Book notes: Out of Spite, Out of Mind by Scott Meyer

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Out of Spite, Out of Mind: Magic 2.0, Book 5 by Scott Meyer

Synopsis:

“When you discover the world is a computer program, and you figure out that by altering the code you can time travel and perform acts that seem like magic, what can possibly go wrong?

Pretty much everything.

Just ask Brit, who has jumped around in time with such abandon that she has to coexist with multiple versions of herself. Now, Brit the Elder finds that her memories don’t match Brit the Younger’s. And there’s the small matter of a glitch that’s making Brit the Elder’s body fritz out. Brit the Elder’s ex-boyfriend Phillip wants to help her, but he’ll have to keep it secret from his current girlfriend, Brit the Younger, who can’t stand her future self.

Meanwhile, Martin is trying to protect Phillip from a relentless attacker he somehow hasn’t noticed; Gwen is angry because Martin accidentally proposed to her; Gary tries to help the less fortunate, with predictably disastrous results; and an old nemesis might have to be the one to save them all.

In Out of Spite, Out of Mind, our fearless wizards discover the biggest glitch in their world’s program may well be themselves.” -Audible

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Opening thoughts:

Wow, I can’t believe I’m already on book 5 of this series. I’ve enjoyed it thus far. However, to be completely honest, I’m feeling a bit of fatigue from this series as each subsequent book either feels the same or slightly not-as-good as the previous one. I think the uniqueness and impact of the first book have yet to be matched by any of these subsequent books. I think maybe the narration or storytelling doesn’t feel as fresh, and the characters all feel stagnant. But we’ll see how this one goes. I still enjoy the premise, but I think they need some new characters and more interesting adventures than the same old premises with the same antagonists simply coming back.

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Key notes:

Chapter 1

• Brit the Elder was trying to comprehend a discrepancy between her memory of certain events in the past and how it unfolded differently this time around

Chapter 2

• Martin and Philip discussed their relationships. Suddenly, a mysterious cloaked figure that vanished from across the street

Chapter 3

• The agents kept watch over Jimmy but eventually discovered Jimmy was constantly just messing with them

Chapter 4

• All the wizards met at Gary’s place for movie night

Chapter 5

• Brit the Elder met with Brit the much Elder, who was more at peace by her time, about the strange occurrences of their memory discrepancies

Chapter 6

• Martin encountered another time traveler who looked like a goblin but eventually, he got away 

Chapter 7

• Brit the Elder asked Philip for help with this paradox situation

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

• Martin encountered the goblin again who tried to distract Philip

Chapter 12

• Philip was sent to the future and recruited by the Elder Brits to check the file magic data logs for anomalies

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

• The goblin turned out to be future Philip trying to distract current Philip off his current path

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

• Martin convened the other time travelers on what to do about the Philip situation but none of them wanted to intervene

Chapter 17

• The Brits and Philip consulted with Jimmy to get his help looking through her memories to figure out how to resolve this glitch issue

Chapter 18

• Martin trapped future Philip 

Chapter 19

• They agreed to not run experiments on Elder Brit’s code and maybe start with tests on animals. Otherwise, they can put her on slow time while the three of them find a solution

Chapter 20

• Martin showed the group future Philip and proved he wasn’t lying

Chapter 21

• Younger Brit caught Philip and confronted him about sneaking away to meet with Elder Brit

Chapter 22

• Gwen and Martin finally talked. She said she wanted to marry him and have kids, but it would entail them giving up their current lives so they can raise their kids normally until they’re old enough
• Philip found Elder Brit in her home frozen and in agony as she did something to her own code

Chapter 23

• Everyone was involved now and Elder Brit’s entire house was glitching

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

• A future Brit put everyone in a mime box while the Brits handled things their way

Chapter 26

• Younger Brit tried something but didn’t work

Chapter 27

• A whole fight broke out between the crew and their future selves in a choreographed dance-like battle

Chapter 28

• Future-future Brit explained that they all do this two months from now while she resolved the problem with Elder Brit

Chapter 29

• The Brit who solved the problem told everyone what she ended up doing and also implanted fake memories in her future selves

Reader’s note: This is pretty frustrating how they deal with problems. It’s basically “we’re only doing this because is how it happened, and I can’t tell you how to do it”. It’s pretty lazy, uninteresting, and frustrating.

• Angry Brit finally told everyone the truth and gave them orders of what to do next before leaving

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

• Chief Brit reassigned the agents to work with Jimmy again to track down other magic users and help Jimmy prevent abuses

Chapter 32

• Martin and Gwen had a Dune-themed wedding with full costumes and attendees
• They finished the wedding ceremony, while a few other time travelers watched from afar
  • Two of them were Martin and Gwen’s future kids who apparently needed to save them

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Closing thoughts:

I think I understand why I’m starting to dislike this series. In the first book, when the characters did something sort of idiotic that caused them to be in a specific predicament, it was a bit charming and funny. However, by the fifth book, when the characters get themselves into these avoidable situations, it just makes them seem very stupid, and it’s frustrating to follow.

Normally, when characters show resourcefulness and creativity to get out of a situation, you start to admire them. When combining that with reliability and integrity, you really start to root for them. However, when characters get themselves into these avoidable situations like some sort of TV show sitcom, it starts to feel repetitive and annoying. I feel like the characters aren’t growing at all, which makes me feel more and more disinterested in them.

There is another book in this series, and I do want to finish it because it’s generally easier to continue a series knowing the entire context rather than starting a new book from scratch. However, I can safely say this isn’t in my top favorites of this series.

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Nutshell:

The time travelers have to figure out what is causing a glitch that threatens to spread to the entire world and destroy reality as they know it.

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Similar books:

• Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer
• Spell or High Water by Scott Meyer
• An Unwelcome Quest by Scott Meyer
• Fight and Flight by Scott Meyer

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Rating:

2.5/5

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