Thank you so much netgalley and the author Royce Roeswood for providing me with the beautiful ARC of this book. Firstly, the audio narration was outstanding!!! Kudos to the author for having such great varied voice ranges.

The story was captivating and perfect fall fun reading! The start felt very much like a great way to introduce to witchcraft and was very lighthearted. The protagonist, Ninienne shows a great character development and indeed shows the courage and strength to stand up against her wizard under whom she is the apprentice. The android, Andy plays a beautiful and essential key role. I loved how he goes human by the end of the book.
The dragon element was beautiful and the antagonist, Salagrix was a a key mystery to held and was unwound in a beautiful way! 💖 The side characters were masterpiece and I thougoughly had a lots of laugh out loud moments and gasp moments!!! It was extremely fun and super wizardly and a definite YA read!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Audio ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for allowing me a copy of this audio book in return for an honest review.

Ninienne Lightcaster has been sent to a back of beyond moon for her final year of her wizard training. The wizard she is assigned to for her apprenticeship is old, forgetful, and not even interested in her speciality. But he is curious about her new technical devices and jumps at her suggestion to purchase an android, a purchase that may lead to her failing her magical studies if she’s not careful.

This is the third audiobook in a row where the author has been the narrator, Royce Roeswood did a brilliant job of bringing his book and characters to life. I had no problem keeping up with who was who.

Note on use of AI, at the end of the novel the author explains how he utilised AI during the writing process along with a tarot deck for the same purpose. I don’t have an issue with this, the story was weaved and polished by the author, how authors get their ideas and what devices they use to create the tale is up to them.

What I liked: The melding of fantasy and sci-fi was cleverly done. I tried to explain it to my brother and he suggested it was like Star Wars, but it’s not like that. It felt more like a magical fantasy which happened to have advanced technology in the background. It was also a fun story, with a lot going on, and a little bit sinister at times too.

What didn’t work for me: I’m not sure if there is an aim for a sequel but some things felt a bit unfinished at the end, I wasn’t sure if her friend not being available to take calls was a plot line to be expanded on or just to leave Ninienne feeling jealous. I would certainly be open to reading more from this world if that’s in the plan.

Final thoughts: A lively story mixing two of my favourite genres.

Who would enjoy this: Age from young adults up, fans of light fantasy and light Sci-Fi.

Oops! I Broke the Wizard's Android! is a humorous coming of age middle grade/YA speculative fantasy with SF space opera overtones by Royce Roeswood. Released 23rd Sept 2024, it's 305 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout.

The character driven plotline is quite meandering and disjointed in places, but comes together fairly well by the denouement. Sent to an entirely inappropriate (borderline dangerous) apprenticeship in an isolated backwater with a senile/vaguely menacing wizard, Ninenne just wanted to be a magical veterinary scientist, and has wound up working with a cross between a theoretical physicist and disturbingly potential murderer.

The writing is competent, breezily whimsical, and meant to be warmly funny, but often winds up straddling an uncomfortably vague no-man's-land between actively threatening (jump scare murder mystery) and passively weird. There are cute elements which lift the whole, such as Ninienne's familiar, a dog/frog hybrid.

It's an indie-pub, so the book could have benefited from a more thorough editing process. There are a number of word substitutions (horde/hoard, it's/its, an/and, defuse/diffuse, etc), but readers who can ignore them probably won't be yanked out of the story too much. The ARC provided for pre-release review is possibly not the final release version, so some corrections might have been made prior to release.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours and 12 minutes and is capably read by the author. He has a young light tenor voice and does a good job with the occasionally woe-is-me-stuck-on-a-crap-planet-with-an-impossible-teacher whiny attitude of the main character. He enunciates clearly and does a decent job with the often rapid change dialogue. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Three and a half stars. Definitely in need of a reading group/professional editing round, but overall a good bet for YA. For that reason, the audiobook version is recommended.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This was fun and silly, and super easy to get into.

The creatures and magic were cool, and I definitely get Ninienne's uncanny valley feel from the Android.

Ninienne is the apprentice for a Wizard who barely realizes she exists. So when an Android shows up, it becomes the replacement for Ninienne.


There is mystery with what happened to the last apprentice, will Ninienne get her dream of becoming a creature healer.

This book is filled with self-discovery, mystery, and of course endless humor. In the end, I give this book 3.25 stars.

