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WebMage (Ravirn, Book 1) Mass Market Paperback – July 25, 2006

by Kelly McCullough (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 140 ratings
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Magic gets an upgrade in the first WebMage novel featuring a computer savvy sorcerer...

Ravirn is not your average computer geek. A child of the Fates—literally—he’s a hacker extraordinaire who can zero in on the fatal flaw in any program. Now that twenty-first-century magic has gone digital that makes him a very talented sorcerer. But a world of problems is about to be downloaded on Ravirn—who’s just trying to pass his college midterms.

Great Aunt Atropos, one of the three Fates, decides that humans having free will is really overrated and plans to rid herself of the annoyance—by coding a spell into the Fate Core, the server that rules destiny. As a hacker, Ravirn is a big believer in free will, and when he not only refuses to debug her spell but actively opposes her, all hell breaks loose.

Even with the help of his familiar Melchior, a sexy sorceress (who’s also a mean programmer), and the webgoblin underground, it’s going to be a close call...
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Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 5
    WebMage
  2. Print length
    310 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Ace
  5. Publication date
    July 25, 2006
  6. Dimensions
    4.2 x 0.82 x 6.76 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0441014259
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0441014255
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Remember the Fates, those ancient Greek spinners, weavers and snippers of life's threads? They're back in McCullough's original and outstanding debut, and still ruling destiny—but with their own digital web, based on a server called the Fate Core. Power-hungry as ever, they've coded a spell to eliminate human free will. Unluckily for them, one of their demigod descendants is a cheerfully rebellious hacker-sorcerer named Ravirn who, when not studying for college midterms, likes to mess around on their web with the help of his familiar, Melchior, who can change from a goblin to a laptop. Ravirn and Melchior, let loose in McCullough's delightfully skewed and fully formed world—much like our own, but with magic, paranormally advanced technology and Greek gods—set out to thwart Ravirn's "great-to-the-nth-degree aunt[s]," careening from one discovery to another, enlisting unlikely allies and narrowly evading destruction at the hands of both Fates and Furies. McCullough handles his plot with unfailing invention, orchestrating a mixture of humor, philosophy and programming insights that give new meaning to terms as commonplace as "spell checker" and esoteric as "programming in hex." Though a preponderance of techie-talk may put off some readers, this is the kind of title that could inspire an army of rabid fans; it's a good thing a sequel is planned for 2007. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Although it's yet another variation on mythological creatures interacting with IT, this fast-paced, action-packed yarn is a lot of fun. Ravirn, the multi-great-grandson of the Fate Lachesis (who measures the thread of life), is in trouble. Great-aunt Atropos (who cuts it) has decided that human free will is a great nuisance. She plans to get rid of it by coding a spell into the Fate Core, the server that rules destiny. But there's a problem with the spell. Dedicated hacker Ravirn can catch the fatal flaw in any software but refuses to debug it, in fact is determined to defeat the project. All Hades breaks loose and starts pursuing him. His only allies are his familiar, his gorgeous cousin (a mean programmer herself), and the webgoblin underground. Then Discord and the Furies get involved. McCullough has done an excellent job of weaving myth, magic, IT jargon, and the English language into a bang-up story. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace; Reprint edition (July 25, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 310 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0441014259
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0441014255
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.2 x 0.82 x 6.76 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 140 ratings

About the author

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Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough

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Kelly McCullough was raised and educated by free-range hippies. Later he received a degree in theater and worked in improv. That combination was the perfect preparation for his current career as author and cat herder. He lives and writes in the Midwest with his physics-professor wife, Laura. He enjoys hiking and biking and his role as self-heating cat furniture. He is the author of the WebMage and Fallen Blade series and School For Sidekicks. More information can be found at his website www.kellymccullough.com.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
140 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Detra Fitch
5.0 out of 5 stars Out-freaking-standing!
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2006
Verified Purchase
Magic has kept up with the times, changing as the world does. So of course magic has gone digital. The three Fates are sisters. Lachesis is the absolute dictator of the Fate family. She measures each life thread. Clotho is the spinner of destiny. She decides the destiny of each. Atropos is the cutter of threads. When her shears cut a thread, the life depending upon it dies, cut off from life.

