In the world of Flex, magicians ('Mancers) are formed when someone has an obsession so strong that it breaks the world around them. This is heavily inspired by Unknown Armies, but the variant is that instead of the "cost" being having to stay within a specified set of rules (not breaking the Taboo), it is the Flux. This is a backlash to any magic act that has an equivalent exchange of bad luck to match the good luck caused by their magic.
And this luck can be spread. The 'Mancers can purify their magic down into drug form, the Flex of the title, which allows non-magicians to break the rules of the world. Unfortunately, the most recent drug on the streets has been proving rather dangerous, and the muggles taking it keep dying in ever-doubling numbers, as they dont know how to manage the Flux. Our protagonist, Paul Tsabo is a bureaucromancer, whose obsession with rules, order and paperwork has allowed him to twist the world so that things run more closely to the way he wants them to. And he takes this use of muggles as suicide mages rather poorly when it results in significant injury to his daughter.
So he decides to dive into the world of magical drug dealers in an attempt to hunt down the source of the street Flex, and this is where the book's second major inspiration comes from. It's frequently described as a cross with Breaking Bad, but that doesn't quite go far enough. The plot of about the first quarter of the book is more or less ripped straight from the first few episodes, with him being able to create the mythical purest Flex ever. The Jesse to his Walter is Valentine, a videogamemancer, who can make the world run on videogame rules, re-skin people for disguises and summon game items like the Portal gun.
While the first quarter of the book is painfully referential, it does settle down a little as Steinmetz gets into the main plot of Tsabo trying to take down Anathema, the rogue 'Mancer who is killing all of the muggles. Or at least the references tend to drift into shorter pieces, usually bits of videogames that Valentine is stealing to make their lives easier.
This is mostly Mario Kart and Metal Gear Solid, and occasionally feels like the book is hoping it can ride the coattails of other work. "You liked this thing, right? That thing is in my book. Please like my book." Hell, there's even a whole character Flex Mentallo reference. I normally like puns, but that one is a bit painful. It also doesn't do the surreal weirdness of the original Flex Mentallo justice.
At least the persistent references hide some of the character flaws. Tsabo is annoyingly whiny through most of the book, and Valentine seems to mainly be here to act as a mouthpiece for Steinmetz's various sexual politics. (He's a relatively prolific author on the topics of polyamory, sexuality and various bits of kink, and it appears he forgot he wasn't meant to be writing an informational pamphlet.)
I wanted to like it, but failed miserably. The characters aren't likeable, and there seem to be about three different plots which don't tie together in any particular order. The finale of the book is also ruined by the breaking of the rules of magic that the book has been running on all the way through, rather destroying its internal logic. There's another two books in the series, but I'm not going to be grabbing them.
Not recommended.
Tagged: Book Urban fantasy Wizard vs monsters Novel Print