Book Review: Tech Mage (Magitech Chronicles Book 1)

A wonderful mashup of science fiction and fantasy

The Magitech Chronicles - Book 1: Tech Mage by Chris Fox, self published in 2017.

This was a recommendation when I asked AI for suggestions on comp titles for my new series, Legacy of Ash and Smoke. I wanted something that focused on blending fantasy and magic with science fiction, no or minimal romance, and strong found family themes. This book was spot on for that.

Space dragons, magical power armour, a tight-knit group (eventually), all-powerful warring gods, and end of the universe stakes, this book has it all.

It took a little bit for me to get into it. I mostly put that down to the use of the amnesia trope, which is… not a favourite. It opens with the main character not knowing anything about himself other than his own name, and even that he quickly learns was given to him by the person responsible for his memory wipe. He’s then immediately sent into battle.

While this is a high octane, bombastic way to open a novel, showing off both the tech and magic, it didn’t really get me to care about the character or worry about whether he lived or died. It took about 1/3 to 1/2 the novel for me to really get a feel for who he was and to start getting invested in both him and his squadmates.

This was a very plot-driven book and quite fast-paced. The action scenes were very well written and drew me along with just enough description to be able to see what’s happening, while at the same time not so much that it slows the pace down. That’s definitely something that can be said about this book: it’s pacey! There’s not a lot of downtime. I do wish there were just a few more scenes of the squad simply interacting with each other in their downtime, but it’s also a very short novel, only 265 pages according to Amazon (I read it on my e-reader).

I didn’t take too many notes while reading it, but I did make a couple of highlights worth mentioning.

Aran tumbled away from the majesty and power, secrets slipping from his mind like oxygen from a hull breach. He shivered, cold and barren in the wake of all that power.

I really loved the imagery here. This occurs when Aran touches his mind with a god. For all that Aran has no idea who he is (and we don’t know who he is either), the fact that he can relate the sensation ‘oxygen from a hull breach’ is telling in that it shows us he’s been in space before, been in space combat specifically, if he knows what it looks like or feels like for oxygen to escape a hull breach. And the language was just beautiful.

“Sir, if we could avoid a repeat of last time, when the Krox played gank the healer, I’d appreciate it,” Bord panted into the comm.

This had me laughing. Okay, it was a bit of a fourth wall break since “gank the healer” is a gaming term and, if they have computer games like we do in this world, they haven’t been mentioned before now, but I still found this funny. FYI, the Krox are the bad guys and Bord is, as you probably guessed, the squad’s healer. And he just recovered from being, shall we say, flattened by the Krox in the previous fight.

I’m not sure if this breaking of the fourth wall was intentional or not, but I don’t mind it on occasion, like in this situation. But I guess it could annoy some people.

“You want a piece, you scaly piece of space bacon?” Crewes roared from below.

This was another line that had me literally laughing out loud. I admit, I’m a bit of a sucker for combat banter and one-upmanship like this. One of my favourite scenes in Lord of the Rings is where Gimli and Legolas are competing against each other for orc kills (“That still only counts as one!” remains my favourite line of the whole trilogy of movies). And the fact that this squadmate, who is basically a walking tank in his armour, is referring to a massive, world-destroying space dragon as “scaly piece of space bacon” is hilarious to me.

All in all, this was a fun read and, if you’re interested, they are on Amazon KU or to buy for very cheap, and it’s well worth it if you want a fast-paced sci-fi military action book.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Do you have any suggestions on other similar books I should read? Let me know in the comments!

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If you want to read my own fiction, Salt and Ice, you can buy it from my website, or from any retailer (and if your preferred one isn’t listed, just let me know and I’ll endeavour to make sure it’s available there too!). I’m now a wide author so I want to make sure my work is available everywhere!