Minimum Wage Magic

By: Rachel Aaron

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

The DFZ, the metropolis formerly known as Detroit, is the world’s most magical city with a population of nine million and zero public safety laws. That’s a lot of mages, cybernetically enhanced chrome heads, and mythical beasties who die, get into debt, and otherwise fail to pay their rent. When they can’t pay their bills, their stuff gets sold to the highest bidder to cover the tab.

That’s when they call me. My name is Opal Yong-ae, and I’m a Cleaner: a freelance mage with an art history degree who’s employed by the DFZ to sort through the mountains of magical junk people leave behind. It’s not a pretty job, or a safe one - there’s a reason I wear bite-proof gloves - but when you’re deep in debt in a lawless city where gods are real, dragons are traffic hazards, and buildings move around on their own, you don’t get to be picky about where your money comes from. You just have to make it work, even when the only thing of value in your latest repossessed apartment is the dead body of the mage who used to live there.

Author’s note: This is the first in a new series set in the same universe as my Heartstrikers books, but you don’t need to have heard those stories to enjoy this one. Minimum Wage Magic was written to stand by itself, so if you haven’t listened to the others, don’t worry! I wrote this book with you in mind. Thank you so much for listening!

©2018 Rachel Aaron (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

fun and fast

DFZ (Detroit Free Zone) is the new series by Rachel Aaron, taking place in Detroit, 20 years after the events in Heartstrikers. I thought it was fun, exciting and quick. The audio book was great as well, similar in vibe to Hearstrikers, but a different narrator.

The story follows Opal, a young Korean Mage, moved to the DFZ to get away from her controlling family. She works as a cleaner, but more in a Storage Wars kind of way, bidding for apartments and selling the stuff that’s in them, plus cleaning, after people get evicted. I’m not a huge fan of that show, but if you’re even vaguely into you should give it a try, it doesn’t really come up a lot on fantasy. It also scratches the “mundane job in a fantasy world” itch.

Characters

The cast of characters is pretty small, there’s Nick, another cleaner who has a lot of bad history, he’s mostly the silent type but grows on you, Opal’s mental health AI assistant, that keeps trying to save Opal from herself and is generally cheerful, and the lovely parents, super controlling dad and arguably insane/brainwashed mom.

Story

The main plot is Opal trying to pay back a debt, and getting hit with more and more obstacles along the way. She’s a rich girl desperate for her independence, ending up broke and hitting rock bottom, repeatedly. The action is mostly centered around out-maneuvering her dad and trying to hustle up money, but there are a few action sequences, especially the finale of book 2 is very dramatic, in a more typical fantasy novel sort of way.

Minimum Wage Magic is about her finding an apartment which hides a magical mystery and following various clues to unravel it, pissing off a few powerful people in the process.

It’s a pretty small scale story, dealing with independence, money trouble and just-no-families. There’s also some romance, of the ‘aww her poor self worth is making her blind to love interest” variety, which I’m personally a fan of. The overall tone is pretty hopeful, even though there are plenty of lows, Opal tries to work through her problems while doing the right thing and not hurting people, kinda similar to Julius in Heartstrikers.

Although it takes place after Heartstrikers, the series can be read independently. There are a few cameos here and there, which can be considered vagueish spoilers for how Heartstrikers ends (I’m not caught up with it myself).

a wonderful mix of cyberpunk and fantasy

a wonderful mix of cyberpunk and fantasy, minimum wage Magic is a story that I'm glad I picked up. It wonderfully Blends the Fantastical world of Mages and magical creatures seamlessly in with sci-fi elements like cyberware, AI, and cyborgs. both sides of the coin play a pivotal role in the story as you explore the Fantastical world of the Detroit Free Zone, a living City that's ever shifting and changing with the people that live inside of it. I'm glad that I picked up Book 2 when I got booked one because I'm ready to continue the story. I'm invested in the city and the cool stories that can be told Within.

we'll drawn

A tight plot with charming characters set in a universe that nicely bridges now and the dystopic magic meets cyberpunk of Shadowrun.

Good "read" 😊

loved the story, would have liked a little more variety in the voices of the supplementary characters.

Great story

Loved the storyline and the character development in book one and looking forward to book two. There were parts of the story where I literally laughed out loud.

Great cyberpunk

Loved this story and the narrator. The world building was great with awesome characters. I'll be listening to more from this author.

Great book

Very well written, expertly narrated.
Would recommend whole hearted for any shadow run enthusiasts and general fantasy fans.

Great clean mystery inside mystery for all ages!

The perfect audiobook! Enough mystery to keep looking forward too without being too complicated or too simple, and tons of personality thanks to Emily Woo's narration. I am definitely going to continue the series, I've already downloaded the next book!

Great start to new series!

Loved this book! I listened to the whole Heartstrikers series and with the exception of the fourth book in that series, this shows promise of being as entertaining as that series. I LOVED the performance!!! Emily Woo Zeller did a stellar job to make this book as entertaining as it was. I will look for other books that she narrates.

Wonderful gritty urban fantasy!

I never considered a society where humans and dragons existed. Here we have ancient and powerful beings, wise, terrifying and having little patience for the dramatic prattle of short-lived inferior humans.
Think Tolkien's 'Smaug.' The older, the more powerful ones can take on human form. Although, when in their presence, no one can ignore the collective warnings burned into human DNA over millenia.
Yet, standing in defiance is a young woman because she can't be a pet anymore. Opal is so likable and authentic I couldn't stop listening.
Emily Woo Zeller's performance is top notch. Each character has their own voice, cadence, and agenda. Very engaging and entertaining. When the last page had turned I immediately bought the sequel. Spend a weekend in Opal's magical world. She's good company!