I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Dot Slash Magic by Liz Shipton Published by Angry Robot on August 19 2025
Genres: Adult, Urban fantasy
Pages: 400
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A magical AI program is the catalyst for this high stakes tale, complete with humor, spice and engaging characters.
# I AM MAGIC. ASK ME ANYTHING
I follow Liz Shipton on Instagram, so I knew what I was in for when I picked up her latest. And I was not disappointed! Dot Slash Magic is a high energy, hysterically funny urban fantasy with heart, and the author’s idea of a main character who channels her magic through an AI program is unique and exciting. I tore through the book in only a few days, and I was not ready for the story to end.
Seven Jones is a coder who’s been traveling the world on a boat for the last three years. But she’s just broken up with the guy who was footing the bill, and she suddenly finds herself stranded in Columbia. When her mother calls with a tempting offer—come home to San Diego and enroll in community college, and in exchange she’ll let Seven live on the family houseboat Dragonfly—she reluctantly agrees. Community college doesn’t appeal to Seven at all, but she figures taking a few coding classes couldn’t hurt.
And then one day on campus, Seven stumbles into a room by accident and finds an underground magic club. It turns out that Seven might be a Maker—someone who can wield magic—but first she has to learn to harness it. With the help of ex-Navy Seal Logan (a dead ringer for Channing Tatum, not that that’s important!), Seven struggles to find her Conduit and Channel magic. Until one day she’s given an assignment in her Machine Learning class to build a web scraper, and after a strange incident involving her cat Neo, Seven winds up with an AI program that allows her to do magic. But the AI, who she calls Dot, unleashes much more than Seven bargained for. Now all of her new friends are in danger, and it’s up to her to stop it.
Liz Shipton is really funny on social media, and that humor translates so well to her fiction. The dialog is excellent, with perfectly timed banter and lots of clever references to pop culture. Seven was such a fun character. She’s sort of a social disaster and prefers to be by herself. The thought of joining a “club” sends her into panic mode, and I loved the fact that she does her own thing and doesn’t do what society expects her to. This does make her a bit prickly though, since she’s not that great with people and doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life. It’s the perfect set up for character growth, though, and it was fun to watch Seven finally find herself by the end of the story.
I enjoyed the side characters as well. Seven meets a guy she calls “Kurt” (he looks just like Kurt Cobain, lol) in her Machine Learning class, and they hit it off and end up helping each other through the rougher parts of the class. Then there’s Logan, a powerful Maker who draws Seven into his orbit in some rather concerning ways. When Seven joins the magic club and begins to attend their secret Gatherings, there’s a lot of tension flying around, since Seven doesn’t really fit in at first. The dynamics among the characters were one of my favorite story elements, since you never really knew what was going to happen.
Liz Shipton has a coding background, and she incorporates just enough technical jargon to give her story some heft. I loved the idea of an AI who has “scraped” the internet for all sorts of information on magic and distilled it into a unique but dangerous program. I recommend you don’t read the Goodreads blurb because it’s a bit spoilery, but let’s just say there’s something that Dot does later in the story that sends everything spiraling into chaos, and it’s even more awesome if you don’t know what’s coming. Overall I thought the world building was nicely done, with enough explanation and lore surrounding the magic system that it made sense, but without the info-dumping that some authors use to explain complex ideas. I also appreciated the fact that Shipton explores the moral implications of AI, but doesn’t let that take over her story.
And I’d better mention the spicy content, just in case it’s not your thing. Yes, there is one spicy sex scene (which is also very funny!), but that’s it. Just the one scene, which surprised me since the author is known for her spicy content. Even better, the scene isn’t gratuitous but moves the plot forward and serves a purpose later in the story.
If I have any complaints, it’s that the story could have been streamlined a bit, since there is a lot going on (maybe too much). But that’s just me being nitpicky. There is a late, end-of-the-story WTF twist that I didn’t see coming, and I think it had the potential to go sideways. But Shipton handled it brilliantly and somehow it worked. The ending is suitably emotional and heartwarming, bringing Seven’s story full circle, and I finished the last page with a warm glow and a touch of sadness that the story was over. Highly recommended!
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
This sounds great!! I like the idea of tech and magic blended together
It was a cool idea, and I think she pulled it off.
I’ve gotta ask… in your nitty-gritty you say: A magical AI program is the CATalyst. Did you make that pun on purpose because it made me laugh nontheless! I’m really liking the sound of this book. I tend to avoid books about AI but since magic is mixed up with it I think I would enjoy reading it. Also one guy that looks like Channing Tatum and another that looks like Kurt Cobain? What’s up with these guys? Haha
LOL OK I should claim that pun, but I guess you are smarter than me because I didn’t even notice!! LOL
I’m glad you enjoyed this one so much. I’m not entirely sure if the concept is for me but it certainly sounds like a unique concept that’s handled in an entertaining way. Sounds like an author to watch out for.
It had quite a few unique elements!
Yeah, your posts just keep popping in and out of existence on the reader. I’m pretty sure I saw a couple earlier today that are just gone, but they still show up on your site—very weird.
Everything should be ok now. I just can’t believe my website host would delete posts without asking or telling me, so frustrating.
This does sound like fun! I hadn’t heard of this author before, but I’ll add to my TBR!
I will definitely read more from her!
Excellent review! I think I’d love this one.
Thanks Anne! It’s a fun urban fantasy, and I know you read a lot of that genre.
This sounds awesome! Thanks for putting it on my radar. I’m off to put it on hold from my library. 😀
I hope you get the chance to read it!
This probably wouldn’t appeal to me normally but your review has really hooked me.
Lynn 😀
It was crazy but fun:-)
Glad to hear the author has a coding background. Sometimes I read work where tech-related scenes just don’t work well for me because they’re too far removed from reality. Granted, we are reading sci-fi/fantasy… 🙂 But I’m glad you enjoyed this one. Sounds like an interesting and fun time.
This may be the first book I’ve read that dealt with coding, so luckily the author knew what she was talking about:-)
Oh wow! This really worked for you so well!! And this is a great review!!
I appreciated this one a lot but still… It didn’t work so well. Mainly we didn’t click. I really liked Seven and Dot (and Kurt, too) but the humour didn’t really work 100% for me or… It worked but the general vibes were a tad too dark (or oppressive… Or unhealthy, I don’t know which words work best word here)and they made the whole less funny than what I would have preferred. Anyway… I loved Dot and the idea to use an app to do magic is *chef’s kiss*!
This sounds like a really great book! I’ll have to check it out—though, the print copy since you mentioned there’s a spicy scene and I don’t do spicy in my audiobooks. 😉 Thanks for the review!
I was worried this would be too technical but now that I read your review, I definitely want to pick this one up!
Sounds fantastic, thanks!
Interesting! From that cover I might not have guessed it would be funny too. Sounds like a great read. Great review!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2025/09/03/e-galley-review-head-witch-in-charge-the-sherwood-witches-2-by-avery-flynn/