Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension Book 1)

First things first, a warning for those checking the reviews: This story has same-sex relationships and an asexual character front and center in the cast, and the usual "I'm not homophobic but why does it have to be gay, huh?" / "Why doesn't he like sex, this is dumb" suspects have left a number of low-star reviews. Adjust the rating up a few tenths for a more accurate picture of the book's quality. When I first saw the title "Sufficiently Advanced Magic" I warily expected a hard sci-fi-esque magitech world full of system-breaking loopholes for the protagonist to exploit and a Rational^TM protagonist. I was pleasantly surprised to instead find a much gentler application of the inverse of Clarke's Third Law, "sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology". The story simply takes place in a setting where magic is commonplace enough to be just 'how the world works', with a lovingly rendered magic system and economy that simply feels like an organic picture of how things would work with magic as a resource. And while the main character (Corin) is endlessly seeking loopholes and ways to exploit magical interactions, it feels like the excited explorations of an eager and dedicated student rather than Rational^TM munchkinry. At times the examinations of the world and its (very detailed) magic system might drag on for some, but I personally enjoyed the heck out of it. And, well, you're picking up a book titled Sufficiently Advanced Magic. You know exactly what you're getting into. Speaking of Corin though, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this world through his eyes. Fight scenes are a lot of fun with him, a good mix of analytical and exciting. The story spends time on how he puts in the work to build his skills with magic and combat and none of it feels like wasted time, and it makes the stuff he accomplishes later feel earned. If you don't "get" anxiety some of how he deals with stuff might be frustrating to you, but I found his anxiety very relatable, very well written, and very well handled as he slowly learns to manage it as best he can. I also loved seeing him grow into relationships with his fellow students. It was very satisfying. The relationships in this book (both platonic and romantic) were also one of my favorite parts of the book. Little of it is explosive drama or sweeping romance or deep tragedy. Rather the focus of interpersonal relationships in this book was something subtler, that a lot of books take for granted. It spends its time lingering on the steady building of respect, on fixing mistakes and earning trust, and on learning to open up. The story takes its time establishing the kind of deep committed relationships that last a lifetime and doesn't shy away from spending the time to develop characters who can continue growing with one another as the story progresses. Especially as this series progresses into its second book, the groundwork it takes the time to lay pays off. If I had to pick a theme for the book that mattered to me most as I read it, it would be "constructive". That's the fantasy is delivers on best I think, the idea of putting the work in and becoming better for it, of using magic to *create*, of putting in the work to build martial skills, and of building solid foundations for meaningful lifelong relationships. It's got a "we're going to make something better, together" vibe to it and I like that. Will you like this book? Well, the story has Corin gaining enchanter abilities, rather than a combat oriented magic like his father wants him to be. If you would be disappointed to get the "tinker with and make neat stuff" powers rather than the "kick ass and take names" powers, you might be disappointed with this book. But if that sounds appealing to you, if the idea of being a support artificer who fundamentally needs friends to be effective sounds like your cup of tea, I think you'll like this book. P.S. Corin is constantly saying "I need to research that later" and then not having time to do so, and let me tell you as a graduate student I felt called out. There was no call to come after me like that. Negative 5/5 stars, *too* relatable.

Corin Cadence is a young man with an impossible task: He essentially must bring his brother back from the dead in order to restore his broken family. Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe tells the tale from Corin’s perspective as he comes of age by passing the test in which his brother vanished half a decade before. Upon passing the test, Corin joins an elite group of citizens with access to mystic powers granted by a goddess and her mysterious towers. As he begins schooling to understand and properly harness this power, he becomes more and more embroiled in the machinations of mortals and immortals alike. I very much enjoyed Sufficiently Advanced Magic and recommend it. The story is well constructed; I thought it rewarding for readers who pay close attention without losing the more casual audience. Rowe does an exceptional job exhibiting the world around Corin while maintaining a good pace for both story and action. For me, the end result was more, “just one more chapter” promises than was probably wise. I’d get that those lost hours of sleep back eventually, right? Rowe’s characters are well developed, though not overly so, falling into that sweet spot between vague and specific that I think best nurtures a sense of sympathy. I particularly liked the well defined magic system. As Corin learned the in’s and out’s, it allowed me to better understand the system and how it might impact the lives of those around it. Contrary to many fantasy magic systems, the basics of magic in Valia are public knowledge. I feel like this allows a different kind of story that is more the exception than the norm. The magic system was well enough defined that it could easily develop into a computer game. That aspect was a bit of a double edged sword for me - one aspect in particular broke me out of the narrative. When a magically attuned character reaches the next “level” of access, they undergo a magical metamorphosis that seemed too much like a game. A certain amount of uncertainty contributes to the trials that our hero's face on a day to day basis. The certainty of the leveling actually made me think, “Oh, it’s a save point.” It was cute - even a shout out to us computer geeks - but seemed out of place in the grander scheme of things. There were two other items that rubbed me the wrong way, as well. First, our 17 year old protagonist is preternaturally calm under pressure. Even when suffering trauma that can be more than fairly described as life threatening, he rarely ever seems to loose his cool. It may be an intentional aspect of his rather quirky personality, but for me it required more suspension of my disbelief than the magic did. The second was that there were a few characters that are introduced with the suggestion that they are important to the social circle in which Corin and his classmates run, but they don’t seem to notably resurface. It felt a little like the gun was still sitting on the mantle. For me, Roland was the gun. It’s likely that he will play a larger role in subsequent books, but for this initial offering, his presence seemed more mistake than mysterious. Minor concerns aside, though, Sufficiently Advanced Magic was a wonderful read that I often could not put down. It plucked the right strings and drew me into a comfortable, enjoyable story.

This book was great, very entertaining fantasy book with a great magic system, young characters which are my favorites since they can have a lot of character. An amazing plot with all the right twists and great development. I feel the characters could have been more fleshed, but i think the next books can fix that. Some people may complain about too much exposition, but it felt right to me. Also that 1 year cliffhanger is killing me.

After finishing the Cradle series by Will Wight , I didn't think I'd find a series just as good. I am glad I stumbled upon this. Can't wait to finish the story

great fantasy book from an amazing indie self-published author.

Lots of twists turns and love the whole mmorpg sort of layout of the book. I would have liked to see more of the interpersonal relationships between the main characters but other than that i loved it and would definitely recommend it to anyone with a love for reading fantasy. It's unique and has a solid base for continuing the story.

A very good read the story is very strong and well written and ideas in the story is strong and quite unique witch I like.