Fix

'Mancer #3

by Ferrett Steinmetz

America's long sent its best SMASH agents overseas to deal with the European crisis. As of today, they decided dismantling your operation was more important than containing the Bastogne Broach. Now you're dealing with the real professionals.

Paul Tsabo: Bureaucromancer. Political activist. Loving father. His efforts to decriminalize magic have made him the government's #1 enemy - and his fugitive existence has robbed his daughter of a normal life.

Aliyah Tsabo-Dawson: Videogamemancer. Gifted unearthly powers by a terrorist's magic. Raised by a family of magicians, she's the world's loneliest teenager - because her powers might kill anyone she befriends.

The Unimancers: Brain-burned zombies. Former 'mancers, tortured into becoming agents of the government's anti-'mancer squad. An unstoppable hive-mind.

When Paul accidentally opens up the first unsealed dimensional broach on American soil, the Unimancers lead his family in a cat-and-mouse pursuit all the way to the demon-haunted ruins of Europe - where Aliyah is slowly corrupted by the siren call of the Unimancers...

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Magic, Science Fiction Fantasy

618 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 6, 2016

About the author

Ferrett Steinmetz’s latest novel THE DRAGON KINGS OF OKLAHOMA, a.k.a. "The Tiger King but with baby dragons," will be out in September 2024. He was once nominated for the Nebula, for which he remains moderately stoked, and lives in Cleveland with his very clever wife and an occasionally friendly ghost.

He has become wise enough to no longer spray the world with ill-advised words in blogs or social media, but sporadic updates are posted on his website at www.theferrett.com.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOOKED HOOKED HOOKED I'm so hooked to this series, but that's hardly the half of it. Ferrett continues to shock and amaze and simply improve upon everything he's accomplished so far.

So. As of right now, I'm positively quaking from the need to just rave and gush and talk about all the spoilers that I'm super obsessed on, where I obsess so much that I start 'Mancing about a book about 'Mancing.

Look. I'm sorry. The book hasn't been published yet, and all I want to do is tell everyone just how spoiled I am to have read about how all of my favorite characters from the previous novels went through the ringer, got fleshed out even more in the most delightful and painful ways ever, and just how surprised I was with not just the twists and turns they took, but how the resolution panned, too!

Of course, it's even worse than that. The characters are the heart of the story, but I can't even begin to truly gush about the fact we've gone to destroyed Europe, or just how, exactly, the rising action and final shocking and crazy and delightful and painful and awe-inspiring action resolves.

From the start, this series has been an amazing UF with damn amazing twists to both characters and plots, and this third (and probably final, at least for Paul and family,) lives up to all the surprises and twists of the previous ones. And then some. There's never ever a dull moment and the emotions are real.

I mean, hopefully it won't be considered too much of a spoiler to mention that at the beginning of the book, our happy magical family is directly responsible for opening a rift to demon dimensions to consume Kentucky, and the fact that Paul's unable to fix it, thanks to the scared and unthinking actions of normal folks, sends him and the rest of the underground 'Mancers into a spiral of run and regret... and that's just the opening.

The Unimancers are a really big part of this one, and after that setup, it looks like all their resources are now rather focused.

Yeah, things have taken a rather more global turn, this time. We've moved away from NYC. The political activism has just been completely scrapped. Even Fight Club is on the ropes.

I can't believe how good this one was. #totalfanboy.

Thanks to Netgalley for putting me through the hell of reading such a damn good book and being unable to spoil the living hell out of what happens because I've gone total obsessional fanboy over it.

Thanks.

;)

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You gotta save the world for the right reasons, Paul."

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ferrett Steinmetz's Flex series is one of the most imaginative and unique urban fantasies I've encountered. The trilogy takes place in a world where people's passionate, obsessive belief actually has the ability to warp reality to match their internal vision. As the book puts it:

If you believed with a diamond-hard conviction the universe should act in a certain way, sometimes it did. You didn't mean to make it do anything, it just… shuffled out of the way.

Someone with an unhealthy obsession with gaming might become a videogamemancer, causing bullets to bounce off skin or magicking portal guns out of thin air or causing people around them to patrol in repeated loops. An edumancer might actually be able to teach anything to anyone and make them remember every word. But 'mancy comes at a cost. When the universe is bent into an alternate system, it rebounds with flux: concentrated bad luck that targets the 'mancer and causes their greatest fears to come true. And when 'mancy stands off against 'mancy, as happened in Europe, reality can be so horrifically distorted that it can be breached, opening a door for creatures from the Lovecraftian Dungeon Dimensions.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, check out Flex , the first book in the trilogy. From here on out, there may be spoilers for the previous books.

In some ways, Fix was a satisfying book. I love series that end, that resolve their plot arcs rather than dragging out character development and conflicts infinitely. As Steinmetz notes in the afterward, Fix is indeed the end of the trilogy, and I appreciated the sense of closure. However, at the same time, Fix was extremely difficult to finish. The previous books may have been dark, but Fix repeatedly verges on utter despondency. I believe that pacing is a delicate feat of acrobatics: if everything's too safe and easy and achievable, there's no suspense. However, when things are too hard and hopeless, where all of the protagonists' moves just make everything worse and worse, then there's nothing to keep the reader engaged and it's all too easy to give up and put the book down. Unfortunately, I think the first 75% of Fix falls neatly into the latter category. The protagonists--the people I've rooted for, admittedly with mixed emotions, for two previous books-- push so far past the moral event horizon that I felt alienated from them and just wanted it all to end. I kept putting down the book, coming up with any excuse to read something else. I had to force myself to take it up again and again.

