Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Junk Mage
AUTHOR: Elliot Cooper
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
LENGTH: 58 Pages
RELEASE DATE: July 4, 2016
BLURB:
When technomancer Quillian Defote crash-lands on remote planet Marutuk, he has limited time to repair his ship and get off world. If he fails, he’ll forfeit his position as professor of mechanical transmutation at the prestigious Ivy Arcanarium and ruin his employment prospects in yet another sector.
Hunter, a cyborg guarding a junkyard that holds what Quill needs, is charmed by the wayward mage and wants to help him. But Hunter is bound by honor to dutifully guard his mistress and her possessions, no matter how cruelly she treats him.
Together Quill and Hunter stand a chance of starting a new life together if carnivorous wildlife, a violent necromancer, and stubborn pride don’t keep them apart.
REVIEW:
I’ll be honest, the cover is what sold me on this story. It caught my eye, and I signed up immediately to read/review the story. Unfortunately, this is the second short book that I’ve read this week that I thought needed a little more. I really liked the story in this one, but there just wasn’t enough to it, in my opinion.
In Junk Mage, we meet a character named Quill who has crashed his ship on a planet which is mainly inhabited by criminals. If he doesn’t fix the ship fast and get to his new teaching position, he will lose the position…and he is kind of out of employment options, so he needs to not lose this one.
He manages to find a treasure trove of parts that would easily fix his ship, but they are in a junkyard protected by a cyborg named Hunter who feels beholden to the woman who saved him from death by turning him into a cyborg, But the woman is one of the most wanted criminals in the galaxy, and escape might not be possible for either Quill or Hunter.
Most of what I just mentioned, was already told to you in the blurb. And that is really almost the entire story. I’m sad in this case, because the author did a good job at world building with the portion they wrote. I really want to know what happens next and seriously hope the author does another installment.
Overall, I would have to call this one good/average on our rating scale. It has a lot of potential, but was a little too truncated for my tastes. The author wrote well, and the story and characters were believable, but I didn’t feel the storyline adequately wrapped up at the end of it. It needs more. I hope we’ll see the further adventures of Quill and Hunter…and there is still an evil scientist out there somewhere I believe…
RATING: 
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