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Industrial Strength Magic #1
Industrial Strength Magic
Perry Z has a Magical Destiny.
Born to a Magical Fantasy Princess and a nine-to-five Supervillain in the most superhero riddled city in the world, Perry's never felt...adequate. He's got no talent for magic, and not a scrap of superpowers to his name.
When The System boots and unlocks his powers, it forces him to follow in his father's footsteps, but he'd rather take after his mother...
Maybe there's a way he can do both...
Born to a Magical Fantasy Princess and a nine-to-five Supervillain in the most superhero riddled city in the world, Perry's never felt...adequate. He's got no talent for magic, and not a scrap of superpowers to his name.
When The System boots and unlocks his powers, it forces him to follow in his father's footsteps, but he'd rather take after his mother...
Maybe there's a way he can do both...
1083 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 30, 2024
979 people are currently reading
633 people want to read
About the author
Macronomicon
16 books262 followersI could tell you that the author is a middle class, middle age white dude with a generic wife and a generic pet who lives somewhere vaguely rural...but aren't they all?
F%$! that noise! There are Author Bios and then there's Mythos.
Welcome to the Mythos of Macronomicon.
Macronomicon is almost three years old now, hatched on the open-mic writing website Royal Road. The pen name burst from the cocoon of blissful ignorance and deposited his first humble contribution into the world of writing, tired and sticky, yet satisfied. Content in the knowledge his work would be warmly received by thousands of potential fans, and more importantly...friends.
The first comment was, "Can you, I don't know, make the main character less stupid?"
That was sobering.
Macronomicon has no actual weight, because he is a pen name, and while his existence is ephemeral, he does have a presence, often stalking the back-channels of Discord like a novelty vampire, waiting to suck nourishing creativity out of unfortunate* fans.
Macronomicon has a talent for brainstorming and stringing together disparate ideas into a cohesive story. That talent has been strengthened and built upon to form the foundation of his writing career. He once outlined the plot (quality notwithstanding) of an entire book from start to finish in a tiny room with nothing but Cheerios, beef jerky, Pepsi and B.O.**
If you wish to hunt for the elusive Macronomicon, you may find him at Royal Road, where he began, or Patreon, where he works*** at distilling new stories from a raw, chunky slurry of ideas.
*Or fortunate, depending on your point of view. The sucking is consensual.
**Quality of B.O. also notwithstanding.
*** Working is subjective.
F%$! that noise! There are Author Bios and then there's Mythos.
Welcome to the Mythos of Macronomicon.
Macronomicon is almost three years old now, hatched on the open-mic writing website Royal Road. The pen name burst from the cocoon of blissful ignorance and deposited his first humble contribution into the world of writing, tired and sticky, yet satisfied. Content in the knowledge his work would be warmly received by thousands of potential fans, and more importantly...friends.
The first comment was, "Can you, I don't know, make the main character less stupid?"
That was sobering.
Macronomicon has no actual weight, because he is a pen name, and while his existence is ephemeral, he does have a presence, often stalking the back-channels of Discord like a novelty vampire, waiting to suck nourishing creativity out of unfortunate* fans.
Macronomicon has a talent for brainstorming and stringing together disparate ideas into a cohesive story. That talent has been strengthened and built upon to form the foundation of his writing career. He once outlined the plot (quality notwithstanding) of an entire book from start to finish in a tiny room with nothing but Cheerios, beef jerky, Pepsi and B.O.**
If you wish to hunt for the elusive Macronomicon, you may find him at Royal Road, where he began, or Patreon, where he works*** at distilling new stories from a raw, chunky slurry of ideas.
*Or fortunate, depending on your point of view. The sucking is consensual.
**Quality of B.O. also notwithstanding.
*** Working is subjective.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
February 12, 2024
So about that…
This book was a weird one to read. I don’t hate it, nor do I love it. It was entertaining but also extremely annoying to read. I would say that book seems like it was written by a meth addicted ferret who was having a seizure between every chapter.
I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a book take so long to feel like it accomplished nothing. You could automatically cut at least 1/4 of this book out by removing the useless and annoyingly long spell explanations. There was also so much attempted math in this book to make it appear “smart” that it just came across as extraneous and meh.
All things considered, I may check out the continuation of this when it comes out, but not something I’m going to really care about.
Also the author seems to have a weird fixation with “virgins” so maybe this is just a long winded abstinence only advert.
This book was a weird one to read. I don’t hate it, nor do I love it. It was entertaining but also extremely annoying to read. I would say that book seems like it was written by a meth addicted ferret who was having a seizure between every chapter.
I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a book take so long to feel like it accomplished nothing. You could automatically cut at least 1/4 of this book out by removing the useless and annoyingly long spell explanations. There was also so much attempted math in this book to make it appear “smart” that it just came across as extraneous and meh.
All things considered, I may check out the continuation of this when it comes out, but not something I’m going to really care about.
Also the author seems to have a weird fixation with “virgins” so maybe this is just a long winded abstinence only advert.
