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Open Sorcery
In a world where magic is like software-behind schedule, over budget and full of bugs—one of the last bespoke magic houses must debug a dangerous demon spell to have any hope of surviving.
The house of Harrold and Harrold have had their business cannibalized by Majick, the occulting system offered by the monopolistic Guild of Magicians. After his father's death, Jack Harrold has taken on the duties of sales agent, but pickings are slim. Until he meets with a stranger who offers him a juicy project, a demon that is almost finished—it merely has one bug.
If the house can find and fix the bug, they will receive enough to stay afloat. It seems so simple, but when the Harrold's spellbinders get to work, things aren't as easy as they seemed and quickly get out of hand. One problem after another besets them in their task.
Meanwhile, in the world at large there have been an escalating series of magic attacks, exposing people's secrets and draining their bank accounts. When the spellbinders discover a connection between these attacks and the demon, they realize things are much more dangerous than they seem. More than the fate of their house, the fate of the entire world is at stake—and only they can save things.
The house of Harrold and Harrold have had their business cannibalized by Majick, the occulting system offered by the monopolistic Guild of Magicians. After his father's death, Jack Harrold has taken on the duties of sales agent, but pickings are slim. Until he meets with a stranger who offers him a juicy project, a demon that is almost finished—it merely has one bug.
If the house can find and fix the bug, they will receive enough to stay afloat. It seems so simple, but when the Harrold's spellbinders get to work, things aren't as easy as they seemed and quickly get out of hand. One problem after another besets them in their task.
Meanwhile, in the world at large there have been an escalating series of magic attacks, exposing people's secrets and draining their bank accounts. When the spellbinders discover a connection between these attacks and the demon, they realize things are much more dangerous than they seem. More than the fate of their house, the fate of the entire world is at stake—and only they can save things.
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Published December 31, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 12, 2023
A magic system that makes software developers look like wizards — for fans of Jim Butcher and Terry Pratchett
Many modern fantasy books boast unique magic systems, and in most cases, it’s another take on the tried and true with a new set of nouns. Open Sorcery, however, stands out by using software development as a base — something that may seem like magic to those outside the field — and fleshes it out with plenty of humor and wit.
Each chapter comes with a lore snippet about the world. News articles help to flesh out what magic means to the everyman, and passages from spellbinding textbooks give insight into the minds of novices and masters alike.
The strength of this book is in the clever ways it creates a parallel between software and magic. ‘Open Sorcery’ is itself a play on the term ‘open source’. And anyone interested in software development or programming will get a kick out of how this book takes relatable moments (such as management making promises that the team doesn’t have the time or resources to deliver and the tried and true “Did you try turning it off and on again?”)
For as much thought and care as Open Sorcery puts into its magic system, it’s a shame that the world, characters, and plot fall to the wayside.
Open Sorcery is a multiple-POV story which, in itself, could have been an interesting way to get a view of the world from all walks of life. Nearly every character, unfortunately, is a passive one. Many don’t develop beyond a single personality trait. And anyone hoping for a conclusion to each of their arcs will be disappointed because only one character’s dilemma is ‘solved’, and it’s left on a cliffhanger.
I often found myself frustrated because the main plot would slowly start to progress (at least, I assumed it was the main plot at the time) only to have to sift through multiple chapters of a side character whose sub-plot went nowhere. Insta-romance is tacked on like it was court-ordered, and the goofy antics between spellbinders started to lose their charm when I felt like the book was stalling for time.
Part of me thinks Open Sorcery might have begun as a short story and was needlessly extended into a full-length novel. A good portion of the book’s midsection is dedicated to one of the protagonists (or maybe a side character since he’s pushed aside by the story’s climax) Tad, sitting around eating and sleeping while unable to solve a problem.
That would have been a great time for some of the sub-plots to develop. Instead, the story spins the wheel to select which character gets their turn in the spotlight. Sometimes it’s a character who will be relevant to the plot later. And sometimes it will be a character who only turns up again to be used as a plot device (Molly being an unfortunate example of this).
It doesn’t help that the stalling ‘main plot’ introduced at the start of the story hardly felt compelling.
Jack is tasked with saving his family’s House from ruin… except the stakes are not too urgent since his family still has the means to afford a well-off lifestyle and run a business with a dozen employees. Most of his problems were a result of the ‘idiot plot’ trope where he’d do something stupid, fail to inform any other character about what he did, and then wait for someone or something to solve it for him.
