Geekomancy (Ree Reyes Series Book 1)

I hate to give negative reviews of fantasy works. The book is filled with fanboy references...Got it. Here is the bad news: the characters are one-dimensional, the action is "and then this happened", the plot is not cute or arresting.
Main character is hot without knowing it...kinda like "she's the one' meets any Buffy clone. And you get D&D type point references for each person. The point references get in the way of reading.
The magic system would have been a cool idea but the rules kept changing. Do we destroy an object, or do we just have to read it???? Or...did Ree just have to think about it? So confused
Finally, probably using teen suicides as the focus was not a good idea for a flippant treatment. Just saying...

This is a book for all true geeks. Crossing between Star Wars and comic books and Sherlock Holmes and every conceivable cool (pronounced geek) icon in between it's just a fun popcorn blast of a read. I challenge those who think their Geek-fu is mighty to catch every reference and trope in this book. The Closest thing I can compare this too would be Ernest Cline's Brilliant Ready Player One.
Not for literary snobs, this book is just about having fun with our beloved geek culture. Team Unicorn would approve.

It might sound weird, but I almost feel like this had too many geek references. Or maybe it was just the right amount but my heart wasn't in it?

Either way, it didn't quite hit the right note for me.

Geekomancy is an urban fantasy novel about Ree, a young woman who suddenly discovers that her city has an extensive occult underground, filled with eccentric sorcerers, sinister plots and breathtaking adventure. The main form of magic practiced is "geekomancy," the art of taking icons of geek culture and making them (partly and temporarily) real - giving yourself the abilities of a superhero, or imbuing a plastic toy with the ability to fire real phaser rounds.

It's a funny premise, but beneath it the book is reasonably competently written, but nothing more. There are no huge, glaring errors in plot or characterisation or description (though there are some things that jar. For one thing, for all that the story tells us that Ree is emotionally invested - scared, angry, concerned for others - her inner monologue comes off more as detached amusement than anything else. When she reacts to a fight against a demon and its undead minions with the same mix of stubborn determination and wincing annoyance as she shows at being late for work, it's hard to take the whole thing seriously). But nor is there anything in there but the absolute basics.

The story is absolutely peppered with geeky references, by premise, and by the fact that Ree seems to have an unconditional love for every single part of geek culture. The "unconditional" part actually turned me off a bit - she would have seemed more realistically geeky to me if she had absolutely hated Star Wars, or if she firmly denied that there were more than four seasons of Babylon 5. But that might be because that's the sort of geek I am, so that is how I expect other geeks to be too. Certainly I have met people as relentlessly positive as Ree in real life, so this part can be chalked up to personal taste.

Read the book if you like some fun urban fantasy adventure with a refreshingly un-angsty heroine and a decidedly odd magic system, and you don't mind that the presentation of it all is no more than adequate.

The story was good, fresh and interesting. Definitely a first novel, but it shows promise.

The main detractor for me was words or paragraphs (it is hard to be sure) missing from the kindle version.

I would be interested in seeing what comes next, but I would be extremely upset if the editing is like this book.

(Review first published at Goodreads by myself)
From the blurb and the cover this looked interesting, but somehow it is not gripping me, I will try to finish it soon. Nice twist at around 47%, but this does not save the book.
World-Building is made up on the fly and does not really work for me, it is not deep enough. Maybe Steampunk is not my Genre?! Heroine is great, though!
So, 3 stars it is, and I cannot honestly recommend it. Will probably not read the next one in the series. Was blended by the cover-girl, sorry I fell for it. It is a nice fluffy steam-punk fantasy, very little romance, and if all Steampunk-stories are like this, that genre is probably not for me (although does Clockwork Prince from The Infernal Devices-series count as Steampunk? liked that one a lot and still have the other 2 books in that series on my TBR-bought-pile) .