Prince Ravirn, of the House of Lachesis, is a junior in Classics and Computer Science and his college midterms are looming in the near future. As a child of a Fate, descended from Lachesis's blood line, he is far from your average computer whiz. He is a wizard at hacking viruses and programs. He can zero in on any flaw and manipulate it to his desires. That talent is what causes Great Aunt Atropos to summon him.

Atropos is out to crush free will of mankind. To do this she has spelled a digital virus called Puppeteer. She needs Ravirn to debug the program before she downloads it into the Fate Core. The Fate Core is the place where the destiny of every living thing is laid out. From inside you can rewrite that destiny. However, Ravirn is all for free will. He not only refuses to debug the spell, but actively opposes her.

By Ravirn's side is Melchior "Mel", his webgoblin/familiar. Mel can shapeshift into a sleek lap top or into a blue goblin form. Also with him is Cerice, a sexy sorceress who happens to also be a mean programmer. With Cerice is her webgoblin/familiar, Shara. Problem is that no matter how Cerice feels about Ravirn, there are times she must wonder if Ravirn is working with dysfunctional motherboard for a brain. Lastly, there is the webgoblin underground. But to go against all three Fates, as well as the Furies and other relatives is difficult, to say the least. Ravirn's destiny is now uncertain and it may take all the power of Orion to stop Puppeteer.

***** It has finally happened. Someone has crossed the genres of sci-fi and fantasy to create a magical world that has modern (futuristic) computer hackers. Since I love to play online RPGs and mess around with computers (never mind how), reading this novel was a MUST! I am happy to say that I am in no way disappointed. Author Kelly McCullough has taken characters out from the darkness of mythology and brought them into the light of the modern digital age. Deciding to use a child of the Fates is not unique; however, this magical/digitalized twist is. Out-freaking-standing! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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bookaddict01
4.0 out of 5 stars It's enjoyable
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2006
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I read this book several weeks ago and I don't remember it too clearly since I have read so many other books in the meantime. But I will review since there isn't that many reviews on it.

I do remember enjoying the book. No, the coding talk does not bother me. I didn't have to understand it to enjoy the book. It doesn't get in the way at all. And yes, I agree it was a bit sappy with the main character being a love-sick character and all. That's what made me give it a 4 instead of 5. We could have done without that whole angle although normally I like a touch of romance but it just wasn't that well done. I really did like the story and the action. It's inventive. I like the hobglobins who can turn into laptops.

So Ravi is the great great to the n-th degree grandson of the middle Fate sister, the one who measures your thread. He discovers a plot by one of the other Fates to end human freedom because the Fates like order and freedom is just a kink in order. Also, the Goddess of Discord has already made a move to stop his great great something aunt. He was mistaken for breaking through the Fate's security and trying to mess up her plan because he was planning to stop her and was there when it happened. So now one of the Fates is after him. Along the way, he manages to kill a couple of relatives and get himself further into trouble. Now all the Fates want him dead including his own great grandmother. The Furies are after him. Lots of action. It is also a light quick read. There's not that many deep meanings and mysteries to this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Med
5.0 out of 5 stars A great ride!
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2006
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This book is a treat, and I'm looking forward to a sequel!

I have read Kelly McCullough's short fiction, and was looking forward to seeing his novel. WebMage did not disappoint! The action is constant, the characters are real and accessible. This book kept me up nights - for all the right reasons.

As for the problems some readers had with the book:

I know nothing about coding except that it's based on zeros and ones. That didn't stop me from enjoying WebMage.

Also, I have loved reading Zelazney for years, but found the Amber novels too scattered. I like WebMage better.
3 people found this helpful
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Asphalt Jungle Guide
3.0 out of 5 stars Something missing.
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2007
Verified Purchase
On a technical level (no pun intended), this book is well-written, plotted, and structured. It had a pretty hefty theme of free will vs. fate, and it tends to dominate all else. Sometimes, I had the feeling that the characters' motivations for various actions had more to do with the theme than anything arising from their own natures. This includes the romance, and much of the male lead's behavior. The times he goes into flowery high court mode read false and contrived, as if he were reciting something he memorized but didn't really understand and wasn't all that interested in.