Midway through the book, there’s an attempt to increase the stakes when one of the side characters is in danger. What does the sprawling cast do to save her? Uh, well, no one even realizes she’s gone for several chapters. The villain has to inform Jack directly what happened. And even then, there’s a lot of hemming and hawing before anything is done — making the stakes, once again, feel less urgent.
There is a third ‘raising the stakes’ subplot tacked on closer to the end of the story, but honestly, I’m not sure what purpose it served. The motivations for why it happened in the first place were never really defined, and it only came to a close utilizing the aforementioned cliffhanger.
On the topic of being left undefined, the story's world is largely left as a blank canvas. The first chapter paints the feeling of a fantasy 1920s with flappers and dandies… but that imagery never returns. I know it’s a city with apartment buildings and a bar, but that tells me nothing. Chapter Six mentions a driverless carriage with “smoke streaming from its stack resembled pink cotton candy and smelled like fresh peppermint.” This is never mentioned again. Instead, Chapter Twenty-Nine talks about a ‘magic bus’ with no further description.
What made a lot of these weak points stand out most of all was the fact that Sheely is a competent writer just by looking at the prose and wit in this book alone. This isn’t the case of a budding author mucking about trying to learn the ropes. So it is hard to figure out why so many integral elements were treated as an afterthought.
The prose itself is terse but polished. There’s no additional flourish, and even though I tend to appreciate stained glass prose more than the window pane variety, I didn’t view that as a bad thing.
That level of polish starts to wane as the story moves on, however. By Chapter Twenty-Eight, the names of characters are misspelled (Tad becomes Ted), it’s head-hopping galore (when previous chapters always switched to a new scene to indicate a new perspective character), and there's the occasional typo (an extra period at the start of Chapter Thirty-Six, for example).
These are all minor issues on their own, but coupled with the weak plot and character development, it starts to paint the picture that Open Sorcery was a strong concept for a book that came out undercooked. Conceptually, this story is fantastic, but somewhere along the way, the magic was lost in development.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Many modern fantasy books boast unique magic systems, and in most cases, it’s another take on the tried and true with a new set of nouns. Open Sorcery, however, stands out by using software development as a base — something that may seem like magic to those outside the field — and fleshes it out with plenty of humor and wit.
Each chapter comes with a lore snippet about the world. News articles help to flesh out what magic means to the everyman, and passages from spellbinding textbooks give insight into the minds of novices and masters alike.
The strength of this book is in the clever ways it creates a parallel between software and magic. ‘Open Sorcery’ is itself a play on the term ‘open source’. And anyone interested in software development or programming will get a kick out of how this book takes relatable moments (such as management making promises that the team doesn’t have the time or resources to deliver and the tried and true “Did you try turning it off and on again?”)
For as much thought and care as Open Sorcery puts into its magic system, it’s a shame that the world, characters, and plot fall to the wayside.
Open Sorcery is a multiple-POV story which, in itself, could have been an interesting way to get a view of the world from all walks of life. Nearly every character, unfortunately, is a passive one. Many don’t develop beyond a single personality trait. And anyone hoping for a conclusion to each of their arcs will be disappointed because only one character’s dilemma is ‘solved’, and it’s left on a cliffhanger.
I often found myself frustrated because the main plot would slowly start to progress (at least, I assumed it was the main plot at the time) only to have to sift through multiple chapters of a side character whose sub-plot went nowhere. Insta-romance is tacked on like it was court-ordered, and the goofy antics between spellbinders started to lose their charm when I felt like the book was stalling for time.
Part of me thinks Open Sorcery might have begun as a short story and was needlessly extended into a full-length novel. A good portion of the book’s midsection is dedicated to one of the protagonists (or maybe a side character since he’s pushed aside by the story’s climax) Tad, sitting around eating and sleeping while unable to solve a problem.
That would have been a great time for some of the sub-plots to develop. Instead, the story spins the wheel to select which character gets their turn in the spotlight. Sometimes it’s a character who will be relevant to the plot later. And sometimes it will be a character who only turns up again to be used as a plot device (Molly being an unfortunate example of this).
It doesn’t help that the stalling ‘main plot’ introduced at the start of the story hardly felt compelling.
Jack is tasked with saving his family’s House from ruin… except the stakes are not too urgent since his family still has the means to afford a well-off lifestyle and run a business with a dozen employees. Most of his problems were a result of the ‘idiot plot’ trope where he’d do something stupid, fail to inform any other character about what he did, and then wait for someone or something to solve it for him.
