I had an inkling I hated the book but I’d forgotten why. Upon re-reading, I remembered. The protagonist is too stupid to live. ( )

The first book in the follow up trilogy to Heartstrikers.   It does say at the beginning of this book that you don't need to have read Heartstrikers to enjoy this trilogy, but there's so much in this book that is predicated on what happened in Heartstrikers and i really think you'd be missing out on a whole lot of background and enjoyment if you didn't read Heartstrikers first.

Plus the fact, Heartstrikers, although tedious in places, is a really good yarn and just worth reading for it's own sake.

So, anyway, this trilogy begins a few years after the events of Heartstrikers and the DFZ is now relatively calmed down after all those shenanigans.   Part of the being relatively calm is that the spirit of the DFZ has become rather strict on her tenants and anyone a month late in their rent gets their place cleaned out by "cleaners" and taken back by the DFZ to rent to someone else.

Basically, there are auctions twice a day for places to clean, and the cleaners go and bid for them.   Whatever is in a place then becomes the property of the cleaner who wins the auction for it.   The cleaner also has one month to get the place to the standards the DFZ sets to rent it out again.   If it's not fit for re-rental in that month the cleaner has to pay that month's rent.

A bit like those people who buy storage units, but with magic traps and all kinds of other weird stuff lurking around.

This book is about one of those cleaners.   A cleaner who owes a lot of money and who keeps winning auctions on places that fail to turn a profit.

But maybe, this one day, her luck is about to change and she can pay off her debts and be free.   Or maybe not, you'll just have to read and see.

It's really good.   And all those tedious bits i kept moaning about in the Heartstrikers books, the ones that kept slowing the pace down, well they aren't in this book.   And those tedious bits were my only complaint about Rachel's writing before.   So yeah, super good stuff and i dived straight into book 2, Part Time Gods. ( )

Wasn't as good as the first series, but looking back the first book of that wasn't it's best ether. So I'd say its worth reading and giving the next a try. ( )

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Minimum Wage Magic

Being a cleaner may not be the most glamorous job, but Opal loves going through abandoned properties and searching for items to sell. Although lately she’s been down on her luck, scrounging for anything to help her dwindling bank account. When her latest property comes with a body included, Opal knows she should just walk away. But something tells her the deceased owner may be hiding something worth a lot of money. After all, not every person uses unique magical markings to protect their house. But as she digs deeper into the truth, another interested party surfaces. One willing to do anything to claim what’s hidden.

The world of Minimum Wage Magic is fascinating. The Detroit Free Zone, otherwise known as DFZ, is a living city. Filled with its own magic, it also has a soul. GPS is a must in DFZ as at any point the city can decide to move the buildings around and grow new ones! Rachel Aaron did a great job capturing the life of the city and its personality through the eyes of the characters. While it isn’t exactly sentient, it certainly has its own opinions.

Minimum Wage Magic leans on the sleuthing side as Opal searches for clues to what she hopes will be her next big score. There’s some action to keep the plot moving, but for the most part, it deals with character interactions and building the world of DFZ. A personal mystery is layered into the main plot as well, slowly revealing who Opal is and to who she owes money. This adds a nice level of tension throughout the story as Opal has a set due date for her next loan payment.

Opal and her AI Sybil are quite the team as they investigate. Programmed to keep her well-being in mind, Sybil is the constant reminder to do the safe thing. However, as readers will soon find out, through the hilarious back and forth dialogue between the two, Opal doesn’t always listen to the safe choice. And Sybil has quite the personality built into her allowing her to voice opinions on Opal’s actions.

The one downside I found to the story was the romantic tension. Opal being fully invested in her goal was oblivious most of the time. And the character who was interested in Opal wasn’t the best at voicing their feelings. While this fit with their personalities, when the story began to draw the romantic interest into focus, it didn’t quite fit in. I do hope to see what develops between the two as the story continues.

I will say though, being a Shadowrun player, the number of Easter eggs in Minimum Wage Mage made my role-playing heart sing. From the political and corporate overload dragons to the verbiage and slang used. I loved being able to view a world I’ve been immersed in as a player come to life in a completely new way.

This is marketed as a spin-off series, but have no fear, you can read Minimum Wage Magic without any of the other books. If you're a fan of urban fantasies and a science fantasy world, give it a try. ( )

3.5 stars rounded up.
Opal Yong-ae, determined to pay her way out of a debt to her father, works as a Cleaner, a person who buys up abandoned or repossessed houses/apartments/etc. and then essentially cleans those places out for a profit. Up until recently, she's had excellent luck, able to pay her monthly installments and eat decent meals.

Now, however, she's out of money and down to the wire on her payment, as just about everything she's done has gone bust her father, the Dragon of Korea, placed a dragon curse of bad luck on her 5 months before the opening of the book, something Opal doesn't discover until nearly the end of the book.

When a chance to pull in a real winner comes her way, Opal gambles nearly everything she has on finding something spectacular only to discover a conspiracy of nearly unreadable magic spells and notes, black market magic, the creation of (endangered) cockatrice eggs, and a dead man on the floor of the unit she's cleaning. Add in the deadline of the next payment to her father, who's not above cheating to get what he wants (he's a dragon after all), and Opal's got a lot on her plate to deal with.

While not as fun as the Heartstrikers novels, this is still an enjoyable read with an interesting MC. I look forward to the next book in the series. ( )