One of the things I've loved about these books is the protagonist. Paul is a bureaucromancer. He believes in laws and rules and order with so much passion that his faith actually bends reality. Needless to say, he's a bit on the OCD side. As someone who is compelled to turn the doorknob repeatedly in multiples of five when leaving the house to make sure it's really locked (not kidding about multiples of five, sadly), this makes Paul a very empathetic and relatable character for me. An example of why I love him:

Back in the days before Paul had fallen hopelessly in love with Imani, he would find himself seized by shameful urges in his dates' apartments [...] college dorms so cramped they were practically spooning; Paul laced his fingers together to avoid temptation.
His dates always smiled when they noticed his discomfort. "Whatcha thinking?" they'd ask.
"Can I…"
"Yes?" They'd tilt their chins, all but begging to be kissed.
"Can I rearrange your bookshelves? They're out of alphabetical order."
The dates ended shortly after that.

Paul's singlemindedness has always made him something of an antihero; after all, in the initial book, he's willing to sell drugs to gangsters to save his daughter and in the second book, his actions against the villain left me horrified. However, in this book, his descent is so abrupt that it wasn't possible for me to empathize or even comprehend his actions. Instead, I was left feeling disconnected, unable to empathise with Paul or see him as anything other than a villain.

'Mancers were always set up to be antiheroes. Their steadfast certainty means that they see the world in an inherently rigid and inaccurate way; after all, that's how they do magic. In this book, Steinmetz really examines the consequences of this rigidity. In some ways, I loved this introspective aspect and the ways it explored Paul's motivations and the repercussions of his actions, but it was also heartbreaking to watch him do some truly terrible things. I was already feeling alienated by his lack of concern for the other 'mancers; burning down the home was the last straw. And that left his mass murder spree for me to suffer through. Even apart from the whole Unimancer thing, it really bothered me that he cared only for his daughter's life, not for the scores of 'mancers in his safehouses who were put into danger and subsequently captured by his recklessness. He didn't even spare them a guilty thought.

I forced myself again and again to pick up the book, and I'm glad I did. I love how the book continued to develop Imani and Aliyah's characters. I love that we finally get to see breach-torn Europe. I love that we learn more about the Unimancers and their system. And I also love the way Valentine's romance develops through the story. Without any spoilers, I found the ending profoundly satisfying and also sweet * . If you've read the other books in the series, then I don't need to recommend Fix to you--you're going to pick it up anyway. If you haven't, and the idea of an OCD paperwork-loving 'mancer protagonist sounds like fun, you should definitely take a look at Flex . As for me, I'm excited to find out what Steinmetz has in store for his readers next.

~~ I received this ebook through Netgalley from the publishers, Angry Robot Books, in exchange for my honest review. (Thank you!) Quotes are taken from an advanced reader copy and while they may not reflect the final phrasing, I believe they speak to the spirit of the book as a whole.~~

Cross-posted on BookLikes.

[~Dani~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that read like Ferret Steinmetz knew where he was taking his audience from the time he started writing and I love to find that in a series. So many feel like the author starts with a strong idea and then that gets lost a few books in. Thankfully, there is none of that here.

Admittedly, I may be looking at this through rose-colored lenses because I loved the first two books so much.

I loved the twists that Paul's character took in this book. He goes from being literally a paper-pusher in the first book to the bogeyman of the Unimancers in this book. I love that this author was able to turn something so outwardly boring like paperwork into such a badass superpower.

All the changes to Aliyah's character felt so organic as well even if they were not what I saw in her future. No spoilers, but she rebels (as teenagers are wont to do) but in a very different way than was easily predictable. In the first book she was this incredibly fiery (ha, no pun intended...gawd that was a bad joke) 6 year old girl that is not afraid to take away her Daddy's prosthetic foot if he does not pay her enough attention. In the second book I think she was still growing into her powers and trying to understand a world that did not want her to exist. This made her a little meeker at times that how she was initially portrayed.

Now in book three, she is shown evidence that contradicts what her Daddy has taught her. Paul and Imani's raising a strong and intelligent young woman comes full circle as a 13 year old starts making tough decisions that they are not sure they can live with.

I don't think that Valentine's character got quite as much treatment in this book as Paul and Aliyah's did but I have come to realize what a completely superb job was done with creating her in the first place that my love for her probably knows no bounds.

As is fairly easy to tell, the amazing characters of this book is a large part of what keeps me coming back. The fantastic magic system hooked me into the first book but I think this author has shown a skill at characterization that few have managed in my experience.

There were some slow parts in this book and the magic system in this series admittedly can lend itself to some plots holes and easy escapes. Through its small problems, this continues to be a favorite series.

[Sunil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three chapters into Fix, everything is already terrible, so that should give you an indication of how bad things actually get in this book.

