STG's

An Unwelcome Quest - by Scott Meyer - is the third novel in the Magic 2.0 series. In the series, some people discover a file that proves that the world is a computer simulation, and end up traveling to the dark ages to use manipulations of the file as magic (sounds silly, I know - but in the novels it goes a lot better than in my summary). In this installment, another of the wizards that were banned without powers get his powers back, and creates a deadly quest for the wizards that banned him. Overall, pretty good, although a bit short and not as good as the first book. Still, if you liked the series it is well worth reading.

Spell or High Water, by Scott Meyer, is the sequel to Off to Be The Wizard  - where a hacker discovers a mysterious file (repository1-c.txt - yes, I did Google it just in case :-)  ) that just so happens to store data about everyone in the universe - and allows reality being changed too. With this they are able to become true wizards. This sequel takes place 2 months after the end of the first. Martin is now a wizard on his own, and he and Phillip are invited to Atlantis for a summit - but strange events are occurring there... Meanwhile, Jimmy is back on his present after being banished, trying to figure out a way to get access to the file and give the other wizards what they deserve. Overall, the book was fun, although not on the same level of the first one. There are a lot of funny bits, action, and I really liked the twist on Jimmy's ending. I eagerly wait further sequels. Still very much recommended, just start with  Off to Be The Wizard  .

Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier is a mixed magic/military book. This is kind of a common theme - some time before the book started (or in the middle of the story), for some reason (specified eventually or not) magic returns to our world. Common people suddenly gain power. In some, monsters of myth return. In others (the Shadowrun games and series, for example), people turn into them. In Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier, people can have several lines of magic powers, such as air, earth, healing, rotting, etc. It is a sequel, but given the much better reviews I read this one first. As the book starts, Coronel Bookbinder, a regular paper pusher, discovers that he is magical now. After no one is able to determine what his magic is, he is sent to push papers in another "plane" - the source, where an American army base explores the area and is in regular combat with the locals (such as goblins, rocs, giants, etc). Of course, what follows is the classical history of the meek pape...

I've just finished WebMage, by Kelly McCullough , and it was a lot of fun. The book is based on a world where magic was updated from its early, less reliable beginnings to a new stage that involves computers, a magical web, and the like. There are many elements of traditional mythology woven in, such as the Fates, the Furies, Fairies' Rings, the Titans, etc. It was quite satisfying, and if I could, I'd be reading the sequels. However, eReader/Fictionwise started (presumably due to publisher pressure) to start restricting sales to Brazil a couple of months ago. Since then, I've been unable to buy something like 10 e-books - after I had selected and started the purchase process. Of course, anyone that was trying to buy an e-book is much less likely to want to buy the paper version, specially from aboard - which considerably adds to the price. Which ends up making the sole reasonable option to those users to use a P2P service. Truly genius work by those publishers and auth...