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The Machinists #1-3
The Machinists Boxed Set
Three books. 1,000 pages.
Fracture, Book #1 of The Machinists:
Allyn Kaplan’s life is anything but magical. As a first year associate at a prestigious Portland law firm, his professional life is on the rise. All that is turned upside-down by a mysterious attack on his life by strange people with stranger abilities. Thrust into an underground world of magic where rival Families are on the brink of war, Allyn wants only to return to his normal life and thriving career.
But distancing himself from this new reality is nearly impossible. Haunted by the attack and questioning why he was targeted to begin with, Allyn's questions only deepen with the sudden disappearance of his sister. The only place to turn for answers, and for help, is a Magi Family whose agenda he wants no part of. Yet with his sister's life on the line, he may have no choice but to pick a side.
Contains the first three books in The Machinists Series:
Fracture
Splinter
Martyr
Fracture, Book #1 of The Machinists:
Allyn Kaplan’s life is anything but magical. As a first year associate at a prestigious Portland law firm, his professional life is on the rise. All that is turned upside-down by a mysterious attack on his life by strange people with stranger abilities. Thrust into an underground world of magic where rival Families are on the brink of war, Allyn wants only to return to his normal life and thriving career.
But distancing himself from this new reality is nearly impossible. Haunted by the attack and questioning why he was targeted to begin with, Allyn's questions only deepen with the sudden disappearance of his sister. The only place to turn for answers, and for help, is a Magi Family whose agenda he wants no part of. Yet with his sister's life on the line, he may have no choice but to pick a side.
Contains the first three books in The Machinists Series:
Fracture
Splinter
Martyr
792 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 1, 2017
41 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Craig Andrews
9 books18 followersCraig Andrews graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelors of Arts in English. Growing up on a healthy diet of fantasy and science fiction, some of his favorite childhood memories include being traumatized by the TV shows Unsolved Mysteries and The X-Files. He currently lives in a small, rural town outside of Portland, Oregon with his wife and two boys.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 8, 2017
I have to admit that I enjoyed the first book, Fracture. The title is a bit misleading, considering that we learn that the "fracture" of people with magical abilities actually happened long ago, when exactly is unclear from the text. Also, the premise that certain people are born with the ability to harness elements like fire, water and air isn't exactly original, but it is familiar, which to me gives the book a solid foundation to build on. The action is fast paced the characters are engaging.
The setting is Portland, Oregon and its environs. Allyn, a first year attorney, and his free spirit twin sister Kendyl are unwittingly sucked into an eons long dispute between two factions of magic users. One group believes that those who have the innate ability to wield magic, or elemental forces, should stay hidden and reclusive to avoid persecution from the larger human population. The other faction disagrees. It is a bit unclear exactly what the other magic faction believes magic users should do instead. Integrate? Assimilate? World domination? Regardless of their end objective, the second faction believes that people in the general population, like Allyn and Kendyl, can be taught/forced to learn how to wield the elements. This premise has possibilities, but in my opinion is handled awkwardly. I can easily believe that among a reclusive secretive society there might be younger restless elements who disagree with eschewing technology and the modern world. However, taking the leap from there to kidnapping and torture of people with no previous exposure or obvious connection to that society makes no sense. The author never really satisfactorily explains why Allyn and Kendyl in particular are targeted by the bad guy and what, exactly, the bad guy hopes to accomplish with them. Instead, both twins are suddenly exposed to a world that neither knew existed.
Allyn winds up with the reclusive faction while Kendyl is kidnapped by the bad guys with Allyn as the prime suspect. Now here is where I have a major problem with the plot. Allyn is supposedly an attorney, so even if he doesn't practice in the area of criminal law he at least had to know enough criminal procedure to pass the bar exam. Yet, when his sister is kidnapped he not only breaks into her apartment, potentially destroying evidence, he also leaves the scene before the police arrive to investigate. Neither action makes any sense whatsoever given the character background. In addition, based upon what information we are given in the book, Allyn has a pretty rock solid alibi for the kidnapping as he is a hopeless workaholic and was at his law firm sending his sister unanswered text messages in the days prior to discovering her missing. Further, when Allyn and his new friends eventually rescue Kendyl from the bad guys he stages the scene to make it look like he was somehow involved with kidnapping her. This also makes no sense whatsoever. Kendyl is free. All she has to do is go to the police and say "I wasn't kidnapped," if she doesn't want to expose the existence of magic users, and/or "my brother had nothing to do with my disappearance." No victim. No crime. No criminal investigation. Instead, Allyn and Kendyl stay in hiding and remain the focus of a completely unnecessary manhunt. I get that the whole "on the run from the law" plot line is to keep the main characters in hiding and on the run but it isn't logically supported by the story.
Regardless of my problems with the premise used by the author to keep the main characters in hiding, I still found the story enjoyable. Not believable, but enjoyable.
The setting is Portland, Oregon and its environs. Allyn, a first year attorney, and his free spirit twin sister Kendyl are unwittingly sucked into an eons long dispute between two factions of magic users. One group believes that those who have the innate ability to wield magic, or elemental forces, should stay hidden and reclusive to avoid persecution from the larger human population. The other faction disagrees. It is a bit unclear exactly what the other magic faction believes magic users should do instead. Integrate? Assimilate? World domination? Regardless of their end objective, the second faction believes that people in the general population, like Allyn and Kendyl, can be taught/forced to learn how to wield the elements. This premise has possibilities, but in my opinion is handled awkwardly. I can easily believe that among a reclusive secretive society there might be younger restless elements who disagree with eschewing technology and the modern world. However, taking the leap from there to kidnapping and torture of people with no previous exposure or obvious connection to that society makes no sense. The author never really satisfactorily explains why Allyn and Kendyl in particular are targeted by the bad guy and what, exactly, the bad guy hopes to accomplish with them. Instead, both twins are suddenly exposed to a world that neither knew existed.
Allyn winds up with the reclusive faction while Kendyl is kidnapped by the bad guys with Allyn as the prime suspect. Now here is where I have a major problem with the plot. Allyn is supposedly an attorney, so even if he doesn't practice in the area of criminal law he at least had to know enough criminal procedure to pass the bar exam. Yet, when his sister is kidnapped he not only breaks into her apartment, potentially destroying evidence, he also leaves the scene before the police arrive to investigate. Neither action makes any sense whatsoever given the character background. In addition, based upon what information we are given in the book, Allyn has a pretty rock solid alibi for the kidnapping as he is a hopeless workaholic and was at his law firm sending his sister unanswered text messages in the days prior to discovering her missing. Further, when Allyn and his new friends eventually rescue Kendyl from the bad guys he stages the scene to make it look like he was somehow involved with kidnapping her. This also makes no sense whatsoever. Kendyl is free. All she has to do is go to the police and say "I wasn't kidnapped," if she doesn't want to expose the existence of magic users, and/or "my brother had nothing to do with my disappearance." No victim. No crime. No criminal investigation. Instead, Allyn and Kendyl stay in hiding and remain the focus of a completely unnecessary manhunt. I get that the whole "on the run from the law" plot line is to keep the main characters in hiding and on the run but it isn't logically supported by the story.
Regardless of my problems with the premise used by the author to keep the main characters in hiding, I still found the story enjoyable. Not believable, but enjoyable.
Displaying 1 of 1 review