Kelly McCullough continues to rack up big points with his ongoing science/fantasy series starring Ravirn, a child of the Fates from Greek mythology. The first book, Webmage, was an excellent story, introducing a smart-mouthed quick-thinking magnet for trouble that reminded me a lot of Roger Zelazny’s signature characters.

Like Zelazny’s Corwin of Amber and Jack of Shadows, Ravirn tells his own story in a first-person narrative that explodes onto the pages and keeps moving along at a brisk pace. Since I’d read the first book, the second book, Cybermancy, didn’t offer any challenges to lock into the world. I felt like I was stepping back into a gathering of old friends. That’s how you know you have excellent characters – when your readers can drop back in and never wonder once who is who.

I call these books science/fantasy because McCullough insists on making technology and magic both driving factors of the series. Not only is Ravirn a child of the Fates who’s gifted with awesome magical abilities, he’s also a computer geek that knows his way around hacks and cracks. As steeped as I am in computer-speak, I was sometimes challenged with having to keep up with the amount of information in Ravirn’s narrative, but even when I lost the thread of something (I blame my ADHD, not McCullough’s writing) it didn’t take me long to catch up.

Even cooler than that, though, Ravirn turns out to be an emerging chaos god who’s about to hang a shingle in the Greek pantheon. That story alone is worth the price of the book.

There are lots of stories in the second book of the series. Ravirn’s friendship with Melchior — the webgoblin he created, designed, programmed, and eventually gave independence to -- is still at the forefront of the adventure. Likewise, Cerice -- Ravirn’s lady love -- returns with a host of new issues as well. Her webgoblin’s name is Shara, but she has a tendency to take a human form that looks an awful lot like Mae West, complete with ample charms and double entendre enough to make a sailor blush.