Book Review: Mage Against the Machine by Shaun Barger
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mage Against the Machine by Shaun Barger
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Series: Book 1/Stand Alone
Publisher: Saga Press (October 30, 2018)
Length: 512 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
“Harry Potter meets The Terminator”—what could go wrong? Well, as we all know, even good ideas can fail if the execution is not that great. And this was my overall impression with Mage Against the Machine, which had the advantage of a solid concept behind its premise. The only problem was that the story took way too long to gain momentum and generate interest.
To its credit though, the book doesn’t waste time throwing the reader into the thick of things. The story opens in 2120, and our world has become a very different place. Humans are gone, dead, destroyed by a nuclear holocaust years ago—or that’s what Nikolai Strauss has been led to believe. A young wizard living in a sealed and magical dome, Nik has been completely oblivious to the realities happening on the other side of the Veils that conceal and protect mage-kind from the dangers of the wasteland. He’s entirely wrapped up in his own aspirations to become a full-fledged soldier in the Mage King’s army. Living in the shadow of his mother’s disreputable history, he feels he has to do more to prove himself, but when the massive chip on his shoulder gets him in trouble and causes him to go on the run, he is confronted with the truth which changes his outlook on everything.
Outside the dome, Nik meets Jem, a cybernetically enhanced ballerina-turned-soldier for the human resistance. As it turns out, humanity has not died out. Survivors like Jem have been living under the tyrannical rule of artificial intelligences called Synths, fighting for their lives and freedom. Now Nik has a decision to make. With the resistance barely hanging on, should he return to the safety of magic behind the Veils, or help Jem with her last-ditch—and long-shot—efforts to try to save the human race from extinction?
At times, it was really hard to determine what kind of book Mage Against the Machine wanted to be. The tone of the narrative did not feel too YA, though the juvenile behaviors and attitudes of the characters—Nikolai especially—sometimes made me think otherwise. It was extremely difficult to sympathize with Nik, for whom “belligerent and sulky” seemed to be a default setting. Since the publisher seems keen on the Harry Potter comparison, I’m going to draw parallels between Nik and Harry from Order of the Phoenix, in which the latter was a hot-headed, boiling cauldron of hormones severely in need of some anger management classes. This was essentially Nik, who was bitter and resentful to the point of irrationality, whose rage often got the better of him and was the cause of his own misfortunes and misery. This made it nearly impossible to feel sorry for him, let alone root for him.
Jem fared a little better, though for the first half of the book, her chapters were shockingly uneventful and tedious, considering she was the one living in the wasteland terrorized by murderous machines. In essence, this unbalanced pacing was the book’s main undoing; nothing of genuine importance happens until past the halfway mark, when our two characters finally encounter each other. After that, the story picks up—becoming quite enjoyable, in fact—though by this point, a lot of the damage has already been done and I could not justify giving this book more than a middling rating.
I will, however, give the author props for a few things I felt were done really well. Like I said, the second half of this book really shines, infusing the plot with genre-mashing goodness and the kind of thrilling action that keeps you turning the pages. It almost makes up for the lackluster beginning. I also liked the dynamic between Nik and Jem. No romance arc here, thankfully. Their relationship is actually a complicated one, full of nuances and conflict. They’re both looking out for the interests of their own people which causes no small amount of friction in their burgeoning friendship, leading to some tense moments later on when we get closer to the end of the novel.
Mage Against the Machine being a debut, I knew there was a real chance of running into a few hitches, especially with pacing. But boy, the first half could have really used another round of structural edits to shorten it by paring down some of the unnecessary drama. For me, the real story didn’t begin until Nikolai and Jem’s worlds finally collided, and I felt that this crucial turning point should have occurred much sooner than it did in this 500+ page novel. This flaw aside though, I do have to applaud Shaun Barger for attempting something truly original; the post-apocalyptic genre needs more ideas like this to keep things fun and fresh. It’ll be interesting to see what else he’ll bring to the table in the future with more time and experience.
The BiblioSanctum 
That title kinda tells this won’t be a masterpiece 🙂
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LOL, right? If only there had been some clue 😉
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Really good review, good insights!
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Thank you!
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“Nik, for whom “belligerent and sulky” seemed to be a default setting” and your comparing it to Order of the Phoenix completely sunk this like the Titanic for me.
To bad, because that cover looks cool, the title is catchy and the idea of robots and mages is a very interesting one. sigh…
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I wanted to slap Harry in OotP. Wanted to drop kick Nik too, and yell at him to get a better attitude. I’m going to have no patience for when my kids grow up to be moody teenagers 😉
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Good for you. Moods might be because of the hormones, but their attitudes and actions are ALL their decision.
I guess I react strongly to this kind of thing because it saddens me that our culture has bought into the lie that feelings trump anything else…
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I feel the same way. I mean, not that allowing yourself to feel emotions isn’t important, but letting them dictate your actions instead of using your brain and logic…well, that’s just bad news. Simple common sense seems to have gone out the window too.
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I’m torn. On one hand I’m curious to read the second half since you loved it, but I’m wary of slogging through the beginning. Also, since I received this book to review so late, I would be pushing aside other books I want to read just to get to it.
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Yeah, it really is a shame that the first half was so slow. For me, the story starts when the two characters finally meet, which took way too long to happen.
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This book has such an interesting premise, but ultimately I’m glad I passed on it! Possibly too much genre mashing for me 😂
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I actually loved the genre mashing, my problem was that it took too long to get to the good stuff 😀
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Good review. I”ve seen this one around and wanted to hear someone’s take on it.
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Thank you! I haven’t seen too many other reviews of it yet either.
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Mmmmm… A sulky main character and a book that requires the strength of wading through a molasses-thick first half are not exactly endorsements, although the combination of post-apocalyptic world and magic sounds intriguing enough. I guess the jury is still out on this one… 😉
Thanks for sharing!
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Yeah I’m really torn. The first half was a slog, but the second half was excellent. Those are the toughest kinds of books to recommend/critique 🙂
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Well the title sure cracks me up
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I do love the title too – at first I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a humorous book 😀
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Great review. I have this one in my TBR pile and I really have to get to it soon. I’ve heard lots of mediocre things, but still looking forward to reading it and seeing what’s what. 🙂
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Yeah, I had heard mixed things about the book before I started it too. I’m glad, because I got to adjust my expectations 🙂
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It’s a shame because I love the concept and the title but this one just doesn’t seem to be working it’s magic.
Lynn 😀
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Yeah the title cracks me up, and machines vs. magic is such an awesome idea! Just wish it had been better executed.
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I have to admit this book doesn’t sound like it’s for me, but I do love the title!
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The title is really clever, I agree!
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Harry really annoyed me in book 5 so this guy would drive me crazy. When I see any book compared to Harry Potter meets something, I know I’ll generally be disappointed!
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Yeah, sad to say, but the whole “…meets Harry Potter” thing is really getting old, and publishers seem to throw that description around like candy whether it’s remotely true or not.
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