The Wizardry Compiled

This was a somewhat better written book than The Wizardry Cursed. It felt more focused and contained greater character development. Despite the somewhat better quality, the characters were still presented from a very old-style-science-fiction-masculine perspective. This is strange when considering female characters and I found this off-putting. This book was based on an interesting premise and for the right audience would probably be worthwhile.

Sometimes i have severe insomnia. Reading this at 2am on my ebook lying next to a snoring Meredith helped me from going crazy. Cute. For 14 year olds.

In which our reluctant and clumsy hero W. I. Zumwalt is kidnapped and in peril for most of the book, and a team of other programmers is secretly recruited from our world to try to make something more generally useful out of his initial attempts at programming with magic.

This is the second in a series of five novels, and it’s the one I like best. Our hero still makes mistakes, but he’s becoming gradually more competent. I enjoy the clashes between the cultures of the two worlds, and the new team of programmers introduces a greater variety of characters.

There are two parallel plots going on here: Wiz on his own, trying to survive, and the other programmers trying to adapt to their novel situation. I prefer the latter. Wiz on his own show more isn’t boring; but, once I’ve read it, I’m not highly motivated to read it again any time soon. show less