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mxsallybend's review
3.0
For his second John Golden tale, Django Wexler adds another layer to his cyberpunk magical fantasy. We already have a world in which fairies inhabit the internet, infecting networks with their magical burrows, but Heroes of Mazaroth kind of turns that mix on its head, with a fairy Dark Lord who has escaped a MMPORG, tired of beating off human players who only re-spawn a few hours later, to infect a company's intranet.
This is a very strange sort of clash of cyberpunk and urban fantasy, with a noir detective style of narration, but it works. It's also a remarkably funny story, with much of the humour driven by John's assistant, trapped inside his laptop, who provides running commentary on his narration through footnotes.
The Dark Lord feels like a Monty Python sort of character, a tired, bored, frustrated fairy who just wants to be left alone. He understands the tropes and the stereotypes, is entirely self-aware of how poorly his costume and his lair adhere to those standards, and gets entirely far too excited at the prospect of bigger spikes, darker leather, and volcano lairs full of blood. Watching John take his place in the game is fun, but it's when he encounters a human player who recognizes that he's more than just a re-spawned villain that the story gets really interesting.
More short story than novella, Heroes of Mazaroth is a perfect length - long enough to satisfy, but not so long as to overstay the humour of its welcome. It also works perfectly fine as a standalone tale, so don't worry if you haven't read the first John Golden tale.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
This is a very strange sort of clash of cyberpunk and urban fantasy, with a noir detective style of narration, but it works. It's also a remarkably funny story, with much of the humour driven by John's assistant, trapped inside his laptop, who provides running commentary on his narration through footnotes.
The Dark Lord feels like a Monty Python sort of character, a tired, bored, frustrated fairy who just wants to be left alone. He understands the tropes and the stereotypes, is entirely self-aware of how poorly his costume and his lair adhere to those standards, and gets entirely far too excited at the prospect of bigger spikes, darker leather, and volcano lairs full of blood. Watching John take his place in the game is fun, but it's when he encounters a human player who recognizes that he's more than just a re-spawned villain that the story gets really interesting.
More short story than novella, Heroes of Mazaroth is a perfect length - long enough to satisfy, but not so long as to overstay the humour of its welcome. It also works perfectly fine as a standalone tale, so don't worry if you haven't read the first John Golden tale.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
marklpotter's review
3.0
As with the first book in this series I enjoyed every word. My only real complaint is how short these stories are. I would love to see John Golden get a full novel treatment and I would love to see Sarah's processes get some more page time. The sucked in to a video game trope is handled extremely well and using it as a basis for negotiating with fairies only made it even more humorous. John Golden is such a fun character that there just isn't enough of. These are great stories for those in between times when none of your series has new books out or you just need a break from books that take themselves way too seriously.
bibliotropic's review
4.0
When I first read John Golden: Freelance Debugger, I knew that there was no way that I wouldn’t end up continuing with this series of novellas. The are, to be blunt, hilarious and fun and very creative, with the titular character John Golden being someone whose job it is to clear fairies out of computer systems in a seamless melding of sci-fi and urban fantasy.
This time, John’s tasked with removing a faerie in such a way that it’s more like rehoming it than outright forcing it away. This would be a tricky enough task on its own, but John and Sarah find themselves in the odd predicament of having to do so in a way that makes relative sense within the storyline of the popular MMORPG, Heroes of Mazaroth (think World of Warcraft), since the faerie in question is also a boss battle within the game. Creative solution abound, plus the added amusement of watching Sarah pretend that she doesn’t completely love the game despite what she claims. (Gamers in denial… There ought to be a support group for that.)
The fairy, the Dark Lord Anaxomander, is one that you can’t help but love. Locked in the role of a boss in the game, Anaxomander is tired of constantly dying and respawning and not actually getting anywhere with his life or plans, and so escapes out a back door into a new system, setting up the new lair which causes the problems that John is called in to deal with in the first place. He’s a slave to stereotypes, talking about the decorative benefit of lava and dried blood in his dark dungeon of darkness (did I mention that he’s a Dark Lord?), his depression coming across in comical terms rather than serious ones.
As before, the story shines because of the dual perspective. John as the primary protagonist and the main narrator of the story, and Sarah providing snark and commentary as the story goes on. Sarah is, in many ways, the mental commentary of a somewhat snarky reader, saying what many of us are thinking without having to rely on John to awkwardly nitpick his own actions. She’s in a perfect position to do this, essentially being a spirit in a laptop who is always along for the ride and to help John with his work, and honestly, a good percentage of the reason these novellas have been so enjoyable for me is because of her comments.
Wexler’s writing is sharp, his characters a treat to read, and the humour is right on the ball. Twice now I’ve read John Golden novellas and been left wanting more, and it’s pretty much a guarantee at this point that I will continue with this series until Wexler stops writing it. They’re excellent stories to revitalize the reading spirit, light and full of geeky laughter. Definitely read these novellas when — not if — you can!
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
This time, John’s tasked with removing a faerie in such a way that it’s more like rehoming it than outright forcing it away. This would be a tricky enough task on its own, but John and Sarah find themselves in the odd predicament of having to do so in a way that makes relative sense within the storyline of the popular MMORPG, Heroes of Mazaroth (think World of Warcraft), since the faerie in question is also a boss battle within the game. Creative solution abound, plus the added amusement of watching Sarah pretend that she doesn’t completely love the game despite what she claims. (Gamers in denial… There ought to be a support group for that.)
The fairy, the Dark Lord Anaxomander, is one that you can’t help but love. Locked in the role of a boss in the game, Anaxomander is tired of constantly dying and respawning and not actually getting anywhere with his life or plans, and so escapes out a back door into a new system, setting up the new lair which causes the problems that John is called in to deal with in the first place. He’s a slave to stereotypes, talking about the decorative benefit of lava and dried blood in his dark dungeon of darkness (did I mention that he’s a Dark Lord?), his depression coming across in comical terms rather than serious ones.
As before, the story shines because of the dual perspective. John as the primary protagonist and the main narrator of the story, and Sarah providing snark and commentary as the story goes on. Sarah is, in many ways, the mental commentary of a somewhat snarky reader, saying what many of us are thinking without having to rely on John to awkwardly nitpick his own actions. She’s in a perfect position to do this, essentially being a spirit in a laptop who is always along for the ride and to help John with his work, and honestly, a good percentage of the reason these novellas have been so enjoyable for me is because of her comments.
Wexler’s writing is sharp, his characters a treat to read, and the humour is right on the ball. Twice now I’ve read John Golden novellas and been left wanting more, and it’s pretty much a guarantee at this point that I will continue with this series until Wexler stops writing it. They’re excellent stories to revitalize the reading spirit, light and full of geeky laughter. Definitely read these novellas when — not if — you can!
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
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