February 23, 2024
At the start of the book I was enjoying the light and amusing tone. 500 pages in and I was getting rather sick of it. There isn’t really any character or plot development, unless you count getting new equipment in which case, this will blow your mind. Probably 80% of the book is devoted to equipment and ingredient descriptions. I really wanted to like it but it was like being stuck in a lift with Colin Hunt. Stop saying wacky things! Take a deep breath. No, there he goes again. Do you think I could get that little hatch on the top open and climb to the next floor? Luckily I could simply close the book and put Macronomicon on my ‘avoid’ list. If only real life were so simple.
May 2, 2024
I struggled through this one. I can see how it can be appealing to some because of it’s use of detail (specifically some of the mathematical). The whole book was very hard to follow, slow moving, and has virtually no plot. It’s written like a constant stream of consciousness which is confusing and boring to read.
September 10, 2024
Имам чувството, че всичко, което докосне този автор се превръща в злато, па макар и понякога само 14 каратово.
Ако погледнем реално, всичките му книги са практически едни и същи. Младеж във фентъзи/фантастичен свят по някаква причина има способността да се учи/развива по-бързо от останалите хора и много бързо добива все по-невероятни способности, докато накрая стане невъобразимо могъществен. Също така около него се въртят поне по две секси мадами през цялото повествование, които леко го доминират и ръководят живота му.
Въпреки това обаче, всеки път хилядите и хиляди страници грабват и не пускат до края.
Ако погледнем реално, всичките му книги са практически едни и същи. Младеж във фентъзи/фантастичен свят по някаква причина има способността да се учи/развива по-бързо от останалите хора и много бързо добива все по-невероятни способности, докато накрая стане невъобразимо могъществен. Също така около него се въртят поне по две секси мадами през цялото повествование, които леко го доминират и ръководят живота му.
Въпреки това обаче, всеки път хилядите и хиляди страници грабват и не пускат до края.
July 26, 2024
This book is written like a cartoon show; the chapters feel like episodes (and often add nothing to the plot), the humor is more suited for children, and the main character is written like a protagonist from a Nickelodeon show. I wish I was joking. Perry's whole personality revolves around math, and while this is explained, the author shoves this facet of Perry so much to the front and center that if you removed half of the book that is from Perry's point of view, nothing would change. Eventually, by the time you get different points of view outside of the main protagonist, you actually start paying more attention because they are just more interesting.
It's really a shame because the world around Perry is wonderful. Often, there are hints of something darker underneath – something similar to the show Invincible. If you know that show, you know that it's not afraid to show the gritty, dark side of the superhero world. Alas, like Perry's name Paradox, the whole book is a paradox between Perry's world and the world outside of his bubble.
The writing and decisions in the book also leave a lot to be desired. The author has an obsession with virginity via one of his characters, Dave the unicorn. The main character, Perry, also uses the word "vegetable" (and it's not in reference to produce). There is also a desperate need for an editor or someone to proofread this because there's just no consistency. One character, Hardcase, is referred to as Nat, Natalie, and Hardcase all within one page. The author just switches back and forth between their aliases all within a single scene, which gave me whiplash. There's no emotional connection to it.
The romance is written like fanfiction and adds nothing to the plot (I'm going to keep saying that, aren't I, because everything is just padding in this book), except to show that the author was desperate for a polyamorous relationship. The second half of the book is basically just teenage drama with continuous denial of attraction to one another. By the time the book gets to the end, I didn't even care about the cliffhanger because I didn't want to read another page about the three of them flirting with one another.
Overall, I read this book because someone recommended it under the guise that it had a story about a main protagonist who is well-loved by those around him. Well, it certainly had that. Too much, I think.
It's really a shame because the world around Perry is wonderful. Often, there are hints of something darker underneath – something similar to the show Invincible. If you know that show, you know that it's not afraid to show the gritty, dark side of the superhero world. Alas, like Perry's name Paradox, the whole book is a paradox between Perry's world and the world outside of his bubble.
The writing and decisions in the book also leave a lot to be desired. The author has an obsession with virginity via one of his characters, Dave the unicorn. The main character, Perry, also uses the word "vegetable" (and it's not in reference to produce). There is also a desperate need for an editor or someone to proofread this because there's just no consistency. One character, Hardcase, is referred to as Nat, Natalie, and Hardcase all within one page. The author just switches back and forth between their aliases all within a single scene, which gave me whiplash. There's no emotional connection to it.
The romance is written like fanfiction and adds nothing to the plot (I'm going to keep saying that, aren't I, because everything is just padding in this book), except to show that the author was desperate for a polyamorous relationship. The second half of the book is basically just teenage drama with continuous denial of attraction to one another. By the time the book gets to the end, I didn't even care about the cliffhanger because I didn't want to read another page about the three of them flirting with one another.
Overall, I read this book because someone recommended it under the guise that it had a story about a main protagonist who is well-loved by those around him. Well, it certainly had that. Too much, I think.
February 26, 2024
Very much enjoyed this. I'd read most of it on RR a while back, but it bore re-reading and had a number of legit lol moments as well as being gernerally clever.
Lots going on with fun characters and much imaginative system stuff. It's pretty long, but it didn't drag and I'm looking forwad to what comes next.
