Early Review: Dot Slash Magic by Liz Shipton

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A new, spicy urban fantasy from TikTokker Liz Shipton, perfect for fans of I am Number Four, Wreck it Ralph and ACOTAR.

What if you wrote a magic computer program? What if that magic computer program started summoning monsters?

When twenty-something coder Seven Jones goes back to school at a community college in San Diego, the last thing she wants is to join some stupid club. And the last thing she expects is to walk into an underground magic club. Like, actual wizards and shit.

Seven reluctantly joins the motley crew of magic weirdos and discovers her own power. But she struggles to control it…until she figures out how to channel her magic through an artificially intelligent computer program.

Unfortunately, there is literally nothing Seven’s new friends hate more than AI, and when a student mysteriously turns up dead, blame falls on Seven. Is her “creepy artificial magic” summoning terrifying creatures to hunt students? Or is someone trying to frame her?

With only one person – cute ex-Navy seal Logan – on her side, Seven fights monsters (Dragon? Check. Kraken? Check) while struggling to convince everyone that her AI has nothing to do with them.

But how can she convince her peers when she isn’t totally convinced herself?
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First line:
Tidy seams of pink and orange text stitched themselves across a black display.
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Source:
eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
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Publisher:
Angry Robot
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Publication Date:
August 19, 2025
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Rating:
2.5 AIs out of 5
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The beginning was fast paced and intriguing. I love the idea of Seven accidentally creating a new way of doing magic. I don't think I've read anything quite like it. There is lots of commentary on AI and it also felt very tropey/memey.

I was really put off by the fact that there are two spicy scenes with a guy who ends up being an abusive f*ck. The spicy scenes were all just not well done in general.

I didn't love the ending. I ended up skimming the last 15-20% of the book and didn't read the last couple of chapters because it just wasn't holding my attention towards the end. I could have done without the whole Logan storyline and would have loved to see more Kurt!



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