This is interesting fantasy for at least two reasons. First a fun and funny fantasy romp as Ninienne Lightcaster, excellent student, finds herself on a moon in the middle of nowhere, as a wizard apprentice to a wizard who turns out to be more than a little challenged. Life is not going in the direction she expected. But can she get the wizard’s recommendation so she can follow her future dreams. And there starts the story - there’s magic mayhem, demons (some with soup for brains), animals, forest spirits and friendship. And as you might imagine a robot, that totally changes things for her. But she is clever and up for a challenge, and maybe the wizard’s specialism, of impossibly difficult and why would you want to anyway, portal magic might actually help. The second reason of interest is the authors note at the end of how he used AI and chance to help and shape his writing of this book. Very enlightening indeed. AI being used to write a story in which AI is central. Thank you to Ragamancers Press and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

I didn't know when I first picked up this book that it was written with AI assistance since its only mentioned at the very end of the book. I want to make it clear that I do not support AI in any way. With that said the disclaimer should really be at the beginning of the book, rather than at the end.

The plot itself was good, however, it reminded me a bit too much of other books I've read recently. The pacing of the book feels a bit all over the place, which made the book feel a little longer than it actually is. I did enjoy the characters. It's unfortunate since I did enjoy the story for the most part but it being mostly written with AI just re-written in the authors own words makes it only a 2 stars.

There is a little Statement of Tools note at the end of this audiobook that is tucked behind the acknowledgments that I almost skipped. I kind of wish I had because in there it mentions that this author used ChatGBT and other AI tools to assist them in coming up with many plot point. Anytime the author got stuck, they used AI to keep the story going.

I have very mixed feelings about AI as it is and while I’m sure I’ve read books where it has assisted other authors, this is the first time I’ve been told about it. And it makes me very uneasy to see what I believe to be an art, turned around this way.

It’s disappointing because I did like the story but for most of your book to be AI driven, it tells me you shouldn’t be writing a book if you can’t come up with your own content. Some people might not find an issue with this but it feels disrespectful to profit off something you did not create and call it art.

For that reason I will be giving this 2 stars. The story is interesting but I can’t support an author who cheated to complete this novel. I would not have picked this up had I realized it was a ChatGBT novel.

Again, I understand that AI probably plays a larger role in writing modern novels than we think, but to admit to it and be proud of it does not sit right with me. Even if it is a small portion of this book, the author admits to using it for shaping a lot of chapters. Regardless of how much of the AI content was left in, you still allowed it to dictate your novel. Overall, just not for me.

I absolutely loved this audiobook. Fans of Apprentice/Assistant to the Villain will feel right at home here (although the Wizard is not really a villain, satirical or not). It's magical, cute, funny, and such a good time. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for this Audiobook eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Note that AI was used in the development of this book. The author does go into detail about how this is used at the END of the book, but I think it should be noted at the beginning as not everyone supports the use of AI and this may be a deciding factor for people that would choose not to support it for that reason alone.

3.75 Stars. A fun and quirky science fantasy about a wizard apprenticeship gone awry. Ninienne gets assigned to a wizard whose last apprentice disappeared mysteriously, and whose mind isn’t all there all the time. This causes some loss of learning yet added work for Ninienne who wants to become a creature healer, but finds her time scattered between apprenticeship and caretaker for her mentor. When an android gets hired to come help, it starts to take over much of Ninienne’s responsibilities much to her dismay and compromising her graduation from apprenticeship. Can she and the android learn to work together in their own scopes? What happened to the last apprentice and why is no one asking for him? Theres something off about her mentor, apart from the memory issues, but is it sinister intent or is he just really REALLY old? Theres a cute delivery guy Ninienne befriends as well to break up some of the mundane tasks and provide a little extra world building. But dont get too comfy, theres also a menacing creature lurking in the woods at night.

This whole concept really fascinated me! Space Wizards with modern tech! The story is a good one, great for YA! I'm only giving it a 4 because at times the main character was a little annoying at times for me.

Oops I broke the Wizards Android is a charming cosy adventure story which manages to blend sci-fi and fantasy in such a way that makes the book a real joy to read. The characters are endearing (especially the android) and generally likeable; adding to the warmth of the story. The narration (by the author) was fab and brought characters to life really well! Overall the book felt like a cosy mug of hot chocolate on a cold day ☕️💕
The statement of tools, and specifically use of AI, was controversial for me. I’m just not yet sure how to feel about the use of AI in authorship and writing. I really appreciate the authors decision to include a statement of tools and aid transparency of this process. However, I do agree with other reviewers that this would be better placed at the start of the book, to prepare readers in advance 📚

**Thanks to NetGalley and Ragamancer Press for proving me with this ARC audiobook**

Thank you to NetGalley and Ragamancer Press for providing me with an ARC audiobook.

