Calculated Magic

by Robert Weinberg

Journeying to Las Vegas on a quest for his master, Merlin the Magician, Jack Collins seeks out Old Man in the Mountain, a demon force that plans to unleash a deadly biological plague and can only be... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441001440
• ISBN13: 9780441001446
• Release Date: February 1995
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 233 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Joint Review of A Calculating Magic and A Logical Magician

This is an entertaining and lighthearted pair of fantasy novels. As with other books of this type, the basic premise is that magical and mythical creatures continue to live among us. Weinberg finds witty ways to integrate the magical into ordinary life. The magician Merlin is a financial consultant, wood nymphs inhabit shopping malls, etc. The hero is a young mathematician who uses logic and knowledge of modern society to vanquish the villains. Of these two books, A Calculating Magic is the more amusing with better character development and clever use of Norse and Arabic mythology. The major joke at the end of A Calculating Magic is particularly clever. These books are hard to find but well worth a few dollars in a used book store.

Gotta love this book!

Robert Weinberg drags myths, legends, and grim fairy tales kickin' and screamin' into the present and makes his every man character find modern equivalents to old wive's tale solutions. The plot twists in ways you wouldn't anticipate and humor is spread liberally throughout. I especially liked Odin's crows plaguing the hero and his fiancee.