Paul and Imani want to give Aliyah a shot at a normal life, but it becomes very clear (see above re: first three chapters) that such a life is not in the stars. Before you can say "Where the hell did the laws of physics go?" our favorite 'mancer family is on the run from SMASH, led by the determined General Kanakia. The first quarter of the book is full of extended action scenes that span chapters, which gets the book off to a breathless start, though they may carry more weight than necessary given that the bulk of the book concerns what the characters are heading toward: the 'mancy-ravaged Europe that all the king's horses and all the king's Unimancers could not put together againcer. Still, these scenes are fun and exciting and build character, which this book has in spades. Sometimes you get pages and pages of internal struggle! This book is long, is what I'm saying, but it's never boring, always engaging, and always terrible except for when Ferrett Steinmetz allows you to feel a small amount of happiness (and sometimes even a large amount of happiness).

As with the previous two books, I loved all the videogame scenes and pop culture references (this time with added Hamilton!). There is a certain amount of handwavium involved in 'mancy, but Steinmetz generally plays fair, and by fair, I mean he plays both sides. As the author, he controls the rules of 'mancy, and sometimes those rules make things easier for the characters and sometimes those rules make things much, much worse. I love what he does with flux in this book, the bad-luck consequence of rewriting reality to suit your own beliefs. Flux follows Our Heroes with a vengeance, and it's going to take some very clever bureaucromancy to get out of it. Luckily Paul is one clever motherfucker.

Fix allows Steinmetz to dig deeper into a couple elements that have been in the series from the start (the broaches in Europe and Unimancy) while also pushing his characters to the fucking limit. He's not afraid to have them make bad decisions or be assholes; we know they'll learn from their mistakes. We hope.

This book is just...really fucking good. The whole trilogy is just...really fucking good. It's inventive and inclusive, it's fun and thrilling, it's cool and creative.

And it has the best Acknowledgments section EVER.

[Yuli Michaeili · Rating 5 out of 5]

סגירה מצויינת לסדרה. קצת קשה לי לכתוב עליו ביקורת כי הספר הזה לא חף מבעיות. יש קטעים שכתובים לא ברור ויש חלקים שלא חוברו טוב אחד אל השני ויש מקומות שהוא רץ מהר מדי או זז לאט מדי, אבל הספר הזה הוא טוב. הוא איכותי. הדמויות אנושיות, גם כאשר עומד לרשותן כוח כמעט בלתי מוגבל. הוא מצליח לקחת עלילה ולהפנות אותה למקומות לא צפויים. הוא כתוב פחות טוב מהספר הראשון, והאמת, אולי גם פחות טוב מהשני, אבל עדיין יש בו מספיק מהכל כדי שמבחינתי בהחלט יגיע לו 5 כוכבים. ממליצה.
חשוב לציין, הספר הראשון עומד היטב בזכות עצמו והוא לא פחות מנהדר.

[Natalie]

I can see a lot of people loved this book but after about 50 pages I felt like if I read the word "'mancer" one more time I was going to lose my mind. I didn't care about any of the characters and the whole world of magic felt too convenient to me.

[Lynn Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://lynns-books.com/2016/09/01/fi...
Fix is the final instalment of Ferrett Steinmetz’s Mancer series and brings to a conclusion a story that I’ve found totally absorbing and unique.

I think for this particular review I’m not really going to delve too much into the story. I don’t want to give anything away and I’m going to make the assumption that you’ve read the previous two books in the series. If not, well then, I strongly suggest, nay implore, you to do so. I also recommend not reading further in case there are spoilers for the first two books lurking below.

This is a very entertaining series that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. If you love gaming and movies and all sorts of culture references, huge splashes of fun and a world that brings to you a new form of magic with oodles of action then I think you’re going to love this series.

At the end of the last book I remember wondering how this family unit, that I’d come to enjoy reading about so much, would actually get on or even survive. Let me say from the outset that this book puts you through the wringer a little bit in that respect and in fact has something of a different feel to the first two. The first story totally blew me away and was really good fun. The second is considerably more serious and leaves you wondering what’s going to happen next. The third, starts in a totally innocuous way with the characters that we already love trying to fit into a relatively normal, everyday, lifestyle. Of course they’re anything but ‘relatively normal’ being incredibly strong ‘mancers’ and things pretty quickly go to hell in a handcart whether they wanted it to or not. Something about the road to hell being paved with good intentions should be inserted here I think!

Yes, I started reading Fix with a sense of dread and that was basically something that was set to develop quite strongly as the story progressed. We have a set of people who, whether you like them or not, are on the run, outlaws. You have a young girl with such strong magical abilities that it’s really quite scary to think of what’s going to happen to the world if she suffers from teenage angst! And basically you have this whole wannabe family situation just waiting to go wrong – with of course the massive implications and potential casualties along the way if that really happens. This is a family that you might love to read about – but they’re dangerous – okay, I still love them.

For me Fix had a very different feel to the first two books. This is a book that looks more at consequences and examines actions. It’s a more difficult read in that respect because rather than everything being about kickass fun and badass goodies in capes we actually get to see some of the implications of what really happens when people wield magic. Now, there are always two sides to every story and this is the same here and in that respect I think that the author pulls a wonderful twist out of the bag which I really didn’t see coming.

In a way this is a coming of age story with a difference. We feel Aliyah’s longing for acceptance and rebellion against her own family unit. It’s kind of inevitable, she’s growing up and wants her own space – in fact, she wants to blend in and be accepted more than anything else. We witness Paul as he goes through the emotions of trying to protect his daughter and wreaking total havoc as a result and then having to face the consequences and guilt of his own actions. We also have the wonderful Valentine who is also suffering a little bit of an identity crisis.

