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jaceyIsaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, and has the ability to magically reach into books and acquire objects. His speciality is SF. He's currently working as a small-town librarian and part time cataloguer for the secret magical society, the Porters, for which he used to be a field agent until he broke some serious rules. Unfortunately when you reach into books, they sometimes reach back. Forbidden to use magic, all he has left of his former life is a magical and somewhat neurotic fire-spider called Smudge who has a tendency to burst into flames at the first sign of danger.
When Isaac is attacked by a bunch of vampires he's saved by Lena, a tough, sexy, magically created dryad who brings bad news with her, her lover, Vainio's former shrink, has been taken by vampires and Lena needs Isaac's help in a rather strange way.
But this attack is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg. There have been other attacks on Porters. Isaac's own former friend and mentor has been killed and Gutenberg (yes, that one) the founder of the Porters and the only controller of unstoppable automatons, is missing. Isaac and Lena have to trace the dark power behind the vampire attacks before there's an all-out, bloody war between the vamps and the Porters which will expose the magical world once and for all, and not in a good way.
This is fast paced, extremely readable and Isaac is a complex character, sympathetic despite his failings. The magic system is neat. Anything that's been written about can be brought into reality (one of the vamp species is instantly recognisable because they sparkle!), though generally Libriomancers are limited by the physical size of the page of the book, so Isaac can grab a laser pistol from a space opera or a syringe of truth serum (from Barrayar as it turns out), but he can't draw through a tank. But there are limits and it's not as if each book is an unlimited cornucopia. There's always a price to pay and fir Isaac, who has transgressed before, that price is his sanity, presuming the bad guys don't kill him first.
Maybe this was not the book to read immediately following the first Alex Verus novel and shortly after reading the first Iron Druid novel. Comparisons are inevitable - and also with Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels - but despite the urban-fantasy, lone wizard-on-the-edge trope, each stands up in its own right and I'd be happy to read on in every series.
When Isaac is attacked by a bunch of vampires he's saved by Lena, a tough, sexy, magically created dryad who brings bad news with her, her lover, Vainio's former shrink, has been taken by vampires and Lena needs Isaac's help in a rather strange way.
But this attack is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg. There have been other attacks on Porters. Isaac's own former friend and mentor has been killed and Gutenberg (yes, that one) the founder of the Porters and the only controller of unstoppable automatons, is missing. Isaac and Lena have to trace the dark power behind the vampire attacks before there's an all-out, bloody war between the vamps and the Porters which will expose the magical world once and for all, and not in a good way.
This is fast paced, extremely readable and Isaac is a complex character, sympathetic despite his failings. The magic system is neat. Anything that's been written about can be brought into reality (one of the vamp species is instantly recognisable because they sparkle!), though generally Libriomancers are limited by the physical size of the page of the book, so Isaac can grab a laser pistol from a space opera or a syringe of truth serum (from Barrayar as it turns out), but he can't draw through a tank. But there are limits and it's not as if each book is an unlimited cornucopia. There's always a price to pay and fir Isaac, who has transgressed before, that price is his sanity, presuming the bad guys don't kill him first.
Maybe this was not the book to read immediately following the first Alex Verus novel and shortly after reading the first Iron Druid novel. Comparisons are inevitable - and also with Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels - but despite the urban-fantasy, lone wizard-on-the-edge trope, each stands up in its own right and I'd be happy to read on in every series.