Lots going on with fun characters and much imaginative system stuff. It's pretty long, but it didn't drag and I'm looking forwad to what comes next.
June 4, 2024
I feel like the MC gets too many freebies. This story would be better without the romance. The systems are strong and have good development, although the MC skips some of them a bit too much.
September 2, 2025
(4.0 Stars)
This was way longer than most of the books I read, but it had a great pace so it never felt overwhelming.
I found the writing very similar to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman, but adapted to a more "Super Hero" world.
The character growth is excellent, and the world-building is done well. If you are not used to this genre, the character growth and world building are two of the three main pillars. Starting off with the World, it is described as you advance throughout the book, there are "rules" that you need to be aware of, and also that the author needs to keep to, and it becomes part of the story itself.
Next are the characters, their growth is internal to the story. Without growth, there is no story. And they need to "obey" the world's rules, so a lot of time is spent explaining actions and setting up future occurrences.
I'm mentioning the story element last, but it certainly is not last in importance. The three pillars (or legs) are Character Growth, World-Building, and Story. each three are equally important, and if any of the three are not good, the other two suffer.
Fortunately, this author excels at all three! And the audiobook narrators were all up to the task!
Another common practice of this genre, also influenced by the RPG world, is that it doesn't follow the basic three-part story structure, and is more of a series of conflicts that build upon each other with mini-resolutions along the way. So, that makes it easy to stop and start this book at several places (which helps a lot for a book of this length), but also means that the "end" of this book, is the "beginning" of another in the series.
This was way longer than most of the books I read, but it had a great pace so it never felt overwhelming.
I found the writing very similar to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman, but adapted to a more "Super Hero" world.
The character growth is excellent, and the world-building is done well. If you are not used to this genre, the character growth and world building are two of the three main pillars. Starting off with the World, it is described as you advance throughout the book, there are "rules" that you need to be aware of, and also that the author needs to keep to, and it becomes part of the story itself.
Next are the characters, their growth is internal to the story. Without growth, there is no story. And they need to "obey" the world's rules, so a lot of time is spent explaining actions and setting up future occurrences.
I'm mentioning the story element last, but it certainly is not last in importance. The three pillars (or legs) are Character Growth, World-Building, and Story. each three are equally important, and if any of the three are not good, the other two suffer.
Fortunately, this author excels at all three! And the audiobook narrators were all up to the task!
Another common practice of this genre, also influenced by the RPG world, is that it doesn't follow the basic three-part story structure, and is more of a series of conflicts that build upon each other with mini-resolutions along the way. So, that makes it easy to stop and start this book at several places (which helps a lot for a book of this length), but also means that the "end" of this book, is the "beginning" of another in the series.
June 18, 2025
Rating: [S-]
An enjoyable, funny and mostly lighthearted read. Any other time I would've probably given this book an A or A- but after finishing Super Minion and craving more (while also being pretty burnt out on darker/depressing books) this scratched a really specific itch and was exactly what I felt like reading.
It's a testament to how much I enjoyed it that I didn't even notice how long this book was until after I finished it.
An enjoyable, funny and mostly lighthearted read. Any other time I would've probably given this book an A or A- but after finishing Super Minion and craving more (while also being pretty burnt out on darker/depressing books) this scratched a really specific itch and was exactly what I felt like reading.
It's a testament to how much I enjoyed it that I didn't even notice how long this book was until after I finished it.
January 16, 2024
Rating : ⭐⭐⭐
Creative Mashup of Genres: The fusion of superheroes and fantasy elements offers a refreshing twist on familiar tropes, with unexpected combinations of powers and creatures.
Humorous Tone: The narrative is infused with a lighthearted and often irreverent sense of humor, keeping the tone playful despite the high-stakes action.
Endearing Protagonist: Perry's underdog status and determination to defy expectations make him a relatable and likable protagonist.
Fast-Paced Action: The story moves quickly, packed with battles, quests, and unexpected twists that keep the reader engaged.
Uneven Pacing: The narrative often rushes through scenes and character development, sacrificing depth for the sake of rapid progression.
Underdeveloped Worldbuilding: The rules and mechanics of The System and the broader world are not fully explained, leaving some elements feeling arbitrary or unexplained.
Over-Reliance on References: The heavy use of pop culture references can sometimes distract from the original story and characters.
Industrial Strength: A High-Powered Mashup of Superheroes and Fantasy, But It's Not Without Its Glitches
Industrial Strength by Macronomicon blends the worlds of superheroes and fantasy in a genre-bending tale that promises action, humor, and a unique take on the classic tropes. While it delivers on its promise of over-the-top antics and audacious characters, it also stumbles with pacing issues and a lack of cohesive world-building.
Plot: A Quirky Premise with Potential for Mayhem
The story centers on Perry Z, a young man with a peculiar lineage: a magical princess for a mother and a supervillain for a father. However, Perry has inherited neither magical abilities nor superpowers, making him an outcast in both worlds. When a mysterious system known as "The System" boots up, forcing everyone to choose a class and gain powers, Perry finds himself caught in a whirlwind of quests, alliances, and battles, determined to carve his own path in this chaotic new reality.
