his foot and was forced to retire.
The scene opens with a murder. Anathema has begun her spree of terror—a killing via the Flux of her Flex—one death that will soon give way to many. And it starts with Paul Tsabo.
Though ‘Mancy kills the intro character and his date, it also saves Paul Tsabo and his daughter. And yet there’s an issue. Samaritan will (shockingly) not pay the reconstruction surgery for his daughter, Aliyah, who has been horribly burned. And so Paul is out to prove to them that he’s worth it: by hunting down and capturing Anathema. So begins the adventure that will lead Tsabo on a merry chase, kill hundreds of people, involve sex, more sex and so, so much violence.
It was a pretty good read—good plot, sub-standard setting and lore, interesting and unique characters—and one that I really don’t have too much issue with. My only real issue was with the sheer amount of sex and violence within. I was thoroughly unprepared for it. If you have any delicate sensibilities, be forewarned! Or maybe skip it. Otherwise… Flex is highly entertaining, if weird. I mean, it can be really, really strange sometimes. But it’s still good. I even took a two month break in the middle (there were a couple other books I really had to get through) and was able to pick back up as if nothing had happened.
I guess what I’m saying is it’s like a good beer: bold and refreshing, but not too complex.
teresaalice's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 for originality. The repetition of mancer and mancy got to me after awhile, but I enjoyed the premise quite a bit.
michalice's review against another edition
5.0
Going into Flex I knew what was going to happen, I ended up with a review copy of The Flux, not realising it was the second in a series. You can see from my review that I really enjoyed it, but felt like I had missed things out. Several audiobooks later I finally managed to listen to Flex, to get to see this series from the start and how it all began.
I thoroughly enjoyed Flex, I loved getting to see the characters before the events that changed them, seeing how friendships formed and how accidents happened. It was easy to fall into the world, and already knowing what was going to happen did help me see past the speed bumps along the way.
I love how this world just pens up before your eyes....or ears in this case, you get to see how one small act affects something else. Listening to Flex I really fell in love with Valentine. From the first meeting, to the very last word, the things she sacrifices for Paul and Aliyah, and how much she helps this family work through things.
Flex was just as amazing as The Flux, having this background information helps me make sense of the series so far, but also has me on countdown for the next installment.
Final Verdict
LOVED this one just as much as The Flux, and I really need to find out what happens next.
I thoroughly enjoyed Flex, I loved getting to see the characters before the events that changed them, seeing how friendships formed and how accidents happened. It was easy to fall into the world, and already knowing what was going to happen did help me see past the speed bumps along the way.
I love how this world just pens up before your eyes....or ears in this case, you get to see how one small act affects something else. Listening to Flex I really fell in love with Valentine. From the first meeting, to the very last word, the things she sacrifices for Paul and Aliyah, and how much she helps this family work through things.
Flex was just as amazing as The Flux, having this background information helps me make sense of the series so far, but also has me on countdown for the next installment.
Final Verdict
LOVED this one just as much as The Flux, and I really need to find out what happens next.
faileskye's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the book, it definitely deserves props for doing something new.
Turning magic into a delicate balancing act was interesting. On the one hand you have Harry Potter like anything is possible magic with no rules or basis. On the other hand any time someone uses the magic, it backlashes at whatever is most dear to the user. Unfortunately, the execution of this felt annoying, a broken record, beating the dead horse. It is important to the world and the story that this remained a focal point, but for some reason it just got annoying how it felt like eveyr other page the reader was stuck dealing with it. Do not get me wrong, though it was a little sluggish at times, I loved this new mechanic.
What was unforgivable, and likely what ruined my interest in the book was the interlude around 25% into the book. For whatever reason the author chose to add an interlude that showed a scene at around the 60% mark from another character's perspective. This spoiled what was going to happen! Basically once I read that, I stopped caring about the story until I caught up, so, you know a third of the book I didn't care about because I knew how it ended. And even once I caught up, I struggled to get back into it. Why do this?!
So I enjoyed the book, and I recommend it to anyone who likes the description or wants to try something completely new in the genre of I guess Urban Fantasy.
Turning magic into a delicate balancing act was interesting. On the one hand you have Harry Potter like anything is possible magic with no rules or basis. On the other hand any time someone uses the magic, it backlashes at whatever is most dear to the user. Unfortunately, the execution of this felt annoying, a broken record, beating the dead horse. It is important to the world and the story that this remained a focal point, but for some reason it just got annoying how it felt like eveyr other page the reader was stuck dealing with it. Do not get me wrong, though it was a little sluggish at times, I loved this new mechanic.
What was unforgivable, and likely what ruined my interest in the book was the interlude around 25% into the book. For whatever reason the author chose to add an interlude that showed a scene at around the 60% mark from another character's perspective. This spoiled what was going to happen! Basically once I read that, I stopped caring about the story until I caught up, so, you know a third of the book I didn't care about because I knew how it ended. And even once I caught up, I struggled to get back into it. Why do this?!
So I enjoyed the book, and I recommend it to anyone who likes the description or wants to try something completely new in the genre of I guess Urban Fantasy.
wonder_kinder's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the idea of this book, but not the story so much. I like the idea of anything-mancy. As someone who is extremely lawful-evil, I really dig the idea of a bureaucramancer. Filing out paperwork to bend the world to your will, playing by the rules to get your way, dotting all the i's, crossing all the t's, right up my alley. I adored the Super Mario references. I thought the plot itself was flat though.
mattbgold's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this more than I expected. Despite a lackluster start, once the character development kicks in and the deeper themes of the story are revealed it really starts to take off. Surprisingly for me, the most disappointing aspect of the book was the spotlight on video game magic and all of its seemingly arbitrary manifestations and limits (and after the ending, I guess I have to expect even more of that in book 2). I never thought I'd see the day when I found bureaucracy more interesting than video games, but hey.
All said and done, 4.5
All said and done, 4.5
geo__'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is a solid book! The characters are compelling, motivations well established and the writing on point for the type of story it's telling. Although I felt the book was a little slow to get going, I enjoyed it very much and I couldn't wait to see what happebed next. The book that made paperwork interesting!
upbeatmick's review against another edition
5.0
I had a silly amount of fun with this book. I think I spent a solid two minutes belly-laughing when the concept of the main character's 'mancy was introduced. What followed was a hell of an adventure. I can't wait to dig into part 2!
tasharobinson's review against another edition
4.0
This is a hugely promising debut novel, positioned about halfway between The Dresden Files and Breaking Bad. (When I gave a friend that description, he laughed "So it's a magician making meth?" and I said "More or less yeah, except it's magic super-meth.") There are a ton of things going on in this book — a lot of frantic, complicated scene-setting and world-building, an unusually ambitious and interesting magic system, some particularly unconventional characters, and then a wild-ride plot that reminded me of Ernie Cline's Ready Player One with the concept-based videogame obsession, but without the exhausting focus on trivia. This book moves fast in the same way, with a lot of action and energy, but goals more based in what the characters desperately need than based in an arbitrary or artificial need for a story ending. Already looking forward to the sequel, which is due out later this year.
grid's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the second half better than the first. There were a lot of cringy parenting moments in the first half. The ending made me want to read the sequel right away (in a good way, not a cliffhanger), which is in pretty sharp contrast to some of the early parts that had me wondering if I could finish the book at all.