Imagine all your favorite sci-fi movies, fantasy tv shows, and comic books got all rolled into one. Now put them in a story about a girl finding her way through life. You can see why it would be so much fun if you use your imagination!
The author did just that. A creative mind he has to be able to make so many references and be in theme with the story. I really enjoyed it.
I also loved the flow of the tale. It had a beginning, middle and end, with much excitement and adventure along the way. There were also many characters and creatures too, which was nice.
A lot of people will like this book, especially if you have an inner geek.

3.5/5

Ree Reyes is a struggling screenwriter that is biding her time by working as a barista at Café Xombie. It's not a bad gig, and she loves the people, but life could be a little more exciting. Be careful what you wish for, because when Eastwood comes into her life, nothing will be the same. She manages to witness him fighting otherworld baddies in the alley outside the shop and is sucked into a world of all kinds of supernatural oddities. After overcoming her initial disbelief, Ree is asked to help him in his inquiries into recent teen suicides. Full on, geeky mayhem ensues.

I have to admit, while the author was setting up his magic system, and we were getting to know Ree, the near constant pop culture and "geek" references were distracting to me. They come hard, fast, and often. However, as I got into the flow of the book, and let myself go with said flow, I really had a quite a bit of fun with this one. The brand of magic (genre magic) used here is tons of fun. His characters can pick up magic abilities by watching moves or shows on whatever subject they need to use magic in conjunction with. Also, reading can do the same thing. For example, when Ree needs help with sleuthing, she watches Sherlock Holmes. With genre emulation, the more emotional attachment you have to the material, the more you get out of it. As Ree follows Eastwood, she meets all sorts of interesting folks, including some Geekomancers that give them a run for their money, Drake Winters, a displaced steampunk super hero, Furrymancers, and gnomes (probably not like you're picturing.) She also discovers that Eastwood might not be quite what he seems.

Can Ree stop the suicides? Will she manage to keep her job at Café Xombi amidst all the mayhem? Will she ever write that screenplay? You're in for a treat with this one, and I found myself especially enjoying it amidst all of the "darker" reads that I've been eating up lately, not to mention that the author validates my love for the 2005 movie Sahara and Steve Zahn. Evidently, I'm not the only one that liked it (I just knew I wasn't.) I hope you have as much fun with this one as I did, and I'll look forward to seeing what the author has up his geektastic sleeves next!

Ree is a lovely, geeky lady that sells comic books and lattes for a living. Her dream is to write a screenplay that takes off and launches her career. Until that happens she's content working at Cafe Xombie and hanging out with her friends. A strange customer comes into the comic book store one day and everything in Ree's life changes.

Ree's eyes are opened to magic and creatures that go bump in the night. After talking with Eastwood (the strange customer) she begins to submerge herself into that world. Ree quickly learns more about the powers available and the local hangouts/markets for people in the know. She then decides to help Eastwood solve who is behind the teen suicides.

I can honestly say I was surprised at who was behind the suicides. Geekomancy is a book that all geeks should be required to read. It pretty much collected all things geek and shoved it into a book and made it work. There were tons of references that I came to look forward to while reading. I highly recommend this book.

Originally posted at Bibliophilia, Please [...].

This book got me at the title. Geekomancy. Who wouldn't at least read the excerpt of a book which such a cool title? And that's just the tip of a can of awesome that doesn't stop until the last page.

In it, we follow the story of Ree, Rhiannon Anna Maria Reyes, as she stumbles/jumps into the rabbit whole and lands in a world full of geekyness. A world where all the fantasy books, memorabilia, props and toys have power. Power fueled by nostalgia and the love the fans provide to make them come to life. Like I said: Awesome.

Ree's introduction to this world comes at the hand of Eastwood (who I liked in the beginning, highly disliked in the middle, and ended up kind of liking again by the end [good writing right there]) and a troll, dead due to high levels of lightsaber to the kneecaps. And then it just got better.

The first two chapters are a bit slow, because they introduce us to Ree and the cast of friends, all described in D&D terms (Ree: Strength 10, Dexterity 14, Stamina 12, Will 17, IQ 16, and Charisma 15 - Geek 7 / Barista 3 / Screenwriter 2 / Gamer Girl 2). Each of the characters that play a role in the story gets introduced like this. And that's just a sample of all the geek in the book.

