The Wizardry Consulted

Wiz #4

by Rick Cook

After rescuing the world from the creatures of darkness and chaos by applying a few computer logistics, Programmer and Systems Analyst Extraordinaire Wiz Zumwalt finds himself in another fix when he is kidnapped by dragons. Original.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Dragons, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery

282 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1995

About the author

Rick Cook is a journalist, computer hacker, and fantasy author best known for his "Wiz" series of books. Since his hospitalization in 2000 he has not resumed fiction writing.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Sean Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series was one of the earliest works I read as a teen, and I loved it. naturally, by today's standard the stuff is even more dated (I loved the parenthetical aside explaining the "Internet"). We are talking about the mid 1990's, so of course, that's to be expected.

This book in particular I liked from the first, but having read it afresh just today, I find it even funnier, given that I've been exposed to a few sales pitches at work. It's a little hammed-up, that's part of the charm, and the first book is still probably way up there for introducing such a fantastic concept, but this, along with book 2, is probably joint second. Although book 3 with the dwarves ... that was funny, to ...

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rick Cook did it again: a fun and original novel with Wiz the Computer Wizard as the main character. New and interesting side characters and lots of nods to the Consultant Way of Life.
I miss some further development on some of the characters, though, and feel like some of the side plots are unfinished.
Nevertheless it's an entertaining story and a decent continuation of the saga.

[Micke Nimell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun. Lost a bit of energy towards the middle.
3.4/5

[Glenn Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book uses my favorite trope: spell making as software development.

[Ryan Veasman · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least they focused on the main character this time. I enjoyed the political bluster.

[Jonathan Palfrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book maintains the situation and characters of the three preceding books in the series, but unfortunately the story is dull: nothing much happens. The hero spends much of the book rather aimlessly wondering how to cope with his situation, and perhaps the author had the same problem.

If you liked the other books and can’t resist reading more, then go ahead, this one won’t hurt you; but don’t expect much.

The author evidently decided in advance that the theme of this particular book would be making fun of management consultants (hence the title). I wasn’t much amused, but it might suit your sense of humour for all I know.

One new regular character is introduced: Malkin persists into the next book. She’s OK, I quite like her, although (as with the others) there isn’t a lot of depth to her.

[Librivore · Rating 1 out of 5]

The worst book of the series so far, wherein our wizardly hero is set upon a quest to provide wizardly consulting services to a town plagued by dragons. Only there are virtually no dragons at all outside the first and last chapters.

The writer makes a (failed) attempt at political intrigue, introduces new cardboard characters and writes the same uninspired dialogue. You can almost picture the writer using a D&D character generator to draw his characters ("oh, look at the dice! High dexterity, low wisdom, I think we have a thief in the making.")

One of the worst books I've had the displeasure of reading.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, woo hoo. Wizards who do magic by programming. Seems like a clever idea, and I think this book was just part of a bigger series. I only read this one, and it wasn't super great in any way. The execution of the magic was not very interesting or grounded in real programming, so there was nothing redeeming about it other than the basic idea. The characters were ordinary, almost stereotypes. Meh.

[Scott Vout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book four in the ongoing series.

i really enjoyed this one. I think it is the best of the first four books.

I found it extremely humourous and very entertaining.

I was starting to lose interest in this series until this book. It recaptured my interest and has made it easy for me to continue the series.

[Kevin Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadly the weakest of the series. The novel itself is still a wonderful funny look at the "business" of being a hero

I did a complete video review of it HERE. And followed it up with an examination of the series as a whole in two parts. Here and for part two Here

[Doug Sundseth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining comedic fantasy. Like the rest of this series, it uses the framing of a magical world to satirize elements of the real world. In this case, that satire is aimed largely at corporate culture and especially at "business consultants".

Light and reminiscent of the work of authors like Pratchett.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one emphasizes consultants. Having worked with consultants in the computer world, I could really appreciate many of the comments, so I laughed frequently and enjoyed myself immensely in Mr. Cook's fantasy world of computer language magic. Great fun.

[Steve Markham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is where the series should and will probably end for me. It just dragged a little too much for my liking. It was good but... but what? I don't quite know. Just something about the end of it.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another story set in the world of computer programmed magic.
I would like to see some new ideas and some character development.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A head-twister of a book - especially the presentations- but well worth the read.