Spell or High Water (Magic 2.0 Book 2)

When I finished reading "Off To Be The Wizard", it really left me hoping there would be another book. However, unlike the first book, "Spell or High Water" literally builds a 'shell' plot, then stuffs it as full as it can get with irrefutable logic, quotes and vague reference to one Indiana Jones movie, early Trek, Star Wars IV, psychological evaluations, time travel permutations within permutations, all being overlaid with a sort of World of Warcraft-D&D-world religion-y humanitarianly organic veil. This is a difficult read because it takes a certain amount of iron will, coupled with zen-like attitude and patience to wade through the stacked up logic and innuendo. Meyer may not have intentionally written for the 'over-50 Geek'; however that is the audience who will appreciate this writing the most. Despite the fact that this author shows familiarity with UNIX, Esperanto, macro creation, physics, early Apple SE, and the C64, and, unlike his first book, has not fleshed out the personalities of *most* of the protagonists to the point that one could hear their thoughts, feel their feelings, laugh, and hurt with them. Moreover, the female protagonists came across to me as 'herky-jerky' caricatures of how the *moderately perfect* female is apparently visualized. No *unattractive* females ( or males) are allowed in this story. However, what rather sets me off is the tastelessly veiled innuendo to same-sex relationships. This author needs to spend some quality time in San Francisco. Incidentally, he is spot-on about palmetto bugs in Florida. All criticism aside, I believe this book was excellently planned, and represents a lot more effort than was required. My head hurts from deciphering the intricate chains of logic wrapped around logic. May I call this *constipated* logic?? Had this book actually been split up into volumes 2 and 3 (no spoilers here-the ending of this book could have begun Volume 3). I *know* there will be Volume 3. In closing, I congratulate Scott Meyer, a fellow GEEK, for an overstuffed ravioli of a book. The eternal words of Yoda (saved on this iPhone) ring in my mind even now: "Do....Or Do Not...There *Is* No Try..." P.S. There are 2 single repeated word typos in this Kindle edition.

These books are simply awesome. Anyone who is into geek culture will get a real kick out of the jokes and style of humor the author uses. I really hope he continues this series as the characters are very likable.

Great fun read. Wonderful comic moments. You really need to read the first book, Off to Be the Wizard, before diving into this one though. The book misses something without that backstory.

This is not literature. The writing isn't great, and the story isn't particularly complex or meaningful. But the story is fun! I will be looking for Meyer's next book.

Really fun second installment. I was entertained from beginning to end. I was glad they had more women characters this time around and really liked the Atlantis concept. However, their use of "magic" was a little lacking. At points I was wondering why not just use magic here?

The first book in this series, while good, was sort of... basic in terms of plot. Lots of nerdy bits, cool magick system, but the plot seemed sorta rushed stopgap. But this one...

The author outdoes himself in this one though. It was laugh out loud funny at numerous points, he juggles two different nuanced romantic relationship, a whodunnit, and keeps track of the bad guy from the last one. It seems like a lot but Meyer has upgraded his craft since his first novel, and he manages to deftly weave the viewpoints of multiple characters together in order to tell the story.

Did I mention it's hilarious?

This book was awesome. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys eighties movies, monty python, or Terry Pratchett.

I was definitely excited to start this book, as I loved the first of this series, but was obviously a little worries that it would not live up to my then high expectations. Luckily, Spell or High Water proved to be another fun adventure, and again, satisfied the geeky wizard in me along with all the other weird parts of me that are normally hard to fulfill.