Attack the Geek is billed as a Ree Reyes Side-Quest and follows on in Michael R. Underwood’s Geekomancy urban fantasy series. As it happens; this is my first experience of the series, my first encounter with Ree and Geekomancy and therefore a bit of a gamble. It’s a gamble that paid off. I had no problem picking up the series here, discovering the characters and getting engaged. Now I want to go read the others.
One thing, though, I understand why this is called a “Side-Quest”. Attack the Geek is one extended scene. It’s all combat. In D&D 4 terms they burn through their Encounter Powers just to survive, struggle on their Dailies and then decide to press on without a break. Dangerous.
From the point of view of a roleplaying geek who’s not previously read any of Underwood’s Geekomancy series here’s what I’ve put together about the world. Magic is real and it’s activated by the right sort of geeks.
Ree Reyes is a barista gaming girl in a games-stores-meets-pub called Grognard’s. There’s a twist; Grognard’s is in the sewers and the patrons might be in the middle of a V:tES tournament but they have powers similar to some World of Darkness characters. Harry Dresden sprang to mind; he was a detective who happened to a wizard in a world with a secret underground of supernatural people.
In Underwood’s world the geeks get their power from geeking. Ree’s own levels in geekomancy means she can geek out over a Spider-man clip and pick up, for a while, his web-slinging powers. She can rip-up a copy of an early Fantastic Four comic book to get the power, briefly, of one of the Inhumans featured in it.
At the same time patrons include Magic the Gathering experts who can sacrifice their cards for a short burst of power in line with what the card represented. There are steampunk inventors who manage to make their somewhat odd machines actually work.
Ree Reyes is a gamer girl with her head screwed on straight and who holds her own in a world of geeks. She’s clearly a hero.
In Attack the Geek there’s an attack. The tournament in Grognard’s is interrupted when a horde of evil gnomes attempt to sweep in through the sewers. That’s just the start of it.
What follows is a great chance to name-check dozens of geekdoms, films and games. “I play that!” is a cry you get to indulge in while reading the book. It is “just” a Side-Quest though. The attack of Grognard and then the sally out from the sewers is pretty much the complete story. As any gamer knows; big battle scenes typically comes in waves and it is in those waves and the important pauses in between that you get to explore the mettle of characters, see who is up for the challenge and how they handle under pressure. The same is true for Ree and her friends.
I read Attack the Geek in a single day. I was up before dawn for a flight, read the first half of the book on my Kindle, spend all day locked in meetings, flew back just before midnight and read the second half in the air too. It was a welcome escape and a recharge. I fell asleep shortly after finishing the book only to be awoken by the landing. I think that speaks to the pacing and the ease of reading.
In conclusion; don’t just give Attack the Geek a go – give the series a go and let me know what you think.
My copy of Attack the Geek was provided for review.
