Ravirn, a descendant of Lachesis, is a student at the University of Minnesota and a talented programmer and hacker of magic spells. He is aided by his goblin familiar, Melchior, who can turn into a laptop computer. They hack into Atropos' domain to seek a spell but are identified and, in escaping, manage to crash the entire mWeb used by the Fates. Ravirn's close friend Cerice, distant granddaughter of Clothos, and also a computer technology student at MIT, informs him that the Fates are perturbed, a situation that becomes quite apparent when several of his cousins, all feisty descendants of Atropos, attack him. Melchior transports injured Ravirn to the realm of Ahllan, a friendly vegetarian troll who helps heal his injuries.

Atropos finds Ravirn and transports him to her realm, and offers to forgive his trespass if he helps her debug her massive computer spell, called Puppeteer. He refuses to help because the spell would end free will, giving the Fates total control. Atropos releases him with a curse to prevent anyone believing his story. Just as his relationship with Cerice finally turns romantic, great-grandmother Lachesis arrives to transport him to a monastery reform school where she threatens to send him if he does not make perfect grades that semester, taking away his mWeb access.

When attacks on his life continue, Ravirn is forced to use ancient and more dangerous forms of magic. He decides to enter the Fate core itself through a remote node to seek and destroy Puppeteer, but finds instead a massive dragon virus created by Eris, Goddess of Discord, which he manages to destroy with help from his cousin Laric, who is killed. The Fates, thinking Ravirn created the virus and killed Laric, send the three unstoppable Furies to kill Ravirn. Pursued by the Furies, Ravirn and Melchior finally manage to escape into the realm of Discord and are captured by Eris, a natural enemy of the Fates.

From Eris, Ravirn begins to understand the complex battle in which he has become involved, with the stakes being control of the world and retaining free will for all sentient beings—gods, humans and artificial intelligences alike.

Mythology married to sci-fi

WebMage is Kelly McCullough's first novel, based on a short story published in 1999. It is complex, well paced, highly creative and, overall, an auspicious debut for McCullough and the new subgenre of cyber-fantasy that he appears to have created. His youthful protagonists are engaging and reasonably believable as modern-day college students who just happen to be Greek demigods and distant descendants of the Fates.

Greek mythology provides fertile ground for fantasy fiction, and McCullough makes good use of the few selected (all-female) Greek gods who play a role in this novel—the Fates, the Furies and Eris, as well as Necessity, who turns out to be a deciding factor in the denouement. Greek mythology is less used in modern fantasy than some other mythologies, possibly because the enigmatic nature and motivations of its gods are so far removed from modern human culture and philosophy. McCulloch makes these gods relatively understandable while being reasonable true to the originals.

McCullough shows considerable skill for a first novelist in pacing his narrative. The outlandish concept of Greek gods using cyber technology to do their magic and build their realms is kept believable by fast pacing and enough humor to make it work as light fantasy. A fast-paced plot is also needed to avoid dwelling on the biggest hole in the novel: Where are the generations of Greek demigods between the Fates and the student protagonists? Where are Ravirn's (and Cerise's) parents and grandparents?

WebMage is well worth reading for fans of light fantasy. If McCullough can continue to develop as a writer and continue to build this fantasy world, he just may have created a new fantasy subgenre.