Strengths:
Creative Mashup of Genres: The fusion of superheroes and fantasy elements offers a refreshing twist on familiar tropes, with unexpected combinations of powers and creatures.
Humorous Tone: The narrative is infused with a lighthearted and often irreverent sense of humor, keeping the tone playful despite the high-stakes action.
Endearing Protagonist: Perry's underdog status and determination to defy expectations make him a relatable and likable protagonist.
Fast-Paced Action: The story moves quickly, packed with battles, quests, and unexpected twists that keep the reader engaged.
Weaknesses:
Uneven Pacing: The narrative often rushes through scenes and character development, sacrificing depth for the sake of rapid progression.
Underdeveloped Worldbuilding: The rules and mechanics of The System and the broader world are not fully explained, leaving some elements feeling arbitrary or unexplained.
Over-Reliance on References: The heavy use of pop culture references can sometimes distract from the original story and characters.
In Conclusion: A Fun and Frenetic Ride, But Could Use More Structure
Industrial Strength is a wild and entertaining read that will appeal to fans of both superhero and fantasy genres. However, its structural weaknesses and lack of depth prevent it from reaching its full potential. Readers who enjoy fast-paced action, irreverent humor, and creative world-building will find enjoyment, but those seeking a more immersive and well-developed story may be left wanting.
Final Verdict: A 3 out of 5 stars for its creativity and entertainment value, but with room for improvement in terms of pacing and worldbuilding.
November 15, 2024
I really enjoyed Industrial Strength Magic. It has a fun, snarky protagonist and supporting cast, an interesting post, post, post (?) apocalyptic world and a slightly unusual spin on the LitRPG concept. Sure, everyone (and I mean everyone) is a terrible person but its mostly justified by the state of the world and its mostly played for laughs. And it is funny. And fun.
But you can only keep the light-heartedness going for so long and eventually the sequels run into the same issue as most comedic fantasy - you've either got to find new jokes or transition to a more serious tone. But when it transitions to that more serious tone stuff that didn't bother me like the protagonist's immaturity or his family's lack of parental anything, or (insert comment about every single character here) started to get to me.
Still, I did genuinely enjoy book one, for all that it felt like meth trip in literary form, and I finished book two, for all that it felt like a psychedelic trip in literary form. I dropped book three though, so maybe I just don't like literary drugs enough.
But you can only keep the light-heartedness going for so long and eventually the sequels run into the same issue as most comedic fantasy - you've either got to find new jokes or transition to a more serious tone. But when it transitions to that more serious tone stuff that didn't bother me like the protagonist's immaturity or his family's lack of parental anything, or (insert comment about every single character here) started to get to me.
Still, I did genuinely enjoy book one, for all that it felt like meth trip in literary form, and I finished book two, for all that it felt like a psychedelic trip in literary form. I dropped book three though, so maybe I just don't like literary drugs enough.
February 10, 2024
A solid start that just fizzles out.
This is long enough for several books and it just can't keep a plot thread going. By the end, there is no direction and it gets rather boring as a result. The last minute cliffhanger was just unimportant because it would just be thrown away like everything else by the start of book two. Story continuity is clearly useless.
This is long enough for several books and it just can't keep a plot thread going. By the end, there is no direction and it gets rather boring as a result. The last minute cliffhanger was just unimportant because it would just be thrown away like everything else by the start of book two. Story continuity is clearly useless.
November 26, 2024
This must have come over from Royal Road. I had a hard time figuring out why I was having difficulties reading more than a chapter or two in one sitting. If you read it as a serial and realize the arcs are truncated then it makes sense.
I don't know if three stars is fair - it is a product of the media in which it first appeared - but I DNF 45%.
I don't know if three stars is fair - it is a product of the media in which it first appeared - but I DNF 45%.
March 3, 2024
Very good book
This is a fine post apocalypse super hero fantasy adventure. It is well written and edited. I especially like Titan and Locust. I anxiously await the sequel.
This is a fine post apocalypse super hero fantasy adventure. It is well written and edited. I especially like Titan and Locust. I anxiously await the sequel.
February 18, 2024
Power Creeping Fun
Macronomicon has a preferred type of protagonist - masculine, immature, clever, paranoid, and rapidly growing in power. Perry is one of those.
It is a ridiculous, deadly, and fun romp through an apocalyptic world of supers and magic. I look forward to the sequel.
Recommended.
Macronomicon has a preferred type of protagonist - masculine, immature, clever, paranoid, and rapidly growing in power. Perry is one of those.
It is a ridiculous, deadly, and fun romp through an apocalyptic world of supers and magic. I look forward to the sequel.
Recommended.
December 21, 2025
DNF at 20%. There wasn't any real plot or significant development 200 pages in, and the story so far was mostly humorous action with superheroes and villains from a young adult point of view.
November 25, 2025
Undirected Royal Road sprawl
Royal Road books are just consecutive chapters of content without much story structure, with quantity mattering much more than quantity. This one feels like it was barely edited, with pure-text markdown dividers instead of formatted lines or even bold/italic text dividers, and it doesn’t bother establishing stakes in the beginning since it assumes you’re there for mindless entertainment about a guy experimenting with powers. It didn’t give me a reason to care, so I guess I don’t.
