Ok, so that's the tl;dr, but, you know, what is it? Well, for one thing, it's Opal's story. Opal is a magical Cleaner. She buys the right to clean out the apartments of those behind on their rent in the rather law-optional Detroit Free Zone (more on that later). Sometimes those apartments are full of valuable magical artifacts and interesting knick-knacks. Sometimes they're full of rats and interesting (in a different way) magical traps. After a run of bad luck, Opal owes someone a rather large amount of money, and she needs it sooner rather than later. Yesterday, for preference. And Opal is a protagonist whose shoulder it's fun to sit on. She's smart, thoughtful, and has a mortal grounding at odds with her externally cynical demeanour. There's a suggestion of long-runnung Issues in the background - having gone to a prestigious school for mages, she's somehow at the bottom of the social and business ladder. And who she owes that money to and why it's so worrying is another question. But Opal also has energy, and a willingness to keep moving, to pick up the ball and run with it in an unexpected direction. Sometimes thgat's to her detriment, as she's pushing toward running on empty, but the flaws she has, the grudges and old pain she bears are part of what makes her feel like a fully-realised person, and one it would probably be fun (albeit dangerous) toi hang out with. A woman determined to make herself an island of splendid isolation, she cares about her friends too much to make it stick - and is charming, awkward, funny, and also willing to kick her enemies in the pants from time to time.
After all, she does live in the DFFZ. The Detroit Free Zone, run by a colossal spirit which cares more about the wildlife of what was once Detroit, rather than its human and other magical inhabitants, is an area where laws are optional. Where police arrive on a contract basis only, and where everything is open to negotiation. It's a seething cauldron of magical creatures, at least some of which are inimicable to people in general, and some of whom seem to dislike Opal in particular. There's spirits wending through the open-market organ trade, and worse than dragons stalking the back-alley cyber-parlors. The DFZ is a place where anyone can become anything they want, if they're skilled enough and ruthless enough and willing ti fight every inch of the way for it. It feels like Casablanca but without the moral compass, a place where anything is possible, but also, unfortunately, anything is possible. For all that though, it has the grime and shine of a real city, the power structures and complexities that make a place feel lived in, feel alive.
And the story...well, I shan't spoil it. But it kicks off very quickly, and then never really slows down. Opal moves from crisis to crisis, just trying to put food on the table, make her monthly payments and survive the results of the last crisis. And in doing so she gets involved in avoiding assassins as well as accountants and competitors, A non-zero amount of her time is spent investigating what she needs to find, and then trying to escape the attentions of the many interested parties that want to get hold of it themselves. On the plus side, as a mage, she has a more thnan human cap[acity to keep herself alive, and from time to time blow other stuff up.
Minimum Wage Magic is an exciting blend of near-future science fantasy, one which kept me turning the pages with engaging characterisation, a carefully detailed, well-travelled world, and a story that never let up. Give it a try!