On top of this we finally get to visit Europe, broached and highly dangerous but nonetheless intriguing. And we learn a good deal more about ‘mancy’ and the Unimancers and discover that things are not always as clear cut as they seem.

Put in a nutshell, yes, this is a more difficult read. It has the feeling of a series that is growing up, in much the same way that Lord of the Rings started with birthday parties and fireworks but then led to war, this series started out with fun and references but then took us down the road of consequences. Magic always has payback and we experience this quite fully in Fix. So, yes, this is a less easy read, but then in another respect very satisfying. The author doesn’t make this easy, there isn’t any wand waving to conjure away the badness – we finally begin to understand the real implications of everyone’s actions and it isn’t always pretty. There are usually two sides to every argument and its not always easy to decide who’s right or wrong and this is something that becomes very evident in Fix.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this series and have no hesitation in recommending it. I don’t think that Fix had the high octane, sometimes laugh out loud feel, of the previous two books but I think it was the perfect ending to the Tsabo story.

I received a copy of Fix through Netgalley courtesy of the publisher for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes reading slumps happen. I had been on a reading slump for months on end when I saw Fix on a shelf at my favourite bookshop. I bought it instead of lunch that day.
That was two weeks ago. I had to portion out time to read it. Carefully measure it out on public trasit. This morning I was about halfway through, and I broke down and devoured the rest this evening.
These books are glorious. These are time-eating, bad-day-fixing, meal-forgettingly good books. I loved Flex, and adored Flux, but Fix beats them both! This books is a flippin masterpiece. It's laugh-out-loud-in-public funny, crying-on-the-couch-scaring-the-husband sad at times, and a really real story about a man loosing his child and the child finding herself.
The characters are wonderful, making you love them even when they are being arseholes. The story is well crafted, and wonderful. Even when the people are asshats, it all makes a cruel kind of wonderful sense, and I loved every page of it!

This book is one of the best I have read this year, if not this decade. If you need something fantastic to read, read this one! I know I will re-read these over and over, they are going on my to-keep shelf together with my Narnia, Harry Potter and tattered copies of Mercedes Lackey and Fransesca Lia Block, and they will stay there forever.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

An attempt acclimatize to normalcy doesn't pan out for 13yro Aliyah who just wants to live the life of a typical 13yrd old teen; playing soccer with her friends and enjoying the company of the non-magical inclined. However, her brief attempt at ‘fitting in’ leads to disaster as her mancy consumers her, resulting in her being kidnapped by the Unimancers and opening a breach to another world.

Series protagonist and Bureaucromancer Paul Tsabo seems to have heightened abilities in Fix as his obsession for paperwork and air tight contracts evolves into world mending magic in an attempt to close an ever expanding breach which threatens Europe. His love for his daughter, Aliyah blinds him to the truth behind the zombie-like Unimancers – a collective hive mind of mancers which ultimately results in the author bringing about an ability to change reader emotions and perception switching of who is bad and who is good – one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book.

Fix provides readers with a more detailed look at mancers; their differing obsessions and the idea behind the hive mind of a Unimancer. The characters continue to be well written with a real sense of ‘family’ emerging through the narrative.

Fix has the feeling of bringing the series to a comfortable close. Door left slightly ajar for more.

[Ria Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you read the books in this series back to back, you end up torn apart by the end, after the rollercoaster ride of emotions and tension and revelation. It took me a while, after finishing Fix, to pick myself up and put myself back together. The story is tight, the surprises keep coming, heartstrings keep getting tugged…

Dammit, Steinmetz, how do you keep doing this?!

Fix takes places years after the events in The Flux. Aliyah is now 13, and together with Paul, Imani, Valentine, and Robert, the group seek to find a place where Aliyah can be herself and be safe. Paul, especially, wants Aliyah to experience life as a typical American teenager, the joys and sadnesses that most people experience, instead of the constant battle against her magical inclinations.

But all doesn’t go according to plan when Aliyah gets carried away and accidentally does ‘mancy in front of her new friends, and the ensuing chaos causes a broach. SMASH and the Unimancers get into the mix, demanding that Paul give up and give himself over to them. Paul refuses, of course, because who would want their personality tortured away in order to become part of a vicious magic-hating hive mind? But when Aliyah finds herself bound to the Unimancers, the whole world flips on its head, and nothing — absolutely nothing — is what anybody thought it was.

Some books in a series, even final books, you can go into without having read the previous entries. This isn’t the case with Fix. Even if somebody explained the backstory to you, there’s so much you’d miss out on by skipping right to the end, so many subtleties and other assorted pieces that aren’t essential to understanding the story as a whole, but that add so much. You’d miss out entirely on the impact of the Valentine/Robert romantic subplot. You’d miss the terror of Paul’s decline, since you wouldn’t see just how he started out in the first place. Definitely a case where I’d say the ‘Mancer series is much more than the sum of its parts, and Fix is a glorious ending to the trilogy that’s open-ended enough to leave the possibility for more stories while still capping off the main storyline.

