The Flux by Ferrett Steinmetz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is going to be an easy review.

I loved it.

Unfortunately for most of you out there, the book hasn't been released yet and I'd be spoiling most of the greatest shit ever if I started blabbing too soon, so [The first rule: You don't talk about FLUX. The second rule: You DO NOT talk about FLUX. Third rule: If someone says "stop" or goes limp, taps out the FLUX is over. (hide spoiler)]

The first rule: You don't talk about FLUX. The second rule: You DO NOT talk about FLUX. Third rule: If someone says "stop" or goes limp, taps out the FLUX is over.

If you don't like that, then tough-titties.

Is it as good as Flex? Pretty damn close, and perhaps the last minute fixes before publication will wrap that up. Is the magic system still rocking? OH. HELL. YES.

Is it still serious, with real ups and real downs, with great and flexible characters learning and growing as their lives take new twists? Very much so.

Did we move away from Breaking Bad into some new territory? Is it just as good, with all the love and admiration we as readers can kindle and fan into another's life-blood of writing? I do believe so!

Did we get a painful and disturbing roller-coaster of falls and rises and falls before getting one absolutely fantastic payoff at the end? Without a doubt in the whole damn world, Yes.

I'm loving that little girl more and more and more, and Paul's no slouch. And let's face it, Valentine finally got her boy, and I can't be anything but happy for her. (Even if the property damage ranks an ES of at least 5.)

I don't care what the author says in his afterward. He's no Daffy Duck, filling himself with explosives to please his fans one last time before going boom. I think he's a freaking Keeper, and if us fans aren't able to keep him up with our own instant HP bars for the duration, then we're seriously piss-poor 'mancers, ourselves.

I AM A NEW FANBOY. I thought I was with the first, but this second proves that he's no fluke, and seriously no joke.

I'm tempted to say he's the new Authoromancer of urban fantasy, but it'd be wise to hold off on any pronouncement of kingship until at least his third novel, no?


(I am saying all this in full knowledge and respect for all of the fantastic UF authors I have already read. Do not take these statements lightly. These books are seriously awesome shit. (These books are single-sit reading sessions, with all the problems concomitant with such, including much angry barkings at friends and families who might have intimated a whispered desire to disturb my frantic reading. (For those who worry about their safety, I'm letting you know now that They Survived, but it was a close thing.)))

I'm so happy to have read these books!



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