I took the night to process this book, as I had a lot of thoughts and opinions that, at times, seemed to contradict one another. After reflecting, I have decided to give this three stars, when really parts of the book are four stars and parts are just one star.

I would categorize this as a cozy fantasy. We follow Ninienne through her year as a wizard’s apprentice on a remote satellite moon with little access to the outside world. Though there is a science fiction element of some advanced technology—this world has the equivalent of cell phones and robots—that doesn’t stop it from being fantasy first and foremost. You could replace the technology with magic and little would fundamentally change. Oops! I Broke the Wizard’s Android! has a similar pacing to popular cozy fantasy books like Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. Not much happens for the first third of this book except following Ninienne through her daily life, so if you are expecting powerful magic upfront, you might be mistaken, but if you are looking for a story that delves into the daily life of characters in their fantasy world, this book will feel like a warm cup of cocoa.

Oops! I Broke the Wizard’s Android! was a comfortable, easy read, perfect for a lazy fall day. I enjoyed some of the humor and appreciated Ninienne’s character. She was a good mixture of caring and logical, acting more extroverted than most main characters are allowed.

This book might have ranked higher if not for a too-late realization. It was not explained until the end of this book that Roeswood wrote this with help of AI. I am a staunch nonbeliever in using AI for the arts. While it may have its uses, for it to be disclosed at the very end of the book felt both dishonest and substantial, as though waiting for readers to get attached to this book before they revealed an aspect readers may take issue with. And while I can understand using AI for brainstorming or name generation, to call out the use of AI, even though the author explained that the AI contribution had been largely rewritten by the time of publication, makes it likely that there was more AI usage than simple name generation. Just how much of this book was written with AI?

All in all, I’m conflicted between liking this book well enough to have finished it with some ease and being disappointed. I may be more inclined to recommend this if it did not get written with substantial assistance from AI.

I enjoyed this. The best part may have been the author's renditions of characters for the audiobook, but I also enjoyed the apprentice wizard who kept making mistakes and how protective she is over the android. The story was interesting, and the monster and the dragon were fun. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

Review of “Oops! I Broke the Wizard’s Android”

By: Royce Roeswood

Available September 23/2024

Check it Out on Goodreads!!

Disclaimer: Please note that I received an Audio ARC from NetGalley and Ragamancers Press, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (Rating System Below)

“Oops! I Broke The Wizard’s Android” by Royce Roeswood is a fun, quirky read with a unique blend of magic and sci-fi. The concept of wizards and androids coming together was really fresh and exciting, and I loved how the story played with that mix. The lighthearted tone kept it enjoyable, even when the plot got a bit predictable at times.

While the characters were likable, I felt like there could have been more depth to them. Some of the relationships and plot points felt a little rushed, and I would have loved more time to get to know the characters better. That said, the humor and playful writing style made up for a lot of it.

Overall, it’s a charming book that’s perfect for a light, entertaining read. It might not have the most complex plot or characters, but if you’re looking for something fun and different, this book definitely delivers.

Get it at…

📗 - Hard Copy -📗

Your Local Canadian Book Seller

Indigo - (Not Available at Time of Review)

Amazon Canada

📱 - Digital - 📱

Kobo

Kindle

🎧 - Audio - 🎧

Audible - (Not Available at Time of Review)

Libro.FM

___________________

*Star Rating Guide*

⭐

The writing style didn’t appeal to me.

The characters didn’t resonate with me.

I pushed myself to the limit to avoid DNF’ing.

I wouldn’t suggest this book to anyone I’m acquainted with.

⭐⭐

The book was passable, but it won’t stick in my mind.

Although I didn’t abandon the book, my mind wasn’t fully immersed in the story.

I discovered that it was easy for me to stop reading it and not feel compelled to continue promptly.

When everything was said and done, I was unsure of my immediate opinion on this book.

⭐⭐⭐

If someone is actively seeking a book in this general premise, I would suggest this.

While it was great, I don’t think I’ll ever pick up this book for a second read.

If it were part of a series, I’d probably venture into the next book.

Reading it was time well-spent.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book was brilliant.

I had the urge to keep reading and turn to the next page.

The book stayed on my mind for days after I finished it.

I highly recommend this book to everyone.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was actively engaged in wanting to finish reading this book.

My thoughts are consumed by this book after completing it.

I want to have a physical copy as a trophy that I can display on my shelf.

I felt a strong connection and investment while reading this book, would definitely recommend.