I wondered, at some parts, how many people would read Fix and cry out that it’s horrible because Steinmetz dared to even mention certain things. (“There’s a lesbian here; stop shoehorning gay people into my fiction!” “A trans character gets mentioned; ugh, that’s just terrible!” “You mentioned a functioning triad; you’re trying to bring down traditional marriage values!”). Aside from the fact that it’s good sometimes to even have a couple of throwaway lines that imply yes, people do come in all shapes and sizes and behaviours and flavours of being, claiming such things would entirely miss a huge point that gets brought up multiple times throughout Fix: there are multiple ways of doing things, no one way is absolutely right for everybody, and sometimes the best way to heal the world is to adapt to the new things that occur rather than trying to force it back to the old way. I can’t say for sure that Steinmetz was going for that kind of social commentary during the novel’s final scenes, but it’s certainly applicable, and I, for one, appreciate that.

It was interesting, in that regard, to see a different strategy evolve for taking care of broaches. Paul’s way worked initially, to convince the universe to follow the rules that kept it stable before, rules that Paul believed in even without knowing what those specific rules were because he believed in rules and order so very deeply. But that way only worked for him sometimes, and when confronted with a bigger change to the world — the European broach — there was need for a different strategy that involved adaptation rather than reform. That tied in well with the idea that one way of life, one way of thinking, didn’t always work for everyone, such as Aliyah finding her place within the Unimancers even when Paul didn’t like their way of doing things.

Overall, Fix takes a lot of preconceptions and gleefully tears them to shreds, scattering the confetti of old beliefs and daring characters to figure out what to do now. ‘Mancy forces the universe to bend to new rules, and now it’s like the universe is fighting back, not with broaches and the destruction of physical laws, but by taking mundane occurrences and forcing broken characters to adapt. How well do you handle it when your daughter falls in love with another girl? How do you cope when your partner regains emotional stability (and loses their ‘mancy) when you’re still proud of the way you’re so powerfully flawed? What do you do when you can’t protect those you love? Things that can happen to anyone, regardless of magical ability, regardless of time or place, but that can knock you for a loop regardless. Fix is a novel of push-and-pull, give-and-take, figuring out where you fit in the world, or whether you have to carve out your own place. Whether you’re Paul losing control over his life because you keep losing what you had, or whether you’re Aliyah finding out that you fit best in a place those who love you would never want you, or you’re an uncertain Valentine who needs to be needed, the world pushes back at you and sometimes you have to bend and sometimes you have to tell the universe no, this is where you are, and this is where you’re staying. Honestly, for all the heartache I felt while reading Fix, for all the times the subject matter hit extremely close to home in a painful way, it’s a very hopeful novel, because in the end what matters is the ability to adapt and find your place.

So do I recommend this series? Hell yes! To one and all! It’s a powerful story, a take on magic and obsession that crosses boundaries and paints new pictures of a reality that could have been and could yet be. It’s a brilliant piece of urban fantasy, and adventure that stays with you long after the last page has been read and the cover closed, and Steinmetz has done something great here. The characters are beautiful and flawed, the writing tight, the story fast-paced, the whole thing evocative and emotional. And I love it. It’s the kind of urban fantasy that doesn’t come along often, a diamond in the rough, and Fix was the best possible way to end it all.

(Book received in exchange for review.)

[Jacqie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be honest, I don't think I was in the mood for this book. I ended up skimming it. If you've read Flex, the author has gotten a bit less clunky in his writing. But the first scene was a whole lot of set-up for a problem you could see coming a mile away. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to laugh, and I had a hard time feeling like the characters I think I was supposed to root for were in the right.

This series feels a bit unpolished, but it does have an interesting magic system.

[SALLY WHITE · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Goodreads for sending me this book. This is the third book in a series, the first two being “Flex” and “The Flux”. I felt that if I had read the first two books, I would have got into this book quicker. With some books that are part of a series, you can read one as a stand alone, but with this series, I don’t think you can.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing end to the series (Minor Spoilers)

Fairly disappointing conclusion to an otherwise enjoyable series. The ending revolves around three instances of the universe / a person being saved by what was essentially “the power of love,” which was exactly as painful as it sounds.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books you read because you have nothing else to do. Not this one. This is a book that makes you read it--while eating, on the toilet, even if the TV is on. I love everything about this whole series and it seriously needs to be made into movies.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the concept so, so much, but the characterizations are so unbelievable that I keep hitting the 4th wall in a bad way.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5

The third book in Ferrett Steinmetz's 'Mancy series. I haven't been a big fan of the first two books, but I went in to this determined to see in it what others have found so appealing. I didn't succeed, but I did find this book to be a tad more interesting than the other two.

'Mancy is a magic that draws on a person's obsession. If you are someone who loves to play videogames, then you might become a videogamemancer like teenage Aliyah. Make bullets bounce harmless off of you or fly or drive like someone in Grand Theft Auto. If you are someone who likes order and paperwork, then you might be a bureaucromancer like Paul Tsabo. But possessing 'Mancy magic comes at a price - the way any drug demands compensation for the benefits it provides.

The universe is now tearing itself apart and sending bad luck to the 'Mancers, causing their worst nightmares to become their realities. SMASH - an organization created to fight 'Mancers and repair their damage - had sent all their people to Europe to work on the rift. Paul, meanwhile, has settled down, hiding in a small Pennsylvania town to allow his now teenaged daughter Aliyah, the opportunity to have a normal childhood - playing soccer and making friends. They were in hiding because:

Aliyah was the youngest 'mancer in what remained of the world - and though he'd tried hard to convince America that he and his daughter were human beings, worthy of the Bill of Rights, he'd barely budged the needle away from "brainwash them all."

