Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz

Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz is an urban fantasy with a number of unique elements that should make it flare brightly in a crowded subgenre. While this is his first novel, since attending Clarion Writer’s Workshop in 2008 Steinmetz has published a number of short stories in various periodicals and online venues, and in 2011 he was nominated for a Nebula Award for his novelette “Sauerkraut Station”. Flex, therefore, comes with the weight of expectation, and while the book is marred by many of the flaws common to debuts, it also shows enough raw talent and energy to attract readers to a bright new author who should continue to improve as his career matures.

Central to Flex is the magic system that Steinmetz has created. He conjures an alternative vision of the present day in which some individuals are gifted with an ability to wield ‘mancy. However, the use of ‘mancy has a negative side effect known as Flux. For every act of beneficial ‘mancy performed there must be an equal and opposite commensurate release of Flux or detrimental magic. This usually manifests itself as an apparently random act of bad luck or unfortunate coincidence for the ‘mancer, but it can affect others in the vicinity of the ‘mancer, sometimes having catastrophic results when a significant level of magical payback is required. In fact, in the world of the book, Europe has been thrown into a new dark age by the long-term use of ‘mancy and the resulting outbreaks of Flux. In the United States, ‘mancers are feared and the use of ‘mancy has been made highly illegal. ‘Mancers are hunted by police or elite Special ‘Mancer Apprehension, Suppression and Hauling (SMASH) squads. When a ‘mancer is caught he or she is sent to the Refactor to be brain-wiped and forcibly enlisted into joining SMASH to hunt other ‘mancers.

‘Mancers remain notoriously difficult to capture, and even harder to kill. The book, with the exception of the prologue and occasional interludes, is told from the third person perspective of the protagonist, Paul Tsabo. Tsabo is a former cop with a talent for tracking down magic users and he has a hero’s reputation as the first person in living memory to kill a ‘mancer. During this event, Tsabo not only lost his foot, relying now on a prosthetic leg, but he also secretly became enraptured with the potential virtues and beauty of ‘mancy, as well as deeply disturbed by the fact that he is responsible for killing a ‘mancer. His regret has resulted in his resignation from the police force, the disintegration of his marriage to his wife Imani, and his estrangement from his six-year old daughter Aliyah. At the beginning of the book, Tsabo is working for an insurance company called Samaritan Mutual, where the company have hired him because it believes his talent for sniffing out ‘mancy will assist them to void claims with magical exclusion clauses. Tsabo’s other talent is for navigating labyrinthine bureaucracy, which he secretly uses to assist customers in order to have their claims against Samaritan Mutual succeed.

The antagonist in the novel is a character readers are introduced to in the prologue. Anathema is a terrorist ‘mancer who is producing a magical drug called Flex, which gifts its users with a short-term ability to use ‘mancy. Anathema’s Flex is laced with large amounts of Flux and she has been doping unsuspecting victims with her drug resulting in horrible large-scale carnage when her victims release this overdose of bad juju. The plot of the book is set in motion when Tsabo and Aliyah get caught up in one of Anathema’s attacks, and Paul discovers that he has the ability to wield his own ‘mancy. Tsabo goes into commercial competition against Anathema, producing his own Flex in order to draw the rogue ‘mancer out from hiding.

The magic system in Flex is the major charm of the novel. ‘Mancy manifests when an individual’s obsession is so strong it bores a hole in the fabric of reality. For example, Tsabo’s passion for administration means that his magic manifests as bureaucramancy, and he is able to magically manipulate paperwork to create a range of outcomes, from summoning a flying flock of standard forms to beat back life-threatening flames, to securing a Flex production facility by conjuring the correct lease agreements into existence. If it sounds gloriously weird, that’s because it is. There is a crazy cat lady who becomes a felimancer and a body-buildermancer with a magical precoccupation for oiled up, glistening bodies. One of the books most interesting characters is Tsabo’s eventual sidekick, who is a videogamemancer named Valentine DiGriz. DeGriz is a unique character in the world of urban fantasy, and she is clearly described by Steinmetz as both overweight and attractive, a combination not seen often enough in fiction let alone urban fantasy. She is an empowered female character, comfortable with her unconventional sexual preferences. This is a refreshing breakaway from the angry ladies with leather trousers on book covers common in the subgenre. The other element of Flex that works well is the father and daughter relationship portrayed between Tsabo and Aliyah, which adds some much needed pathos to a book otherwise steeped in disposable pop culture.

Steinmetz seems so enthused by his cast of interesting primary characters and his distinctive magic system that he tends to let the plot of Flex run away from him. There is a lack of narrative structure in the book and the plot is paced unevenly, with a number of events that are confusing and appear to unfold randomly. Steinmetz’s writing is functional and lacks much in the way of stylistic flare. The world building also lacks sophistication and suffers from the same logical incoherence that afflicts many urban fantasies. While magic has existed in this setting for centuries, and Europe lies in ruins, except for the presence of ‘mancy and some of the other associated adornments like the SMASH squads, the United States as presented bears a very close resemblance to our world, with the discovery of magic having no influence on the history or cultural development of the world of the book. Lastly, on a couple of occasions during the novel, the magical substance Flex is effectively used as a date rape drug in scenes that present women as being demeaned and disempowered with no discernable narrative or thematic purpose. These problematic elements of the book clash with the otherwise positive and progressive portrayal of female characters in the book, like the videogamemancer DeGriz.

Quotes describing the book as “Breaking Bad meets urban fantasy” on the publisher’s website are, to my mind, apt and inevitable. Yet, while I have referred to Flex as an urban fantasy several times throughout this review, those going into the novel expecting it to read like other popular series in that subgenre will undoubtedly be disappointed. I would recommend Flex to those wanting read a book merrily scorching some of the well-worn tropes of the urban fantasy subgenre, and to readers who can overlook the rough edges of a first novel, and appreciate a book with a fun and unique magic system, and a pair of likeable and distinctive primary characters.

Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz
Published by Angry Robot Books, March 2015
306 pages
ISBN: 0857664603
Review copy received from the publisher
Review by Luke Brown, March 2015