Antimage

Ends of Magic, Book 1

By: Alexander Olson

Narrated by: Phil Thron

A scientist from another world. A mage seeking deadly knowledge. A power that could topple an empire.

Nathan's life was defined by labs and lectures until an Archmage yanked him into Davrar and made him a tantalizing offer: master magic in exchange for Earth's scientific secrets. Yet, Nathan can't shake off the feeling that darker truths lurk beneath such promises.

The world of Davrar is a dangerous place teeming with dungeons and monsters–ruled by levels, Talents, and a near-infinite progression of power. Nathan will need to rely on himself to survive, forging alliances and taking every advantage he can get against those that seek to control him.

His unique capacity to counteract magic gives him an unprecedented edge, making him a beacon of resistance against those who wield magic as a weapon of control.
Armed with intellect and an emerging power that could dismantle the very foundations of Davrar's society, Nathan emerges not as a mere student of magic, but as its ultimate adversary: the Antimage.

©2023 Alexander Olson (P)2023 Tantor

Ok but

Yeah not gonna lie wish it had an LGBTQ tag wouldn’t have picked it up the random into dudes thing breaks my immersion sonce it seems mostly irrelevant. Also some of the science stuff got long winded but other than that not bad interesting concept for all that but doubt I’ll pick up the second one

a good start, high expectations

It's fun and fast, and the mc is smart and not a douche. the world is interesting, the mechanics are novel. the side character are disting

The mc is a bit too perfect. He has no flaws. He's a genius scientist working on groundbreaking advancements in microbiology while working on his doctorate, who practiced martial arts and various extreme sports, who also had time to schedule dnd games.

While also not being too invested in his friends or family to want to return from being summoned.

Great and satisfying concept

I came from a reddit post describing the story, it sounded like my kind of thing and i’m glad to say it was, definitely worth a read and i’ll be checking in to see when the next books get audio versions.

If I had to criticize one small thing, I would say I found it kind of confusing how Nathan never really questions the culture of hoarding insights, it seems to me like the only real reason for adventurers not to share knowledge like that is greed and wanting to control the power, it’s not been hinted that the skills get weaker if you share them with too many people, the only other risk would be enemies like giant’s rest getting ahold of them much like the concern with guns. If he’s willing to question the dueling culture then why not at least acknowledge that his world shares knowledge like “insights” freely and have a small discussion as to why this world doesn’t rather than just instantly accepting it as how things work here?
As I said it’s a very small gripe that just tickled the back of my mind a little each time trading or selling insights was brought up, overall it was a great listen and i’m glad I came to check it out!

Pretty sciency

I really enjoyed this book. If you are not a fan of things getting very very technical, this might not be one for you. sometimes the science explanations were beyond me, but I still enjoyed the story despite my lack of understanding of higher level sciences.

As for some reviews as saw saying this story was "woke" I'm not sure what they are referring to. I was expecting things to get super preachy or overly sexual, but nothing ever came up.

In short, I recommend this book if you like it when your fantasy magic gets technical.

not bad

The story started off with all the makings of a good story, from the MC (less so the villain, but he needed to be overly evil, I guess), to the magic system, to the world, and more. however something about the writing felt... lacking. thankfully it gradually improved throughout the story and while the actual ending wasn't incredible, I don't hold huge expectations for them with each installment in a long series.
also, I'm starting to understand why so many authors make their characters borderline celebate haha. because, yes, like a conservative reviewer said there's about 3 instances where the author briefly does/says something... non binary? idk, does that apply to gender, orientation, or both/either? anyway, the MC might be bi, but you might not even notice unless you've been taught to be triggered by it. and yes the MC seems very thirsty lol. but neither of these things have been relevant to the story. not yet, at least. though I thankfully have zero expectations of this turning into any kind of harem or explicit harem story.