Minimum Wage Magic (DFZ #1)[June 15, 2023]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron starting June 15, 2023.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started this at work this morning... almost done...

Re-reading this, having re-read Heartstrikers, and having read Crystal Calamity, I'm noticing a real shift in MCs from males to desparate women, in Rachel Aaron series... Marci, Opal, all 3 MCs in Crystal Calamity, and Lola based on the blurb of the new DFZ series... Julius and Eli Monpress were desparate males, so not too much of a shift, I guess...

Looks like I was off on timing... this is 20 years after Heartstrikers... DFZ:Changeling is 5 years after this trilogy... and the epilogue to Heartstrikers was 30 years after the main series...

I love the evolution of the city and the acolytes of the mortal spirits...

I really like Opal's story, too, but alot of it is spoilers at this point...

[Tonari no Emily]

I reread this yesterday super quick! I love this world, I hope Aaron keeps em coming. Seems like it with the new DFZ series..
(view spoiler)[ I like how we don't find out everything about her family right away in this one. Any first time readers guess her dad was a dragon? I can't remember my thoughts on the first go-round...
I love seeing her stand up to the asshole though!

I like seeing the hints about Nick's background... Into some shady stuff, needs money to live. Can't quite remember why, but we'll find out! And the mad-dog comments (he was very offended at him being called this and at Opal's dad calling her dog-girl).. Excited to get into his story. (hide spoiler)]

So I'm not the biggest fan of Emily Woo Zeller as a narrator. Sometimes when she's not doing voices, her voice is too whisper-y and hard to understand. I hate bad sound balancing ><
I generally like the voices she does, but all I can think about is Poppy War trilogy because that's the first time I've heard her narrate...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I agree she’s whispery… I listened at home…

Sometimes I think that’s a real advantage to deep baritone narrators like Michael Kramer…

[Nirkatze]

Just started! I'm liking the new storyline, and Sybil is funny. Is there also a romance in this series?

I'm into Chapter 3 right now. I like that Opal is probably (view spoiler)[Korean/Hong Kong descent, by way of California, from her comment on where she grew up.

I've always thought it would be interesting to go to one of those unit auctions. I think my dad did that once. It's a fun idea.

I'm surprised Opal doesn't think that the fact she bid $2k on a crap unit isn't going to get around and get her in trouble.... reminds me of how Marci started out running from bad guys... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Y'all weren't kidding about this going quick. I really liked it! I guess it answered my question about romance... this feels really similar to the Heartstrikers... (view spoiler)[overbearing parent, child trying to make their own way. Well, maybe that's most of the similarities. But the other beats--everything played out the way I thought it would, in a nice way, which also felt kinda like Heartstrikers. Very satisfying so far. I also like the explanations about Dragons & Opal being his daughter but not genetically.

Though I'm bummed for Julius and Marci if the bit about dragons & humans not being able to interbreed is true. But I can see them being good adopt parents too. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "I reread this yesterday super quick! I love this world, I hope Aaron keeps em coming. Seems like it with the new DFZ series..
I like how we don't find out everything about her family right away in..."

re: guessing--(view spoiler)[when Opal first said she owed someone 10k, I thought it might be her dad, and her dad might be a dragon... but it was one of several theories in mind--though it definitely strengthened the more we learned about her situation... it reminded me a lot of how Julius was trying to get out of his mother's control...

Nice dog comment notes. Being called a "dog" is a huge insult in Japanese and Chinese as well, but I don't know about Korean. Probably, if Japanese & Chinese have a word thing, Korean usually does too... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This definitely felt similar to the first Heartstriker book… I think there are some interesting differences in the followup books… dunno about new series yet…

[Choko]

OK, I totally missed this thread! Then this is the book I will start now:) Yay!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... not sure everyone noticed the Heartstrikers BR thread is/was intended to continue straight into DFZ trilogy, and now the new DFZ:Changeling series in the fall

[Choko]

I hope our buddies notice now:)

[Nirkatze]

^^ ditto that...

[Choko]

OMG! This just flew!!! I can't believe it was this short! And her writing style is so unassuming and storytelling flowing, that you just take a breath and the story is done! So, I finished...

(view spoiler)[ When I started reading it, I had no idea who her family was, just that obviously they were rich and she really was slumming it... I thought that Nick might be a Dragon, with the green eyes and dark hair, I was even wondering whose clutch he might be from, but then we found out he has all those cyborg augmentations, and I just can't see a dragon doing that... When he took her to the black market place where they met with the really enhanced lady, and "the boss" called him up, I thought maybe he is a Mobster's boss son, trying to prove to his father that he could make it on his own... I was very surprised about his spartan apartment and pleased that he invited her to stay with him, despite being as private as he obviously is. I was also hoping he would relent and bring their business deal to 50/50, but he was not playing...

I was completely blown away by her "father" coming to his apartment! Didn't expect that on her side at all! Her subsequent explanation of how she was created by mixing genetic material of her mother with some European mages made a lot of sense, but I wonder if she will figure out a way to control her magic eventually... She obviously packs a punch, but has no control or finesse.

Sybil is another adorable AI, although I felt bad for it and Opal when we found out that she had been hacked...:((

I noticed the "dog" comments too and was wondering why they were so hurtful, but you said that about it being really offensive in Japanese and Chinese, and I remembered it is just as offensive in Russian, and Bulgarians use that same word as a slur as well... I guess only "bitch" would have a similar impact in English, but even that has diminished in the past several decades...

I am very interested in finding out why Nick needs the money to stay alive... Does it have something to do with his enhancements? He has obviously been a mercenary and has done some bad things for it, so I want to know what's up...

About the hatchlings they saved. First, ooohhhh! Second, I was hoping she would keep one of them for a pet/sidekick. And third, all the way until the end I was hoping that she would get a message in her account that the city dragon is grateful and gives her an award of at least 100000... But I was disappointed that it didn't work out that way ... I guess there had to be a reason for N to give O the loan and set up their partnership. (hide spoiler)]

As always, I enjoyed her story! It was light and fluffy and I am really looking forward to the next book!

[Nirkatze]

I love reading your thoughts/summary Choko! It's like getting to read it all over again. (view spoiler)[I wonder too what connection the enhancements are... did he start getting enhancements to stay alive, or maybe they eat up his life? Must be a connection!

It would definitely have been awesome to have an animal sidekick... and I was hoping the same thing about the City should have given her a finder's fee or something. Dragons! They could've afforded it!! (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Exactly!!! It really let me down that they didn't! You would think, they pay for catching and killing magical monsters, why not pay for finding creatures that are protected?

[Nirkatze]

True! Though... is the head-count for monsters still in effect? That was in Algonquin DFZ... who paid off those bounties?

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "True! Though... is the head-count for monsters still in effect? That was in Algonquin DFZ... who paid off those bounties?"

Good question, I'm not sure! I think I might be mixing up plotlines in my head though haha