He's determined to no longer use 'Mancy, which causes as much pain to him and his family as it does solve problems.

But the best laid plans...

Paul and Aliyah are discovered. Paul and Aliyah are separated (which, as we have discovered in the previous books, will drive Paul absolutely mad and a mad 'Mancer is dangerous. But Aliyah is not a helpless child. She's now a teenager and although she still loves her father, she's willing to stand up to him and disobey him. And because Paul loves Aliyah more than anything, he trusts her - though it takes some work to get him there.

What I liked about this book more than the others was the focus. I can't say that I've been a fan of Paul Tsabo in any of these books (which makes reading about him challenging), but I could understand his obsession and passion better in this volume. And Aliyah, though she's been sort of the star of the books, hasn't been in a place to actually make decisions, despite her power and abilities. Here she does, and she's pretty good at it. This helped me enjoy this book much more.

I also made a note in my Kindle edition "the government claimed Paul was dangerous but in fact they made him dangerous by fighting him." This is a bit simplistic, but it does seem to boil it down.

While I enjoyed this book more, I still can't give the series a raving review. It's the sort of book that if someone held it up to me and asked, I'd shrug my shoulders and say, "Eh."

There were, however, two lines that I loved (from different moments in the book):

"Oh, come on!" she screamed. "When the fuck isn't Batman enough?"

"You're telling me the only thing keeping the planet safe has been ... good middle management?"

Looking for a good book? Fix by Ferrett Steinmetz finishes his 'Mancy trilogy. It is the best of the three volumes but still doesn't have quite the impact I was hoping for.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[S0meh0w · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all let's get this out of the way, though this is a review of Fix it's more a review of the triology. To start off Flex by Ferrett is the best Urban Fantasy to come out in the last few years and well worth a Hugo or Nebula. Why? Valentine. She carries the triology with effortlessness, fat, sexy and nerdy just like we like it. Valentine alone is worth reading the three books. However, when I hear others talk about the books I hear words like 'mancy and world building and I kind of stop and have to think, "Am I even reading the same books?" I want to check the cover, what are they reading it isn't what I am. There's no world building. That's very deliberate and wonderful. Ferrett lets loose with zinger after zinger pun after pun, and to explain every pop culture reference would need its own wikipedia the size of Lin Manual Miranda. How can you build up so many pop references and oh so many donuts if you build a new world you can't. So when people reference the world building I am kind of lost. The second thing is when people reference 'mancy in this triology. There is no 'mancy. 'Mancy doesn't exist. It's an illusion and you can see clues of how magic in this world works from the very beginning. Remember when Paul first finds another mancer, how does he do it? He believes he can find another mancer. Belief alone is sufficient. This has nothing to do with beaurocromancer, this or that mancy. Pure belief, pure will does it. Then when he makes flex for the first time how does he do it? Remember, he makes it because he doesn't know he can fail. Because of this he has perfect confidence in his abilities. Again this has nothing to do with him being a 'mancer, this has to do with belief and will. If you look at how the flux strikes, Aliyah herself thinks to herself that if she feels guilty the flux will strike. Think about how this model works. It is a belief driven system, where if you have confidence and no guilt, if you feel right (and the universe agrees with you), then there will be no flux. Flux doesn't come from the universe it comes from the feedback of the emotions inside you and the universe, inside your guilt from your mind thinking about the worst that can happen. And if you think good thoughts the universe will bring what you want to you. Is this philosophy sounding familiar yet? If you haven't guessed it, the name of this sort of magic exists right now in our own world and in one version it is called "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne. The magic of the book is in positive thinking and the "Law of Attraction." Rhonda says that the law of attraction means "Like Attracts Like", that a frequency is sent out from our thoughts and the events and circumstances of our life reflect that. It is exactly the same sort of magic that happens in the mancer triology. There is also some quantum physics mentioned in "The Secret" which corresponds almost exactly to the physics mentioned by Tsabo. Byrne claimed to have "never studied physics or science at school, and yet when Byrne read complex books on quantum physics Byrne understood them perfectly because Byrne wanted to understand them." This is the exact same sort of understanding that Tsabo has without requiring to learn physics he can understand it. Just as an aside I did giggle like a schoolgirl whenever Tsabo mentioned physics and I don't think those sentences were meant to be funny. for instance in book 2 Tsabo mentions g (small g) as a constant (it's not a constant) of 9.8 meters per second (instead of 9.8 meters per second squared) that's like saying I'm driving to the store it's 60 miles. You ask "60 miles away?" Nope. "60 miles is the speed limit." It's nonsense. You can't confuse meters per second wtih meters per second squared any more than you can confuse 60 miles away with 60 miles per hour. Oh and in book three when he mentions lowering the speed limit of light, well obviously then the fine structure constant would go almost to zero (4*pi*e0*hbar*c*apha) so there would be no matter, then because the gluon plasma confinement is where almost all of the mass of normal material comes from that would go to zero so you would be left with . . . well not exactly a hard vacuum but close to it. It's not a flaw of the book, I understand. Physics in sci fi and fantasy is built from previous sci fi and fantasy stories, so if a one story had the speed of light very low than another book will use it but you can't do that and retain matter unless you break special relativity or quantum field theory or both. In fact, all of the "laws" that Tsabo mentions are not really laws, they are derived from the hamiltonian and/or lagrangian or using feynman's paths integral. When you put special relativity and quantum field theory together there is only one solution to it, well, I don't want to explain physics, needless to say it make me giggle like a school girl any time he mentioned "laws" of physics when everyone knows that you derive these from the langrangian or hamiltonian (depending on your formalism). This is another reason I feel like I am in a different universe. I actually understand physics so I cry and giggle at things that everyone else reads with a solemn eye. Every sci fi writer is like this, they build physics not on the standard model but on previous sci fi and fantasy books and that's ok it just makes me stop reading for a second when I hit stuff like this. Anyway to get back to "Like Attracts like" remember the powers Tsabo has? He can move through time, he can find other mancers he can manipulate the laws of physics without understanding them, or rather understanding them in a Rhonda Bryne way, he can reprogram computers remotely, what do all of these things have in common it is the law of attraction at work. If he believes something strongly enough he can do it. Who am I to say this isn't the world we are living in now? It could be. Think about it, we come into the world as babies and in Byrne's view these babies are supernaturally powerful wizards bending space and time around them both for good and bad. We adults can't even sense what the babies are doing to manipulate the world. But what do we do as soon as possible? We constrict them we bind them to beliefs we force them to learn how the world works and by learning how the world works we destroy their native magic. This also explains how Aliyah (who by the way is of course a mcguffin or maybe a plot device one of the two) gained her magic. Her belief in the structure of the world was broken in the fire and thus was born her magic. Tsabo himself by the way is the ultimate rebel. When all others were broken down and turned into mundanes Tsabo retained his childlike abilities to believe anything he wanted to believe. Think about how a normal person would act when faced with police, you would obey them. He is the ultimate iconoclast and that is where his magic comes from. Iconoclast bureaucrat. Now that's a nice oxymoron. I should have written this entire review on how amazing Valentine is but somehow I got side tracked. Oh well, this review is too long, but I have to say, five stars all the stars and love for Valentine, and most of all for the wonderful book that started this trilogy Flex. If you only have read Fix make sure and read Flex it is really the best of the bunch.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I rate everything I read based on three criteria: concept, draw (basically how much fun it is or how badly I want to read it), and the quality of the writing. On the first two, this book, this whole series excels. The concept is great and the magic system is great. Even in this volume, my least favorite of the three, the ideas are strong. I also had a lot of fun reading this series. Over the last 3 days, I have listened to all three books on Audible. The first two were a reread for me, but this one was new to me. I got through Flex in a day. I listened to The Flux the next day. The following day I listened to Fix. I spent all day yesterday trying to figure out how I felt about this last volume.

