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Summary: real escapism for real engineers
Review: In the first book, the programming is real, the characters are real, the action is great and the book is completely irresistible. Maybe I don't get out of my cubicle enough, but this is the best portrayal of programmers I've found in fiction. Most fiction deifies scientists as unapproachable intellects, where Wiz Zumwalt deifies himself while nicely walking the edge between bumbling techno-nerd and a character who's been given a little too much rope with which to hold a plot consistently together. To paraphrase MIT Computer Science professor Joeseph Weizenbaum, this novel satisfies any old time computer hacker's megalomaniacal fantasies of omnipotence, and then some.
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Summary: Absolutely the best!
Review: It's been a long time since I've read a book more than twice. Of course it's also the first time I've read a book more than five times. It just keeps getting better! The wonderful combination of computers and fantasy is undeniable!
Rating:
Summary: Good read
Review: Nice little story. A modern programmer thrown into the world of magic. Unique look at a magic system that is based on computer language...story does a good job of telling the whole story so that you aren't left hanging for the second book, but does leave you wanting to further explore what happens to Wiz and his firey hedge-witch. I felt the end was a bit rushed, but still it was great.
Rating:
Summary: Good read
Review: Nice little story. A modern programmer thrown into the world of magic. Unique look at a magic system that is based on computer language...story does a good job of telling the whole story so that you aren't left hanging for the second book, but does leave you wanting to further explore what happens to Wiz and his firey hedge-witch. I felt the end was a bit rushed, but still it was great.
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Summary: The Wiz Biz - by Rick Cook - Baen Books
Review: Previously published in parts as "Wizard's Bane" and "The Wizardry Compiled". This is the first unitary edition.
Rating: 
Summary: Garbage!
Review: The basic premise of this book is one that has been used almost to death -- a dungeons & dragons type of parallell universe gets in trouble and sends for help from our world. Usually some techno-geek because that's the one thing the fantasy world doesn't have. In the Wiz Biz there is simply too much computer jargon -- even for those of us non-wizard types who actually understand the stuff. And much of the jargon is junk anyway! So why add pages of it? Who really cares (other than a computer wiz) what a "daemon program" is? Does the quantity overcome the lack of quality? No. If I had wanted to learn computer programming, I'd have read a programming book! Similarily, there are pages and pages of descriptions of dragon-riders flying in formation, swooping to the kill, etc. I skipped them eventually since it definately added nothing but filler to an already weak plot. There is just too much chaff -- useless filler -- in this book. Can anyone say "sequel"? Geez. If all the loose ends had been tied up, the sequel would be harder to write. Fortunately for the author, the number of loose ends could fill a trilogy or two. Unfortunately for the reader, these hanging traumas only make for confusion and annoyance. Most SF & F stories are made to have a sequel. But they at least finish the current story first! All I can say is, save your money!!!
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Summary: Computer Programmers Unite!
Review: The Wiz Zumwalt books by Rick Cook are very entertaining. I judge books by how often I go back to re-read them, and each book in this series has been read by me at least four times each. In the case of 'The Wizardry Compiled' and 'The Wizardry Cursed' a few more times each. Some authors produce series where readers continue to buy mainly out of loyalty to characters and the author's world (like Thomas Covenant: the Unbeliever, which by the time I gave up (after the second book of the first trilogy) I was moaning 'Oh Good Grief, when will it END? '), Rick Cook's Wiz stories are endlessly entertaining. But then, as a computer programmer myself, I relate really well to computer languages as a form of magic! He says he won't be writing any more Wiz books for the near future, but he better change his tune, because I have cooked up a really wicked geas, and it will make him start cranking them out unless he relents and does it: ONE MORE TIME! Well, Rick Cook, whataya
Rating:
Summary: Computer Programmers Unite!
Review: The Wiz Zumwalt books by Rick Cook are very entertaining. I judge books by how often I go back to re-read them, and each book in this series has been read by me at least four times each. In the case of 'The Wizardry Compiled' and 'The Wizardry Cursed' a few more times each. Some authors produce series where readers continue to buy mainly out of loyalty to characters and the author's world (like Thomas Covenant: the Unbeliever, which by the time I gave up (after the second book of the first trilogy) I was moaning 'Oh Good Grief, when will it END? '), Rick Cook's Wiz stories are endlessly entertaining. But then, as a computer programmer myself, I relate really well to computer languages as a form of magic! He says he won't be writing any more Wiz books for the near future, but he better change his tune, because I have cooked up a really wicked geas, and it will make him start cranking them out unless he relents and does it: ONE MORE TIME! Well, Rick Cook, whataya
Rating:
Summary: Original, funny, and unusual
Review: This is probably the ultimate indulgence for computer geeks. Not only is it escapist fantasy, it also combines nearly all aspects of computers, from hardware to programming. The entire series (of which this volume is the first two books) is based on the idea of a world where magic can be "programmed" in code. While his fantasy writing is only so-so, the series works best when he's simply throwing out computer jokes faster than you can catch them. Basically what you might get if you crossed Dilbert with Lord of the Rings. Highly entertaining for Comp-Sci majors, although the uninitiated probably just won't get the joke. =->
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Summary: This book is a ripoff--its his first 2 combined
Review: This is the first 2 Wiz books combined under one cover with a new title--ok for new fans of WizZ, but a rip-off to those who have read them all. Beware!!
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