Monday, July 20, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry


A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians is the first in a new historical fantasy duology by author H.G. Parry.  And I would heavily emphasize the word "Historical" in that description: this is a novel that covers the time period of the French and Haitian Revolutions, and features those very same events and very prominent characters just in a world altered by the existence of one major fantastical element: the existence of magic.  Of course given the events of the time period, the use of magic is restricted by nature of class and magic plays a role in the actions of enslavement....

Unfortunately, while I appreciated the work that went into the setup, I kind of found the whole package kind of cold in the end.  The story features four main characters, 2 in England, 1 in France, and 1 in Jamaica/Haiti, but mostly focuses upon the French Revolution and England, and while the existence of magic causes some changes in circumstance, events proceed pretty much exactly as historically foretold.  And the book doesn't do enough to actually make me care about the characters as a result, making it by the end feel kind of pointless?

Let me try to explain further in depth after the jump:

---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------
It is the 1770s, and a young girl is taken from her people in Africa and placed on a ship.  There, using an alchemical mixture, she is spellbound - a prisoner inside her own body, obeying orders without question, as long as her captors - first on the ship, and then in Jamaica - give her the mixture morning and night.  But the girl who would come to be known as Fina would find a way to break her spellbinding, just as slaves in the nearby islands of Saint-Domingue find their own different way to break free and rise up.....

Meanwhile, in Europe, commoner magicians are barred from using magic, and those whose magic is detected are forced to wear a burning bracelet by the Knights Templar.  In England, two aspiring politicians: William Pitt, determined to lead the way to a better freer England for commoners as well as nobles, and William Wilberforce, who latches on to the cause of abolition as a moral imperative, try to work in Parliament to ensure England and the world heads in a right direction.

And in France, commoners have begun to speak out against the magical class disparities, no longer willing to tolerate the aristocrats having a monopoly on magic.  In this atmosphere steps in Maximilien Robespierre, heir to a deadly magical secret, and determined to do what he can to make a better France, seemingly without regards to the cost.

Behind all of this lies a dark force, a person with an agenda utterly mysterious, with goals of controlling the outcome of history towards one dark end.  And if not stopped the violence he will unleash may send the World back to the dark ages it had once moved past.....
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A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians takes the events of the late 18th century: the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution particularly, and rearranges the causes and effects.  So slavery in the West Indies is achieved through magical means, in which slaves literally are prisoners in their own bodies (until someone arranges for a change in that).  The French Revolution is not about the Rights of Man, but the Rights of Magicians, kept down by the commoners and the Knights Templar (instead of the Church).   The book shows us this by jumping between our four point of view characters - Robespierre in France, Wilberforce and Pitt in England, and Fina in Jamaica/Saint-Domingue (Haiti).  This is the first half of a duology, and this half is mostly focused on France/England, so Fina's situation is less focused upon (more on that in a bit).

But even despite these changes, the overall progression of things is pretty much the exact same as history occurred in our world.  If you know how the French Revolution went, you can know how this is going to play out here, even if the root causes of the events are magical in nature instead of mundane.  The additions of vampires, mesmerizers, shadow conjurers, etc all change absolutely nothing in the outcomes of the French Revolution, which kind of makes it all seem pointless in the end?  And it's not like adding magic in these situations actually changes the themes involved here.  There's a major big bad lurking around from the beginning who the reader sees directly influencing events, but never gets his identity and since nothing actually is resolved involving him in this book, it doesn't add anything.

Historical fiction can still work mind you if the characters are interesting and/or their lives convey themes and meanings to the reader.  Alas, three of the four main characters are historical figures and there really isn't much that is changed about them - I honestly knew little about Wilberforce or Pitt, but it looks like very little is changed about their personalities, except the addition of magic (Pitt is secretly a magician).  The fourth, Fina is the exception and she's the best character of the bunch, the slave with magical power who doesn't appear to be a real historical person and thus seems to have the most agency.  Hers is not a pleasant story but it's one of discovering her own value and self worth, and I wish it was more of this book - but as I noted above, the Haitian storyline is a distinct secondary storyline for this book, with the promise of it becoming more prominent next book.  And honestly, if Parry's tendency to let history play out the same way continues with Haiti, I'm not really sure I can take that?

Again, I like fantasy that takes a deep dive into history and often re-imagines real events by adding in the fantastical; for example, see Naomi Novik's Temeraire (The Napoleonic Wars but with Dragons!) or A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge (The English Civil War with a shadowy family body hopping!) etc.  But you have to DO something with it, and while Parry provides the background for a magical duel between one "good" powerful magician and one clearly evil one, none of that happens here and instead we just see things proceeding as if magic didn't exist, just minorly adjusted.  Those other books all had characters who were enjoyable or changed history because well obviously it wouldn't have been the same, and this book doesn't.

I should never finish a book and go "what was the point" and honestly, I did here.


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