I spent the first two novels getting to know the main characters, and then I spent a third novel trying to figure out how they got to where they were and why they were doing the things they did. I love when a good character turns bad or vice versa, but Paul's descent was so rushed. Valentine has never been subtle, but in this novel she has about as much charm as a gross teenaged boy. Imani goes from being a minor plot-driven character to being the leader of the pack just by showing up. Surprisingly, the one characterization that shines is Robert's transformation.

Despite all this, I think the choices the author made for these characters were good. I just wish he would have spent more time getting us there. If he had, maybe the big battle between Paul and the Unimancers wouldn't have seemed so much like a bad hero versus hero comic book battle, the kind with very thin reasons, the kind that could have been avoided with a simple conversation.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

*copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

Fix is the conclusion of the ‘Mancer trilogy by Ferrett Steinmetz. I’ve enjoyed the series so far, so the conclusion had rather large shoes to fill. Generally speaking, it manages to match, and in some cases exceed, my rather high expectations.

The world of Fix feels a little different to that of Flux, its immediate predecessor. Here we’re slowly seeing the rise of a legitimate front for the issue of rights for ‘Mancers. They’ve spun out of the rather more violent ‘Project Mayhem’ of the previous book, but Paul, his family, Robert, Valentine and the rest of the gang seem to be trying to go legitimate. With the spectre of a broken Europe, torn apart by magical breaches, ahead of them, the US public are sceptical of those using magic, especially when they’re not under government control. But they’re also increasingly willing to believe that those people are deserving of rights and protections.

Europe looms large through the text, a boogeyman of chaotic magic, where natural laws may suddenly cease to apply, often without any warning. Government ‘Unimancers’ struggle to contain the devastation, whilst acting as a hive-mind of ‘mancy. The Unimancers have been a faceless force until now, a single-minded horde driven to destroy our protagonists at the behest of a government terrified by uncontrolled ‘mancy. Now they’re still a bit scary, but we’re allowed to see a little further into their space, and look at what drives the Unimancers.

Steinmetz has provided a world where magic and mayhem go hand in hand. Where humanity appears to be on a precipice, a world where there are discussions about civil rights, about transhumanism, about government overreach going on forcefully, both in the fore and background of the narrative. It’s fascinating stuff, and it provides a compelling context for our heroes and their actions.