Strike one for romance.

There's a lot of hardcore net geekery (to a very casual user like me, anyway) that often made me skim long sections rather than read. That was something of an occupational hazard, I knew it was going to be a techno-magic fantasy. Still got boring.

The characters' appeareances were cliched (c'mon, pointed ears? Just because they were descended from the Fates? And how, exactly, did that happen? There's *nothing* in the mythology that indicates the Fates had consorts, so how exactly did they get these century-sprawling bloodlines?)

Strike two. It helps when the reader can understand the setting and the magic system.

Lastly--I honestly didn't *care* about any of the characters. I wasn't all that bothered by Fate winning, or Eris' predicament, or the fate of the young lovers. The hero was brash and daring because Hacker Heroes should be iconoclasts. The heroine was fierce and devoted and equally predictable.

It's an intelligent book, a decent read for the money, but I don't consider it a keeper.
13 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Laynee
5.0 out of 5 stars Die besten Programmierer sitzen im Olymp! #cops'n'robbers #cyberhackage #greekgods #dramedy #magicnoir #scifi-fantasy
Reviewed in Germany on July 31, 2015
Verified Purchase
Kurz gesagt: Fun, Fun, Fun. eine völlig andere Art von Fantasy, in der sich IT-Slang, Geek-ismus und griechische Mythologie vermischen.
Mich erinnerte so Einiges an "WebMage" an Aaronovitchs PC Peter Grant-Bücher - wie die Stimme der Ich-Erzählung, der talentierte Grünschnabel, der durch die Gegend stolpert und eine Menge dabei umschmeißt, die starken weiblichen Nebendarstellerinnen (von ein paar Schlägertypen abgesehen haben wir einen fast vollständig weiblichen Cast an Antagonisten!) und natürlich die halsbrecherische, atemlose Geschwindigkeit der Action.
Unser hauptdarstellender Bad Boy Ravirn ist allerdings weit mehr der Typ Unfugstifter, faul im Studium (deswegen auch schon aus ein paar Unis geflogen), aber ein sehr begabter und kreativer Hacker, seit er im zarten Alter von sechs Jahren seine ersten Codes geknackt hat. Sein X-fache Urgroßmutter Lachesis, eine der drei Schicksalsgöttinnen, hegt große Hoffnungen für ihn, hat aber zunehmend die Nase voll von seinen Eskapaden und droht ihm mit der asketischen Klosterschule. Dumm nur, dass ausgerechnet ihre Schwester Atropos Ravirn Druck macht, einen Code zu debuggen, den sie geschrieben hat, um der Menschheit den freien Willen zu rauben - und da Atropos diejenige ist, die die Schere in der Hand hält, mit der für jeden der Schicksalsfaden abgeschnitten wird, ist das ein Job, den man nicht einfach mal so eben stumpf ablehnt. Angebot, das man nicht ablehnen kann, und so ...
Mit seinem Helferlein, dem Webkobold/Laptop (zum Schießen!!!) Melchior, seiner Flamme und Co-Hackerin Cerise und deren Webkobold Shara sowie ein paar Webtroll-Komplizen muss Ravirn wirklich alles geben, um den Göttinnen des Schicksals, der Zwietracht und der Notwendigkeit immer einen Schritt voraus und aus den rachsüchtigen Krallen der Furien zu bleiben.
Wenn es einen Punkt gibt, den ich kritisieren würde, ist das Ravirns gelegentlich unfassbare Begriffsstutzigkeit - für so einen intelligenten Kerl braucht er wirklich eeeeeeewig lange, bis bei ihm mal der Groschen fällt und er ein Konzept begreift oder sich an ein Hintertürchen erinnert, das man als Leser schon vor Kapiteln gesehen hat. Aber hey, sowas streichelt mir das Leserego, also nehmen wir's als Kompliment und genießen zur Abwechslung mal dieses Gefühl von Weisheit und Vorausschau.
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