Audiobook Review – Minimum Wage Magic (DFZ, Vol 1) by Rachel Aaron, Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 9 hours and 45 minutes
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: January 8, 2019
ASIN: B07MF459MH
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the DFZ series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars
“The DFZ, the metropolis formerly known as Detroit, is the world’s most magical city with a population of nine million and zero public safety laws. That’s a lot of mages, cybernetically enhanced chrome heads, and mythical beasties who die, get into debt, and otherwise fail to pay their rent. When they can’t pay their bills, their stuff gets sold to the highest bidder to cover the tab.
That’s when they call me. My name is Opal Yong-ae, and I’m a Cleaner: a freelance mage with an art history degree who’s employed by the DFZ to sort through the mountains of magical junk people leave behind. It’s not a pretty job, or a safe one—there’s a reason I wear bite-proof gloves—but when you’re deep in debt in a lawless city where gods are real, dragons are traffic hazards, and buildings move around on their own, you don’t get to be picky about where your money comes from. You just have to make it work, even when the only thing of value in your latest repossessed apartment is the dead body of the mage who used to live there.”
This is the first book in the DFZ series and it was a fun urban fantasy read. I loved getting to revisit the DFZ a couple decades after The Heartstrikers series. There is some very cool magic in here.
I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed it a lot. Zeller does a great job and I would recommend listening to on audiobooks if you enjoy them.
Opal and Nicholas are both Cleaners; they buy abandoned living spaces and clean them out taking what they sell as profit before the living space is resold. When Opal finds a dead body and some strange spellwork in one of the units she’s purchased to clean, things get quickly out of hand. Nicholas ends up joining in on the fun for a cut of the profits.
There were some new fun areas of the DFZ to visit. I also really enjoyed both Opal and Nicholas. I loved that a lot of elements from the Heartstrikers series were in the background. For example we get to deal with The Empty Wind some and also hear about dragons and mages.
This was a well done urban fantasy, set in the creative and fun world of the DFZ. The story is pretty complete but there is some opening for more adventures with Opal which I really hope to see.
Overall I am enjoying this even more than the Heartstrikers series so far. I am excited to see what the next book holds and recommend to those who enjoy urban fantasy that’s full of magic and mystery. You can definitely read this as a stand alone, but some of the background things going on make more sense if you have already read The Heartstrikers series.