Royal Road books are just consecutive chapters of content without much story structure, with quantity mattering much more than quantity. This one feels like it was barely edited, with pure-text markdown dividers instead of formatted lines or even bold/italic text dividers, and it doesn’t bother establishing stakes in the beginning since it assumes you’re there for mindless entertainment about a guy experimenting with powers. It didn’t give me a reason to care, so I guess I don’t.
September 4, 2024
This is a LitRPG where the characters level up and live in a video game like world. The finale is on Royal Road, books 1-3 on Kindle. In this one, the main character is a blending of magic and technology aspects reflecting his heritage of mother Superhero witch and father a Supervillain genius. He’s has to try to not let his powers overcome his sense of self, has an interesting throuple relationship, and meets fun enemies and friends with lots of oddball superpowers through the series.
September 16, 2024
Dropped, but I'm still rating it 2-stars (which means it was okay) instead of flat out did-not-like 1 star. Reason is, it was mildly engaging and entertaining despite its drawbacks that led me to drop it. I can see plenty of people enjoying this style of writing, typically those who like books like O'Conner's Warformed: Stormweaver, or anything that comes out of Sanderson's factory.
Two main reasons I could not continue.
One, the book starts out with the characters being 13, then skips 5 years later, and they still feel 13, except the word "puberty" is thrown around a couple of times. It also doesn't help that the book doesn't take itself very seriously. This is a series about superheroes and villains, but we're told right a couple of chapters in that the 'villains' bit is "just an act". I'm sorry, but if I wanted "just an act" I'd watch WWE.
Second, the author has treated this book a bit like a literary sandbox. There are no rules, and concepts are conjured out of thin air. While its an interesting exercise in imagination, I don't see any real point in involving myself in it. Without a set of rules there is no feeling of tension or anticipation as I know the main character could and would basically be able to overcome any problem because a mental sandbox has no limits.
Two main reasons I could not continue.
One, the book starts out with the characters being 13, then skips 5 years later, and they still feel 13, except the word "puberty" is thrown around a couple of times. It also doesn't help that the book doesn't take itself very seriously. This is a series about superheroes and villains, but we're told right a couple of chapters in that the 'villains' bit is "just an act". I'm sorry, but if I wanted "just an act" I'd watch WWE.
Second, the author has treated this book a bit like a literary sandbox. There are no rules, and concepts are conjured out of thin air. While its an interesting exercise in imagination, I don't see any real point in involving myself in it. Without a set of rules there is no feeling of tension or anticipation as I know the main character could and would basically be able to overcome any problem because a mental sandbox has no limits.
July 24, 2024
Although parts of the book are quite fun, there's just too much wrong in the writing.
1) Disjointed narratives that leave scenes unresolved. Author refuses to clear up points that need clearing up for, I assume, a hope to throw in twists later and make up things on the fly. Or to write less but do more, which the author does in these 'shortcuts'. Then at other times where you'd expect shortcuts—like in the large amount of math—that part is kept. Although this is really just a flaw in the webnovel format encouraging chapters to be like that rather than coherence across sections.
2).The romance leans heavily into poly or threesome elements which I do not enjoy. It's also just entirely subpar writing, which Macronomicon novels always struggle with regarding romance. It was my bad to try one again and expect something different.
3) Finally, the magical system. It doesn't need to be entirely logical in a fictional world focused on humor and chaos, but it lacks coherence even within its own context. You have to be okay with throwing any logic out the window—chaos is the name of the game. Surprises are aplenty. Things are made up on the fly, and nothing makes sense.
1) Disjointed narratives that leave scenes unresolved. Author refuses to clear up points that need clearing up for, I assume, a hope to throw in twists later and make up things on the fly. Or to write less but do more, which the author does in these 'shortcuts'. Then at other times where you'd expect shortcuts—like in the large amount of math—that part is kept. Although this is really just a flaw in the webnovel format encouraging chapters to be like that rather than coherence across sections.
2).The romance leans heavily into poly or threesome elements which I do not enjoy. It's also just entirely subpar writing, which Macronomicon novels always struggle with regarding romance. It was my bad to try one again and expect something different.
3) Finally, the magical system. It doesn't need to be entirely logical in a fictional world focused on humor and chaos, but it lacks coherence even within its own context. You have to be okay with throwing any logic out the window—chaos is the name of the game. Surprises are aplenty. Things are made up on the fly, and nothing makes sense.
May 24, 2024
Fun
This story is a hodgepodge of fantasy/superhero shenanigans. The author wrote an interesting main character and I found myself really enjoying the comedic undertones. The world building was amazing and it kept on getting more ridiculous and intriguing as the story progressed.
As with Macronomicon’s other books, you can’t really predict the direction the main plot is heading towards and that is what really stood out to me.
I have a soft spot for superhero stories, but, overall this was a really fun and surprisingly long read. I’m heading over to start on the second book immediately. 5/5
This story is a hodgepodge of fantasy/superhero shenanigans. The author wrote an interesting main character and I found myself really enjoying the comedic undertones. The world building was amazing and it kept on getting more ridiculous and intriguing as the story progressed.
