I stumbled across this book on Authonomy and enjoyed the first chapter so much I decided to buy the book for my kindle. Simon is a computer technician, and self-professed geek, who is in turns shocked and overjoyed when he is told he is a wizard. He doesn't get a lot of time to enjoy this revelation though as his mentor is kidnapped on the first day of his apprenticeship and he is left with a sentient book and a demon with an attitude, named Sal, to help him save the world. Getting himself on the Wanted list in pretty short time doesn't improve matters much! Will he be able to get his potential Familiar, Charlotte, on side, figure out how to travel between the moon and earth undetected and prevent oblivion?
The tone of the book is quite conversational and Simon is so self-deprecating I found him likeable and felt like a friend was chatting to me. I also really enjoyed sweet Familiar Charlotte and grumpy Sal. Overall the book is written with a humorous edge and doesn't take itself too seriously. It's just silly enough without undermining the story.
There are some scenes I loved while others I have to admit left me a bit confused. In places I didn't find it totally clear who was doing what and why, and a bit more clarity would have been welcome. One thing that jarred a bit was the continuous references to the iPhone, at times it felt more like product placement than anything else. My final minor moan would be that the formatting isn't great. There are some large gaps between paragraphs and I noticed a few places were just a sentence or couple of words were in the middle of a great bit space.
Despite a few little niggles this book has a real charm about it and a few changes by the author could make it even better. On the strength of the characters and the fun of it I think it has to be a 4* for me.
Format: Kindle, bought by me
My Rating: 4*
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