3.5 stars! This was an easy read and despite the somewhat darker sides to Neen’s apprenticeship it wasn’t too dark or heavy. I enjoyed seeing her try and make her apprenticeship work despite the forces (or the master) making that particularly difficult, but there was plenty for her to learn along the way. Her friendship with Benno added a little fun to the story, his character being slightly awkward but a good addition to the book.

The blurb and the title were misleading and so the story wasn’t exactly what I expected but it is one I enjoyed and not one to take too seriously. The android played an interesting role, as we see it change throughout the book as its experiences and knowledge grow. I’m sure there’s plenty to read into there in terms of AI and such things. I read the audiobook and though the narrator was good (I think this was the author?) it felt a bit jarring to have a female character voiced by a male narrator and so I think it would have been fitting to have a different voice actor for this.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Ragamancers Press for the ARC of this audiobook for my honest review

I loveddd the idea at the start but as it went on it just felt very Disney morals kids movies. I really liked that each chapter had a portion of a podcast , letter ect. That related to what was going on or something that was good to remember. The characters made me upset, she’s supposed to be finishing highschool yet she constantly acts and reacts immaturely that I just get mad with almost every action she makes. Beautiful atmosphere. The writing itself was really good though, and the plot was unique I just didn’t enjoy the mission at the end and towards that it was already starting to worsen.

I'll be publishing my review on Goodreads and StoryGraph 18th September and on Tik tok most likely will add to a monthly wrap up post with review the beginning of October.

".... neverending Hydra of circuitry."- My favorite quote from the book. Just the imagery of that sentence is great.

I went into this book thinking that they meant android as in the phone, not android as in the humanesque robot with AI software. That left me slightly confused for a little bit when Salagrix kept telling the Main Character no android, after essentially stealing her phone ("device") to play on. That's on me, not the author, though. Haha! I do love the multiple plays on "broke" from the title. Brilliant!

It took a little while to get into the story, but I loved the interstitials from the Book World that helped give context to the advancement and usage of technology within said Book World.

The character development was stilted to start, but after a few chapters really kicked in at a great pace. I wasn't connecting with anybody and before I knew it, I found myself suddenly extremely interested in the outcome of everyone's story.

I definitely can't wait to see how this world progresses in future installments.

Side Note (since I both read the ebook and listened to the audiobook):
The narrator has a Ron Howard narrating Arrested Development feel. He's phenomenal at differing voices and tones, especially for the interstitials.
He makes Salagrix sound like Ron Swanson, in an amazing way.

Oops! I didn't quite get on with this book!

To be clear, it's not bad, but it's not particularly good either. It's light hearted, and on the odd occasion funny, trying hard to channel a mix of a "cozy" feel with Douglas Adams style humor. The humor doesn't land more often than not, but humor is hugely subjective. The bigger problem for me is that the book seemed to being having a bit of an identity crisis, with far too many sub plots, which often come back to be main plots, and it's all a bit of a mess. That said, the narration was top notch, and the writing was pretty decent, however, one major cavate....

At the end of the book the author acknowledges the use of AI in writing this book (ew), as well as tarot (weird but ok). According to the author this was largely for inspiration, press X to doubt because if I were the betting type I would wager this was exactly what caused the aforementioned issue with plot whiplash. This is only my 3rd run-in with AI use in prose, and though I've had no bias about it (outside of how AI is trained), it's done nothing to endear me to the practice, quite the contrary, it's given me yet another example of why it shouldn't be done.

That said, I DO appreciate the fact the author was open about this, and explained his thinking behind using it (even if I think it was sugar coated), though I believe this should be front loaded, not back.

*ARC provided by NetGalley & Ragamancers Press*

Review based on audiobook provided by the publisher and author via NetGalley

DNF @50% (end of chapter 15)

In the "Statement of Tools" at the end of the book the author states that he used AI write the book. I listened to this part after I had DNF'd because other reviewers pointed out the use of AI. I appreciate the detailed information on how AI was used, but I wish it had been stated at the beginning of the book as well as in the blurb.

Young wizard Ninienne has to do a final apprenticeship to gain her certificate. She is sent to a remote moon in the system to become the apprentice to a grumpy old wizard, who might benefit from live-in help rather than being the revered teacher he's supposed to be. After some days of cleaning and learning about portal magic, which is neither Ninienne's forte nor selected research topic, Ninienne tricks her master into ordering a highly expensive android.

The cover and title drew me in. I liked the mix of science fiction and fantasy and I really enjoyed the first few chapters. Unfortunately, it took until 30% of the audiobook for the titular android to even appear in the narrative and by the middle of the book it is still operational. I expected the breaking of the android to happen far sooner.

The narration, by the author, was good. Each character got their own voice throughout the book and it was easy to follow the story.