As with Macronomicon’s other books, you can’t really predict the direction the main plot is heading towards and that is what really stood out to me.
I have a soft spot for superhero stories, but, overall this was a really fun and surprisingly long read. I’m heading over to start on the second book immediately. 5/5
February 21, 2024
A super fun time
Everything about this story just had great world building, from the various super cities, to how super families could work.
I love how our characters weird traits that most mcs get are explained and worked to fix, and the love triangle being a real triangle just tickled me pink.
Can't wait to see more of Paradox.
Everything about this story just had great world building, from the various super cities, to how super families could work.
I love how our characters weird traits that most mcs get are explained and worked to fix, and the love triangle being a real triangle just tickled me pink.
Can't wait to see more of Paradox.
November 19, 2024
Gonna be brutally honest here... I don't think anything important happened in this book. I feel like the author attempted to pivot into some strange slice-of-life/superhero/love triangle hybrid book after the 50% mark, and honestly it didn't really feel like it did any of the genres justice.
All-around boring book TBH.
All-around boring book TBH.
February 21, 2024
Book one that
This is another story that I have followed since it came out on Royalroad.
It's a good fun read. At over one thousand pages it is definitely something you can sink your teeth into.
8/10 Unsure if it is still going on Royalroad or not. I'll have to check.
This is another story that I have followed since it came out on Royalroad.
It's a good fun read. At over one thousand pages it is definitely something you can sink your teeth into.
8/10 Unsure if it is still going on Royalroad or not. I'll have to check.
December 30, 2024
This was a lot of fun, actually :) A good take on the superhero theme with fun characters and lots of potential for future books :)
May 19, 2025
I WANT MORE NOW ! :)
if you like D&D or anything with superheros this is a funny book form page 1 the thing is almost 1100 pages on kindle and I finished it in a week, could not put down. Paradox is a smart kid with a super villain dad and an alien magic princess mom ( weird combo i know but the aliens are refugees of an astronomical thing called the Tide. Basically gravity and physics go wonky every generation or so and no one knows why. But it the stress causes superpowers to exist in people and everything else by random chance. Because mom's alien planet already had magic the unstable Tide force made it unlivable. Anyway kid wants to be an archmage like mom and grandma but has no skill for plot reasons ( no spoilers) so he begrudgingly becomes a tinker like supervillain dad.Tinker Twitch comes in several kinds but lets the Tinker make specialized tech that lets them bend the laws of reality to verifying degrees. Proceeds to use alien pet squid brain cells to build dirt cheap super suits that can artificially cast spells for him.
Perry gets magical ingredients from Dave the Unicorn including magical metal ingots and unicorn shit ( surprisingly useful) spell book entries are funny too.
parents are arch enemies at work but cute dorky parents at home.
Heather a friend from school is also raised by a supervillain and they fight crime and keep the city safe during the Tide. They meet another group of rookie heros and help them out when Perry isn't building magic infused Tinker Tech. you can tell kid is smart but defiantly has teenage boy humor and lack of foresight, see quote
"The thing NOBODY seemed to understand was that Perry hadn’t been there, and he hadn’t been the one doing the ‘unleashing.’ That was what really got under his skin. How hard is it to understand that I condensed the complicated, difficult-to-perform, and esoteric ritual for summoning a horrifying demon into something that can be loaded into a bazooka and deployed by any random schmuck at the press of a button? ...I think I just explained to myself why I’m in trouble."
Macronomicon. Industrial Strength Magic (p. 720). Kindle Edition.
The rookie villains are funny as is Perry's sas. The kids had to take superhero ethics in school but with a superhero mom and super villain dad his VP in somewhere in the middle. so mush happened in book 1 IDK what to expect book 2. as long as you don't mind some tinker tech science technobabble and the fact that the kid has ADHD when building tech its a great book. Some stuff world history or intros to random side characters and things like that might seem random when reading a scene but the info is given as needed and you know how it fits in with current events always within a short time frame.
also an important concept that is mentioned is super insurance ie a running tab of damages ha ha
if you like D&D or anything with superheros this is a funny book form page 1 the thing is almost 1100 pages on kindle and I finished it in a week, could not put down. Paradox is a smart kid with a super villain dad and an alien magic princess mom ( weird combo i know but the aliens are refugees of an astronomical thing called the Tide. Basically gravity and physics go wonky every generation or so and no one knows why. But it the stress causes superpowers to exist in people and everything else by random chance. Because mom's alien planet already had magic the unstable Tide force made it unlivable. Anyway kid wants to be an archmage like mom and grandma but has no skill for plot reasons ( no spoilers) so he begrudgingly becomes a tinker like supervillain dad.Tinker Twitch comes in several kinds but lets the Tinker make specialized tech that lets them bend the laws of reality to verifying degrees. Proceeds to use alien pet squid brain cells to build dirt cheap super suits that can artificially cast spells for him.
Perry gets magical ingredients from Dave the Unicorn including magical metal ingots and unicorn shit ( surprisingly useful) spell book entries are funny too.
parents are arch enemies at work but cute dorky parents at home.
