Another trip to the world of Olympian cybermagic
Written: Aug 02 '07 (Updated Aug 02 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting characters, complex tale, good writing, unusual premise continued
Cons: It gets a bit cyber-geek-ish at times.
The Bottom Line: Kelly McCullough gives another, darker, more complex dose of the Greek pantheon, magic, and cyberspace, all blended together into a lot of fun.
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| dolphinboy's Full Review: Kelly Mccullough - Cybermancy |
This is a sequel to Kelly McCullough's debut novel, WebMage.
Dramatis Personae:
Ravirn, a.k.a. Ravi Lacher, now known as Raven: A young, former graduate student in systems engineering, also an increasingly accomplished hacker, also a near-immortal descendant of Lachesis (see below).
Melchior: Ravirn's wizarding "familiar", a webgoblin who alternates between looking like a small, bald, blue man, and a blue laptop computer; possesses a mastery of sarcasm, and a powerful sense of loyalty.
Cerice: A beautiful computer programmer, sorceress, and near-immortal descendant of Clotho (see below). Cerice and Ravirn are long-time friends, distant cousins, and possibly more.
Shara: Cerice's voluptuous, flirtatious purple webgoblin, who sometimes converts seductively into a purple laptop computer. Also an accomplished web goblin, with a big heart.
Magaera, Tisiphone, and Alecto: Collectively known as "The Furies", these three children of the goddess Necessity, are the "heavies" or punishers of the Immortals.
Cerberus: The three-headed Hound of Hell, who guards the gate into Hades. The three heads are known, separately, as Dave, Bob, and Mort. They do not always agree, but they enjoy playing bridge with Raven.
Hades: The god who runs the Underworld, named after him (or is it vice-versa?). You don’t want to meet Hades, as he will make you so miserable that you want to suffer in Hades.
Persephone: The tragically beautiful, unwilling consort of Hades, who spends three months each year in Hades (giving the regular world Winter). She embodies tragedy, pain, and sorrow. She wants out!
From the previous book, but mainly missing here, although mentioned:
Clotho: The Aspect of Fate who spins the threads of life out of the very essence of Chaos. Also, an ancestor of Cerice.
Lachesis: An Aspect of Fate, who measures and weaves the threads of life. Also, an ancestor of Ravirn.
Atropos: An Aspect of Fate, who cuts the threads of life, thereby signaling and/or causing death.
Eris: The beautiful, unpredictable, naughty Goddess of Discord, who is not all bad (or all good).
Ahllan: An ugly, fierce-looking, but caring and grandmotherly webtroll, who might just be the key to Ravirn's survival.
Setting: In this fictive universe, magic, science, and mythology are all equally powerful and equally true. Magic, as exercised by the gods and goddesses of Olympus, is now modernized, and exercised through computer and Internet codes. Spells are hummed or whistled lines of codes, and run through the "mweb" or magical counterpart of the world-wide web.
Plot: Ravirn, who previously (in WebMage), opposed his family as they sought to decrease the chaos in the world, by eliminating free will, starts this book, having been disowned by his family. He has even been stripped of his name, and is now known as “Raven,“ a name he dislikes. But, is it just his name that has changed? Anyway, one other aftermath of his battle to protect free will, is that his girlfriend’s familiar, Shara, is basically dead. Somewhere along the line, Shara lost her soul, and ended up in Hades. What’s a boy to do? Well, Raven loves Cerice, and Cerice not only misses Shara like a mother would miss her child, but Cerice needs Shara to put the finishing touches on her doctoral dissertation, as Shara is not only Cerice’s familiar, but is also a very talented web goblin.
Raven sneaks past Cerberus into Hades, and manages to sneak Shara out. Uh, that seemed too easy. It was! Somewhere, somehow, the act of freeing Shara from Hades has caused a major corruption of the mweb, and everything is slowly falling apart in the magical world. But, is it really Raven’s fault, or is there something bigger, more sinister going on? Raven, with his familiar, Mel, Cerice, and Shara dive into the mystery, and manage to annoy, irritate, or infuriate just about all the residents of Olympus.
The Furies repeatedly try to hunt down the quartet of heroes. Interestingly, one of the Furies, Tisiphone by name, has fallen in love with Raven, and tries to seduce him, in between her dutiful attempts to kill him.
Meanwhile, while Raven dislikes his new name, he starts to realize that there is much more going on than just a change of name. What has he become? How will it help him, and his friends, survive? Can he learn to control what he has become?
This is another wild, fun ride through the world of computerized magic and the Greek deities. It is a bit more complex and darker, than its predecessor novel, and the beginning is a bit disjointed. However, as Raven figures out who and what he has become, it is increasingly fitting that there is some disjointedness here, and even a touch of chaos. The Shara character has become more complex, and more endearing. Melchior continues his mastery of good-hearted taunting. Raven and Cerice have a lot of trouble figuring out where their relationship is going, and Tisiphone’s attempts at seducing Raven do not help that issue.
Kelly McCullough continues his great writing, his fascinating fictional world, and his marvelous characters. The puzzles are more complex here, and the danger level is definitely higher. Will everyone survive? There is some definite suspense related to that question, and it is not answered until the very end.
I look forward to the next installment in this series, and I am guessing that it will focus on the unresolved mystery of Ahllan’s disappearance, as well as Raven continuing to figure himself out, in what he has become. I am also guessing that Cerice, if she is to become Raven’s long-term companion, will develop into a figure of greater status in the Olympian pantheon.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dolphinboy
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Member: Chris McCallister
Location: The Great Lakes of Michigan
Reviews written: 520
Trusted by: 214 members
About Me:
I am a psychologist, new author, and a reviewer on several sites.
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