Midway through the book, there’s an attempt to increase the stakes when one of the side characters is in danger. What does the sprawling cast do to save her? Uh, well, no one even realizes she’s gone for several chapters. The villain has to inform Jack directly what happened. And even then, there’s a lot of hemming and hawing before anything is done — making the stakes, once again, feel less urgent.
There is a third ‘raising the stakes’ subplot tacked on closer to the end of the story, but honestly, I’m not sure what purpose it served. The motivations for why it happened in the first place were never really defined, and it only came to a close utilizing the aforementioned cliffhanger.
On the topic of being left undefined, the story's world is largely left as a blank canvas. The first chapter paints the feeling of a fantasy 1920s with flappers and dandies… but that imagery never returns. I know it’s a city with apartment buildings and a bar, but that tells me nothing. Chapter Six mentions a driverless carriage with “smoke streaming from its stack resembled pink cotton candy and smelled like fresh peppermint.” This is never mentioned again. Instead, Chapter Twenty-Nine talks about a ‘magic bus’ with no further description.
What made a lot of these weak points stand out most of all was the fact that Sheely is a competent writer just by looking at the prose and wit in this book alone. This isn’t the case of a budding author mucking about trying to learn the ropes. So it is hard to figure out why so many integral elements were treated as an afterthought.
The prose itself is terse but polished. There’s no additional flourish, and even though I tend to appreciate stained glass prose more than the window pane variety, I didn’t view that as a bad thing.
That level of polish starts to wane as the story moves on, however. By Chapter Twenty-Eight, the names of characters are misspelled (Tad becomes Ted), it’s head-hopping galore (when previous chapters always switched to a new scene to indicate a new perspective character), and there's the occasional typo (an extra period at the start of Chapter Thirty-Six, for example).
These are all minor issues on their own, but coupled with the weak plot and character development, it starts to paint the picture that Open Sorcery was a strong concept for a book that came out undercooked. Conceptually, this story is fantastic, but somewhere along the way, the magic was lost in development.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
January 16, 2023
Open Sorcery is a book based on the premise of Magic operating like coding in a modern world setting. It executes this premise excellently, both from the feel of how the spells are crafted arduous over a period of days or weeks, to how the magic system as a whole was implemented into and affects the world. The use of magic to artificially enhance physical appearance and attractiveness, or to advertise products, and thus necessitating magic to counter these effects (among a variety of other uses throughout the story) is both interesting and tangible to me.
The narrative itself well paced and fun, with a healthy sprinkling of humor from a collection of likable characters. The chapter to chapter conflicts are well varied and the core question of 'what is going on here' that provides the core of the narrative is interesting.
The characters themselves are decently complex, with the main ones being given distinctly human conflicts and motivations that help build empathy as well as sell the world. These motivations/experiences vary across the spectrum, capable of being fun (like a young man trying to flirt with a pair of girls) to more serious and depressing (a woman that a characters loves choosing his brother over him.) Theres other instances of this, but that last one is the largest and with the most effort devoted to it.
I found the ending weak, though, with revelation of what actually happening being rather pedantic for as interesting as the build up was. The climatic battle was also weak, with a significant portion of it being regulated to 'they fought with epic magic' before ultimately boiling down to a duel while the rest watched. The duel itself is fine, but lacks the depth and creativity displayed throughout the rest of the book, being just an exchange of spells/power without any additional layers or mind games (which is relevant since the magic of the world if often referred to as being primarily illusionary.)
The narrative itself well paced and fun, with a healthy sprinkling of humor from a collection of likable characters. The chapter to chapter conflicts are well varied and the core question of 'what is going on here' that provides the core of the narrative is interesting.
The characters themselves are decently complex, with the main ones being given distinctly human conflicts and motivations that help build empathy as well as sell the world. These motivations/experiences vary across the spectrum, capable of being fun (like a young man trying to flirt with a pair of girls) to more serious and depressing (a woman that a characters loves choosing his brother over him.) Theres other instances of this, but that last one is the largest and with the most effort devoted to it.
I found the ending weak, though, with revelation of what actually happening being rather pedantic for as interesting as the build up was. The climatic battle was also weak, with a significant portion of it being regulated to 'they fought with epic magic' before ultimately boiling down to a duel while the rest watched. The duel itself is fine, but lacks the depth and creativity displayed throughout the rest of the book, being just an exchange of spells/power without any additional layers or mind games (which is relevant since the magic of the world if often referred to as being primarily illusionary.)
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