Heather a friend from school is also raised by a supervillain and they fight crime and keep the city safe during the Tide. They meet another group of rookie heros and help them out when Perry isn't building magic infused Tinker Tech. you can tell kid is smart but defiantly has teenage boy humor and lack of foresight, see quote
"The thing NOBODY seemed to understand was that Perry hadn’t been there, and he hadn’t been the one doing the ‘unleashing.’ That was what really got under his skin. How hard is it to understand that I condensed the complicated, difficult-to-perform, and esoteric ritual for summoning a horrifying demon into something that can be loaded into a bazooka and deployed by any random schmuck at the press of a button? ...I think I just explained to myself why I’m in trouble."
Macronomicon. Industrial Strength Magic (p. 720). Kindle Edition.
The rookie villains are funny as is Perry's sas. The kids had to take superhero ethics in school but with a superhero mom and super villain dad his VP in somewhere in the middle. so mush happened in book 1 IDK what to expect book 2. as long as you don't mind some tinker tech science technobabble and the fact that the kid has ADHD when building tech its a great book. Some stuff world history or intros to random side characters and things like that might seem random when reading a scene but the info is given as needed and you know how it fits in with current events always within a short time frame.
also an important concept that is mentioned is super insurance ie a running tab of damages ha ha
June 24, 2025
It's a good story. It's about a half magical alien prince who gains some strange tinker powers and he uses these to craft magic tech. A microscopic 3d printer that prints demon sigils onto the main characters bits. The main character likes magic but is stuck with tech.
His goal is to get rich and strong without warping his brain into psychopathic tendencies. To do so he must survive in a post apocalyptic world with routine natural disasters that cause millions in death and property damage.
The story needs a good round of editing and restructuring and pruning. Their are these massive epigraphs that cause ones eyes to glaze over. They are interesting from time to time and shed light onto situations rarely.
Most of the time they are unrelated to the story and about lore that just doesn't matter.
There are huge portions that once you get through never come up later. The romance is a strange love triangle of two teenage women and the alien tech prince.
One of them is a childhood friend who is a "golden-red haired goddess” with a large butt. The other is a short underdeveloped tinker girl who is suffering from Eldritch infused brain damage that has made her bisexual. They are all virgins and probably an outlet for the authors thinly disguised fetishes.
I like the story it's fun. There is definitely a subplot about what is causing the apocalypse I've been eyeing and piecing together. There are some interesting side characters and themes sprinkled throughout.
It's like panning for gold. There is definitely chunks of gold but mixed in is gummy bears and pencil shavings.
There are some notable big chunks of gold. You're confused by the pencil shavings and wondering why they're there. And the gummy bears taste pretty good but it's making everything sticky. But you still keep panning for gold because dang these are some big chunks of gold despite all the stuff mixed in there.
Will read the second one and see if anything changes. Despite the weird romance triangle the author refuses to actually do any real emotional romance it's all this touchy feely "will they? will they!?"
But the author wants them to remains virgins so they oggle and tease and sleep in the same bed and shower together but no kissing or handholding. They were reviews I saw that stated that this is just how the author does his romance pairings and all of his novels so what can you do.
His goal is to get rich and strong without warping his brain into psychopathic tendencies. To do so he must survive in a post apocalyptic world with routine natural disasters that cause millions in death and property damage.
The story needs a good round of editing and restructuring and pruning. Their are these massive epigraphs that cause ones eyes to glaze over. They are interesting from time to time and shed light onto situations rarely.
Most of the time they are unrelated to the story and about lore that just doesn't matter.
There are huge portions that once you get through never come up later. The romance is a strange love triangle of two teenage women and the alien tech prince.
One of them is a childhood friend who is a "golden-red haired goddess” with a large butt. The other is a short underdeveloped tinker girl who is suffering from Eldritch infused brain damage that has made her bisexual. They are all virgins and probably an outlet for the authors thinly disguised fetishes.
I like the story it's fun. There is definitely a subplot about what is causing the apocalypse I've been eyeing and piecing together. There are some interesting side characters and themes sprinkled throughout.
It's like panning for gold. There is definitely chunks of gold but mixed in is gummy bears and pencil shavings.
There are some notable big chunks of gold. You're confused by the pencil shavings and wondering why they're there. And the gummy bears taste pretty good but it's making everything sticky. But you still keep panning for gold because dang these are some big chunks of gold despite all the stuff mixed in there.
Will read the second one and see if anything changes. Despite the weird romance triangle the author refuses to actually do any real emotional romance it's all this touchy feely "will they? will they!?"
But the author wants them to remains virgins so they oggle and tease and sleep in the same bed and shower together but no kissing or handholding. They were reviews I saw that stated that this is just how the author does his romance pairings and all of his novels so what can you do.
February 17, 2024
Big improvement over the "Apocolypse" series.
At least in my opinion. It seemed to have all the good from that series and more. The same kind of fascinating world of three dimensional characters (enough of them at least). I enjoyed his parents. I thought they were a riot most the time. It's also a great example of a flawed MC that grows and learns. And the world and it's interactions aren't too depressing. I mean, some of it's grim if you think about it, but we're insulated from it by the MC and his family.