The central cast remains the same as the previous volume. We spend some quality time with Paul here, the Bureaumancer who can use paperwork to change the nature of reality. As the narrative begins, he’s struggling to provide a normal-seeming life for his family – his daughter is the world’s youngest ‘mancer, and all of them are on the run from a government which hasn’t exactly hesitated to use lethal force. In hiding, trying to create average lives for themselves, there’s the scent of a storm in the air. The author catches the ionised tang of paranoia and claustrophobia perfectly, as well as evoking perfectly the loneliness that being outside of society entails. Paul is on the outside, looking in to a world he may no longer be part of – and over the course of the text, he’s left questioning himself, his motivations, and whether what he’s attempting to achieve is actually right.

The focus of the narrative is really on family, especially the relationship between Paul and his daughter, Aliyah, whom we saw receiving a rather rough and ready education in ‘mancy in the preceding book. Aliyah is fragile in some ways, a person afraid of being who she is, because that person can be a spectacular danger to others. Still, over the course of the text, she is perhaps the one that undergoes the greatest change – looking for her identity, existing outside of her father’s influence and desire to protect her. Aliyah is always a pleasure to read, and now older than she was in the previous book, is grappling with how to live her own life, and decide who she is and who she wants to be. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given her magical talents, this process of discovery is a bit more fraught than it might have been otherwise.

This is really a book about family, and what family is to people, and how the bonds of family are structured and stretched. That the family can throw fire, shatter security systems and occasionally play football (‘soccer’) is a bonus. There’s more from Valentine here too, as she tries to help Aalliyah with her self-identification, and struggles with her own relationship with Robert – who, no longer a ‘mancer, is having his own problems. There’s a complex family dynamic going on here, as well as questions of who is family, and how, and what ties them together. The interpersonal relations are done with care and attention, and are incredibly convincing – and emotionally fraught. I have to admit, this dynamic was my favourite part of the last text, and it’s great to see that it’s a core component of this one – and has remained as well done. The characters are flawed, sometimes broken people, but there’s a sense of affection and love permeating the pages as well, and making the whole feel quite painfully real.

The plot – well, no spoilers, I think, but let’s just say it makes the stakes of ‘Flux’ look small-time. There’s some absolutely top notch action scenes, which flow nicely and seem to end explosively – and an unflinching examination of the costs of those scenes as well. The book kicks off with a bang, and whilst there are some wonderfully contemplative moments throughout, there’s also a ratcheting tension which drives a need to find out exactly what happens next. The conclusion is explosive, but also carries a narrative veracity which comes from having characters you know and care about, as they put themselves in danger for a cause that they – and the reader – are invested in.

Is it worth reading? If you’ve not read the series before, this would probably work as a stand alone, but I’d start at the beginning . If you’re already a reader of the series, you owe it to yourself to pick up the conclusion. It’s thoroughly enjoyable.

[Cynthia Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

They just get better!

When reading a series, one always wonders if the last book will compare to the first. I needn't have worried. If anything, these books have gotten better, become stronger and sucked me even deeper into the story line as I read!

Bravo, Ferrett!! You have created a trilogy that is so vibrant I see the colors and smell the smells, I feel the anguish and my heart pounds with each victory.

I cannot wait to see the movies that are eventually made based on your books!!!

[anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flex was an explosion into a new kind of magic and a new world. Flux was - as befits the title - the backlash of that new magic and its effects on real people.

Fix is... fix is what happens when we learn, sometimes learning well and sometimes learning poorly. Fix is what happens when we don't look back, and when we do.

Fix is a damn good romp and a heartbreaking heart-healing magical adventure.

I'm exhausted and elated from reading it. I think Valentine would approve.

[Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought this was a really solid read.

The series really hooked me with its magic system right off the bat and this third installment, going back over to cover the tantalizing story of the big broach that devoured Europe was fantastic.

And the family dynamic? Between Paul, Imani, and Aaliyah?

Loved it.

Sad that this trilogy is over, but I'd be very much looking forward to more in this universe if Steinmetz wanted to continue along.

[Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final book in the 'Mancer trilogy, this one was harder for me to read. I spent a lot of time in the early part of the book reading a single chapter then putting it down (often for long stretches) because the plot kept taking turns that I didn't want it to take. It was harrowing and depressing. Then at about the three quarter mark, I just couldn't put it down. The last act was still pretty harrowing but Steinmetz had reminded me why I loved these characters in the first place.

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent wrap up

It took me awhile to finish this series. It's a very good read, but the author really put his emotion into creating his characters, so watching them face the tribulations they each did made me struggle to get through some chapters.

But everything ended as spectacularly as each character deserved!

[John Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the plotholes and changing personal realizations are a bit rough, but the book brilliantly and emotionally concludes a trilogy with an outstanding premise, and wrestles with serious ethical considerations around the nature and extent of the love between parents and children.

[Ben Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pitch perfect ending to a series that I really enjoyed. I think as much as I loved the stories, the fact that there were "mid credit scenes" made me weirdly happy. The amount of love you could feel for all the characters was palpable and brought me joy.

[Adam Hickling · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's over!!

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic conclusion to a fantastic trilogy. Bigger scale. Evolving characters. More surprises. If you enjoyed the first two, you won’t be disappointed.

[Sean Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damnit Ferrett

I didn’t expect to be ugly crying at the epilogue, and I followed you through three books to get to the perfect, the PERFECT ending ... in the epilogue.

[Cozy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent sequel really love this author