Well.

Well, well, well.

It took me awhile to warm up to this story. But I've read Ferrett stories before, and so I trusted him to take me somewhere interesting. I was not disappointed. Boy oh boy, now I need the sequel now please.

Also, even the Acknowledgements is worth reading. Jeez. :) ( )

I had never heard of the author before, though he appears to have a dedicated online following. This was the pick for my games book club, and I was game to give it a try. I don't think I would have picked it up on my own; the description doesn't really call to me and it's a bit on the fringes of the urban fantasy genre, so I doubt I would have even come across it on my own.

It was definitely different. I enjoyed the world-building a lot, and the hints of what happened to cause 'mancers (basically people who become so obsessed with one thing that that they develop magic focused through their obsession) to become outcasts, both hunted by the government and feared by the people. The drug aspect of this world was definitely unique, and as others have pointed it, it's like Breaking Bad with magic... sort of.

The main character, Paul Tsabo, is an ex-cop who is an insurance company paper pusher. He loves paperwork and order and develops magic through bureaucracy. Weird, right? And cool in its staidness at the same time. And he's content to live out his life as a secret 'mancer, only his daughter gets badly burned and nearly killed after his apartment building burns down due to Flux. Because in this world, there has to be balance, and when a 'mancer does magic, the universe exacts a price. And when a mundane takes the drug Flex to do magic, the price is even greater. So Paul goes on the hunt for the 'mancer who is mixing up the Flux that is flooding the city and leading to exponentially larger body counts.

Steinmetz creates a cast of characters who are distinctly different, with quirks and personality. But the problem is, I didn't really care about any of them. He seemed so focus on creating this world and moving the plot along that he neglects the characters, and I ended up not really connecting with any of them.

I also had to put the book down abruptly about a third of the way through because Paul, who had never been described at all up until that point, is suddenly seen through the eyes of another character, as a "scrawny white guy". Which completely threw me out of the story because until then, I'd been picturing him as black. Given his daughter's and ex-wife's names, the descriptions of both as darker skinned, and his own last name, it was an easy assumption. My disappointment in discovering that the POV character was just another white dude in a sea of books told by white dudes was huge. And I never truly recovered from that.

After about a week's hiatus, I managed to pick up the book again but didn't finish in time for my book club meeting, and honestly, I was severely tempted to just abandon the book altogether. But I forced myself to finish it just to get the plot closure.

Overall, I enjoyed the plot. Two giant thumbs up for an incredibly unique urban fantasy. I am still undecided on whether I'll continue with the series or not, though. There were a few hints that there was a secret society (the "Order" that was mentioned very briefly) hunting 'mancers which I want to learn more about, as well as what the hell happened in Europe. But I'm not sure if I'm emotionally invested enough to proactively seek out the next book. ( )

Before I started reading this, I was struck by how much it appeared to be like Michael Underwood's Geekomancy, and after reading it, of course there were a few similarities, but where Geekomancy was all delightful snark and nostalgia wrapped into a wonderfully magical system, Flex was a lot more dark and serious, and...

Shall I say it? Yeah. I have to say this was the better novel of the two. Sorry, Michael! I love your stuff, but this was just too sharp!

We can scratch out most of the nostalgia and jump right into a well-crafted tale. The hero is a damn surprising hero, too. Just hearing about what he did, I honestly wanted to cringe and go... "How is that going to be fun?" And then after reading him in action, all my fears flittered away as I began to realize that this is the freaking Breaking Bad of urban fantasy. Just being a clever and unique magic system is fantastic, too, but my god, we jumped, wonderfully, from a guy who uses magic to do paperwork into a brilliant drug dealer. And not only does it work, but it's far from being the best aspect of the book.

Look. We've got an ex-cop who was branded a hero for accidentally killing a 'Mancer even as he respected what he saw, turned his badge in, as well as losing a foot, to become an insurance agent. If that sounds boring, then stuff it. Mr. Steinmetz makes it work well. The core of the book is about people who focus so much on what they love that they become travelling black holes of universe-changing power that comes with it's own built-in correction system.

For those of us who've played and loved the Mage storytelling system, you're right on target. Mr. Steinmetz acknowledges his debts here and to Mr. Underwood.

MC Paul's arch-enemy was fantastic. Paul was fantastic. Valentine was fantastic. And my heart-strings were so thoroughly manhandled by his poor burned daughter that I wasn't sure I was going to get out of this novel alive.

Sure, it might just be another novel set to destroy NYC, but on the other hand, I felt utter joy in the reading. I literally couldn't put this title down for the life of me. It was magical.

It's true I probably wouldn't have picked this novel up in the first place if I hadn't received an invitation to read its sequel in Netgalley, but that's my own damn problem. I'm leased to be proved an idiot. Never judge a book by either its cover or its blurb. Flex is no sophomore addition to a crappy UF collection. It's serious and it's brilliant.

All you peeps who want magic systems and UF and seriously excellent character progressions need to go out and pick up this title. It's pretty close to perfect. ( )

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. ( )

What do you get when you mix drugs and magic? I don't know because I stopped reading this crap.