Industrial Strength Magic is one of the latest works by the prolific Macronomicon, which is, as of this writing, still completely available for free on Royalroad HERE.

The basic premise is that the teenage son of a techno-genius villain and magic-wielding heroine begins his entrance into the superhero scene. Paradox, the main character, comes from a long line of magic users on his maternal side, but his brainy father has a deep prejudice against “hippy BS”. As a result, Paradox cannot use magic as he desires and is instead thrust into a litrpg-like system of power progression installed by his father. He figures out a way to access his magical inheritance anyways while building a power suit and becoming stronger and stronger.

The best part of Industrial Strength Magic is Macronomicon’s signature munchkin mechanics. From the start, Paradox is figuring out how to get around his inability to do magic. He gains a unique power set that isn’t obviously overpowered, like invincibility or some devastating attack, and proceeds to milk every last advantage he can while searching for loopholes and hidden opportunities within the constraints of his litrpg system. He’s min-maxing everything and coming up with wild solutions to do what others think is impossible.

I love munchkin litrpg stories. I also love classic superhero settings with secret identities and costumes. YA power fantasy stories are my jam, too. Industrial Strength Magic hits all the sweet spots. I binged the available 150 chapters or so over the course of a few days.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Industrial Strength Magic, I generally try to steer recommendations towards the appropriate audience, which also means considering who may not like it. I would give a one major caveat that I didn’t find quite as appealing: the romances, or, for lack of a better term, anime energy.

I don’t mind romances, and I don’t mind YA romances in my stories. Industrial Strength Magic generally handles the romances with a bit more sophistication than the typical Royalroad story, mainly because Macronomicon’s a very skilled storyteller. At the end of the day, though, it’s still a teenage boy’s fantasy on many levels. Paradox has an attractive female best friend who is outgoing. They meet a shy cute girl of small size and end up in some kind of simultaneous open/threeway relationship with the said shy girl…you get what I mean by “anime energy”.

I’m used to watching anime and such, but I don’t find such romantic plotlines to be particularly interesting. I also found the chapters or passages focusing on the relationships to be a bit dry, as in not particularly heartfelt or humorous, and ended up skimming most of them. It is what it is. If anime energy turns you off, and understandably so, be warned. I believe the romantic style is a trend with Macronomcon’s writing, and you can read some other perspectives on reddit about similar issues HERE.

Even with that one caveat, I very much enjoyed Industrial Strength Magic as a superhero-style litrpg story. It’s breezy, pure powerbuilding fun about cheating expectations.