About

Warping Minds & Other Misdemeanors is the first book in the The Guild Codex: Warped series written by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen.

Warping Minds & Other Misdemeanors book cover

Blurb

My name is Kit Morris, and welcome to my warped life.

Picture the scene: Me, an average guy with psychic powers—not that my abilities are in any way average—just trying to scrape by in a harsh world. So maybe I've conned a few people, but did I really deserve to be thrown in MPD jail alongside magic-wielding serial killers?

According to Agent Lienna Shen, one-hundred-percent yes.

But her hardass attitude and “Arcana prodigy” status aren’t enough to bring down my former best friend, who slipped through the MPD’s fingers and is days away from unleashing untold horrors upon the city. Or he’s going to steal something. I don’t really know.

Whatever he’s up to, that’s why I’m sitting in an interrogation room with Lienna. And that’s why I just offered myself as her temporary new partner for the purposes of thwarting my ex-accomplice.

And that’s how I’m going to escape. I might even help with the case before I cut and run.

Review

I read "Three Mages and a Margarita" (part of the connected series) last year. I had enjoyed that one too, but given my chaotic TBR, it took me until now to read this. "Warping Minds & Other Misdemeanors" can be read on its own, but it does spoil a few details. Visit the author's site for the recommended reading order.

Most of my impressions from Three Mages were applicable here too. A fast paced, fun and light hearted read that can be finished in less than a day. I enjoyed Kit's POV (even though I didn't get 95% of the film references) and the slow tease/reveal about his magical power was done well. I liked Lienna's character too, would've liked better if some of the scenes were from her POV.

I suppose romance and focus on physical attractions are common tropes in urban fantasy. I don't mind romantic banter, but I wanted to roll my eyes like Lienna at the physical descriptions and teasing present in almost every chapter. Probably one of the reasons why I'm not binge reading the gazillion books in the "The Guild Codex" series. However, the next time I desperately need a fast paced read, I hope my unmanageable TBR will surface this series among the top choices.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

What others are saying

From Tracy's review on goodreads:

The fun thing about Warping Minds & Other Misdemeanors though, besides the non-stop action, fast paced story, and numerous laugh out loud moments is it's a great starting point for new readers.

Kit really speaks my language! So much sass and pop culture references for days! He highly values his freedom, but would choose to do what is right at his own expense.

From mith's review on goodreads:

I absolutely adored Kit! He was funny and while I may not have gotten most of his movie references, he’s quickly become one of my favourite characters from this world.

Each of the series sort of highlights a different aspect of the Guild Codex world, so you’ve got Tori’s guild and Robin’s demon, and now we have MagiPol! This is another thing I wanna commend the authors on: this exploration. I love when worlds expand and we get to see things from different aspects so this book definitely brought on a new lens to the world for me and I LOVED that.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2022 bingo categories:

  • Two or More Authors
  • Anti-Hero
  • Urban Fantasy
  • Self-Published OR Indie Publisher