The Flux ('Mancer)

Ok so here's the thing: I have the kind of anxiety that made me, as a child, hide behind the living room chair when I watched Scooby Doo. I was the avid reader who drank down any book she was handed, but who kept Stephen King's It locked in the living room closet with a chair in front of it between readings. I don't do drama well.I especially don't do "people make choices that I wouldn't have made and it ends badly for them" well. I have nightmares about the characters. I worry about them.I loved Paul Tsabo in Flex, and I adored Valentine, and everything that happened to Aliyah made my heart ache. It was an action-oriented romp with characters I could easily fall in with who won the day. (If you haven't read it yet, go fix that.)And the first part of The Flux had my action adventure and my characters, older, different, but definitely themselves....But because they were older and changed, they weren't getting along so well and while every one of them was making decisions that seemed right to *them* at the time, they seemed *wrong* to me, so by the time I finished Part 1 I had to put the book away for a few days. I'm still not sure if it was so I could spin down or whether I was punishing them -- sending the book to its room so to speak -- before I picked it back up.Parts two and three were much more like Flex, but couldn't have happened if Part 1 hadn't set it up. And they still led to me tweeting the author with page numbers and "GODDAMMIT [character]" as they continued to make bad choices.If Flex was about learning the universe, The Flux was about learning the characters, and as much as that is *totally* not my thing, between pages 167 and the end I couldn't put it down.And the characters *did* learn their lessons and they *did* get their s*** straight and I'm *still* going to worry about them when I go to bed tonight, but that's why we read -- well, one of a thousand important reasons, but a good one.Thank you Mr. Steinmetz and I look forward to the next one.

So often the middle book in a trilogy feels like... I don't know, a slow train to the next stop.That is certainly not the case with the 'Mancer series. Not only is Flux just as eventful and entertaining as the first and last books, it is also entirely necessary. Characters grow in so-very-human ways. Events happen which don't only move along the story, but build a more solid world overall.This is the only series I've ever given my friends a money-back promise on--if they read it, and didn't like it... I'd buy it from them and pass it along/donate it. I know at least six people read it, and I didn't have to pay any of them.(Read Flux first. Read Fix after--I promise you'll want to.)

The first book in this series, Flex, was the first book I read after recovering from brain surgery. It was the first book that grabbed my attention well enough to actually keep my attention so that I could continue to read. It will always hold a special place in my heart.The Flux is a fantastic sequel, better written with an even more solid story, and the characters become even more fleshed out. I read this book quickly, devouring each page one after the other and then went back and read it again, a second time, more slowly, taking my time and enjoying the descriptions, the underplay, any foreshadowing I had missed my first time through.If you've read and enjoyed Flex, you'll love The Flux. If you haven't read Flex yet and you love great characters, unique magic systems, and stories that will pull on your heartstrings (and make you laugh, cry, wince with the characters), then pick up Flex and read it. Then get The Flux and read this because it's even better.

This book is a fantastic sequel to the first book in the series, The Flex. I suggest reading The Flex first for a good background on what's going on (though some folks tell me you can read it as a stand-alone) this is a great continuance and a wonderful look at a family caught up in magical drama.I read this book after some major brain surgery - I wasn't able to read for a while and this was the first book that gripped me enough to work through things. So that should say something.

I didn't open this book the instant I got it because I knew that if it was anything like Steinmetz's last book I would end up devouring it in a single sitting. I was correct to wait. It wasn't merely as good as Flex. It was better. It was everything I like in a sequel and more. You can read it as a stand-alone novel if you haven't read Flex. The characters continue their development and the story is extremely compelling. The scenarios the people find themselves in have you on the edge of your seat because the writing is so good that you find yourself genuinely caring for these people and cheering (and despairing) along with them as the story progresses. I had to run a couple of errands during the day that I read this book and, atypically for me, I found I could not leave it at home; instead opting to take it with me so I could continue reading a page here or there in any little downtime I had while I was away from home.I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I've even already bought a second copy to give as a gift.

I enjoyed the book, but did not think it was quite as good as Flex. I really thought the scenes in the Institute dragged on too long and then were wrapped up too abruptly in the end. The ending almost felt like it was written differently than the middle section of the book, felt like the book maybe was a little too short or something and was padded or edited differently in the middle.The story itself did move along OK, with several set piece fights and confrontations. We learn more about the world the stories are set in and some more information on what happened to Europe and why it happened. Really not much change in the main characters compared to what was happening at the end of Flex. I did not note any real growth or change in them which was a little disappointing.