My only complaint related to "Apocolypse" was how the MC seemed to take the blame whenever things happened and get disprapotionately fined (as compared to other involved parties). It started to get frustrating but thankfully kind of stopped part way through the story. Though to be fair in some of those cases I might have been overly sensitive or not gotten the joke.
PS- Now the author has nerfed the MC before in other series but I'm hoping that we get to see this MC get really rediclous without a frustrating doubled edge. If there's a doubled edge make it fun or funny (as was done in this book so far). I want to see OP hilarity ABOUND! (Just my opinion.) I also think plenty of relationship development is in order. If nothing else more implied closeness and indirect imtimacy on page. Maybe even the use of the dreaded g***f***** or b**f***** titles to each others faces! (>/////< " )
In all seriousness, good book. Thank you author-san. I'm looking forward to more in the series.
At least in my opinion. It seemed to have all the good from that series and more. The same kind of fascinating world of three dimensional characters (enough of them at least). I enjoyed his parents. I thought they were a riot most the time. It's also a great example of a flawed MC that grows and learns. And the world and it's interactions aren't too depressing. I mean, some of it's grim if you think about it, but we're insulated from it by the MC and his family.
My only complaint related to "Apocolypse" was how the MC seemed to take the blame whenever things happened and get disprapotionately fined (as compared to other involved parties). It started to get frustrating but thankfully kind of stopped part way through the story. Though to be fair in some of those cases I might have been overly sensitive or not gotten the joke.
PS- Now the author has nerfed the MC before in other series but I'm hoping that we get to see this MC get really rediclous without a frustrating doubled edge. If there's a doubled edge make it fun or funny (as was done in this book so far). I want to see OP hilarity ABOUND! (Just my opinion.) I also think plenty of relationship development is in order. If nothing else more implied closeness and indirect imtimacy on page. Maybe even the use of the dreaded g***f***** or b**f***** titles to each others faces! (>/////< " )
In all seriousness, good book. Thank you author-san. I'm looking forward to more in the series.
March 11, 2024
Fantastic book! A very fun read that flys by. There's a lot to enjoy: the world building, the characters, the pacing, even humor (which I think is probably the hardest thing to write really well). These weren't just good, they were all top tier.
In other reviews, some people didn't like that there isn't a single plot line throughout the book that gets resolved at the end, but I didn't mind that at all. This is more like a collection of mini stories in chronological order following the characters as they develop (the MC's development is satisfying). That format has some advantages. For one, it allows the characters to actually enjoy themselves more (vs some books that feel like the characters find themselves in a bad situation and never catch a break until they resolve it at the end - makes for good stories, but the non-stop torture they go through gets tiring). Another advantage is that the pacing can get crazy fast in a way that makes the whole thing a very fun experience.
It's just a very entertaining book and I'm excited for the next one! I'll be checking out Macronomicon's older books now, I hope they're even close to as good as this one.
In other reviews, some people didn't like that there isn't a single plot line throughout the book that gets resolved at the end, but I didn't mind that at all. This is more like a collection of mini stories in chronological order following the characters as they develop (the MC's development is satisfying). That format has some advantages. For one, it allows the characters to actually enjoy themselves more (vs some books that feel like the characters find themselves in a bad situation and never catch a break until they resolve it at the end - makes for good stories, but the non-stop torture they go through gets tiring). Another advantage is that the pacing can get crazy fast in a way that makes the whole thing a very fun experience.
It's just a very entertaining book and I'm excited for the next one! I'll be checking out Macronomicon's older books now, I hope they're even close to as good as this one.
September 8, 2025
A Unique Start
An interesting premise that feels like it’s just getting started. I’ve read a lot of progression/litrpg and it’s always nice to feel like you’re reading a unique take on the concept. The progression comes from tech, magic, and good old fashioned studying and it all feels like parts of a greater whole. So far nothing feels like it’s shoehorned in or out of place in regards to the power progression which is great.
What I really love is that the story tries to deal with what it would mean practically to live in this world. How a city could survive random super powers popping up regularly. We even get a glimpse at multiple solutions. Definitely a good start to the world and I look forward to the next book. Weirdly I actually hope things slow down and we look more at every day life of our characters.
If you listen on audible it is also top tier. The author/publisher took the effort to use multiple narrators for female and male characters and the extra effort shows.
An interesting premise that feels like it’s just getting started. I’ve read a lot of progression/litrpg and it’s always nice to feel like you’re reading a unique take on the concept. The progression comes from tech, magic, and good old fashioned studying and it all feels like parts of a greater whole. So far nothing feels like it’s shoehorned in or out of place in regards to the power progression which is great.
What I really love is that the story tries to deal with what it would mean practically to live in this world. How a city could survive random super powers popping up regularly. We even get a glimpse at multiple solutions. Definitely a good start to the world and I look forward to the next book. Weirdly I actually hope things slow down and we look more at every day life of our characters.
If you listen on audible it is also top tier. The author/publisher took the effort to use multiple narrators for female and male characters and the extra effort shows.
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