It's full of quotes, call backs, Serenity, Buffy, Superman, comics, werewolves, Jedi, coffee, drinking, evil dudes, a demon lord, monsters, a Victorian adventurer (who is great by the way), and so on and so on and so on... And so on.

It's very hard for me right now not to turn the Squee on and start babbling about how much I loved the book. Despite the fact that at least half of the geek references in it went over my head, I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I said it before, and I'll say it again: "Ree channeled Sherlock. She could punch a puppy in the face and drop kick a baby. I'd provide an alibi. It's that awesome!"

Ree's geekpower is Geekomancy, which means she can genre emulate. This means that she can watch a movie/series and gain powers based on them. Such as heightened deductive skills from watching Sherlock, mad fencing skills from watching The Princess Bride, action hero badassitude from watching Sahara. Wouldn't that be awesome!? YES! Yes it would. Rhetorical question, it would be awesome to the 10th power.

All of THAT is framed in a damn good urban fantasy setting which makes the whole geekomancy thing feel familiar, even though it's damn new and original. To me, anyway.

Teenage suicide seems to have a funky magic smell to it and Ree is drawn to help and figure out what's going on. Her curiosity and do-goodery gets the better of her at times, and she gets her ass handed to her more than once, but she keeps going until she figures it all out. As any good urban fantasy detective would. Sprinkle in a couple earth-shattering twists, increasingly insurmountable odds, low battery phone and even lower caffeine levels, and what do you get?

A really good book. Great characters. Amazing story-line. Rich world and magic system. Great writing. Just plain awesome. Ok. I'm done. Go read it and bask in the geekitude.

Rhiannon Anna Marta Reyes (or as everyone calls her - Ree), works at the Cafe Xombi (a cross between a coffee shop and a comic store) during the day and at night she is working on her unproduced screenplays. She is not your typical girl-next-door as she fits in as one of the geeks. She likes Firefly,Star Wars, Sherlock Holmes and all the Geeky trends out there.

Her life is average until a tall stranger enters her life. He calls himself Eastwood and she witnesses him killing a troll in the alley. Yep, a real live troll. Eastwood informs her of several teenagers that have been murdered and asks for her help in finding the supernatural killer/killers.

Does she agree to help him? Of course she does! Every geek dreams of being a superhero or a demon hunter, and now Rees gets to become one.

Being somewhat of a Geek myself, I enjoyed every bit of Geekomancy. The author did a wonderful job adding a variety of different television shows and pop culture references, such as Firefly, Batman, Star Wars, Community, Lie to Me, and even Sherlock Holmes. I saw a lot myself in the character Ree as she is an aspiring writer that likes anything geeky. I'm a Clint Eastwood fan so I loved the character named Eastwood. Geekomancy is an original, smart supernatural tale that never lets the plot become too dark or graphic, like the majority of other books on the market. I read the book straight through as I could not put it down. I recommend the book to supernatural fans or any reader that has a geeky side.

Full review at www DOT talkingsupe.com

GEEKOMANCY was such an adventure to read I felt like I took a virtual pilgrimage to ComicCon. And the story is not limited to the fanboy/fangirl but it appeals to every reader of fiction. We've all dreamed about getting warped into these worlds we read and talk about and MRUnderwood gave us that avenue to make those fantasies come true. In the world he created, you can be whoever and whatever you want to be as long as you put your heart and mind to it, very Stan Lee if you ask me. But don't take my word for it, read an excerpt and you'll understand why.

*copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I understand this series might not be everyone's cup of tea but for someone like me with a ridiculous amount of pop culture knowledge and useless trivia about television and movies, reading this book (and the others) was like having someone constantly thumbing down the "Pleasure Button" in the middle of my brain. The characters could use a bit more work so they don't fall into stereotypes, but otherwise it's a fun romp.