“In this city, girls like that get themselves killed.”

Positives

This book is definitely the best one I have read this year. It was well written, fast paced and ingenious. It had me in the chokehold from the very first chapter. I saw Emily fox on bookTube recommending it so I decided to check it out and the book did not disappoint. M.L Wang has become my new favorite author and I am interested in checking out more his book soon.

I shedded a few tears around 40-45% mark. There was some painfully beautiful writing there.


The book starts with the last 40 survivors of a tribe that once numbered in tens of thousands, migrating towards a city where powerful and wealthy people have created a barrier to shield themselves from blight, using magical technology.

In the city, we follow a 27 year old girl, Sciona, who is about to face the greatest test of her life that will determine if she is worthy to be a Highmage. If she succeeds she will become the first female highmage in history. On her journey to prove herself to a magistry dominated by men, she befriends a person of an "inferior race", Tommy, and together they discover the ugly truth about the magistry, the values her city is built upon, her past, and the cost of magic. She is confronted with a big question: Is having good intention at heart enough in the grand scheme of things, or does one need to consider the consequences of their actions as well?

"Is it better to be safe and broken or dead?"

The book is thought provoking. It clearly draws inspiration from the real world where privileged people, in general, have a history of exploiting and oppressing the poor, people of color and women.

The ending was the most amazing part of the book. I was on pins and needles during the last 20-30% of the book. Most books disappoint me at the ending, but the author did a superb job with the ending. It was so masterfully knitted into the fabric of story. It didn't seem like an after thought where author tries to make everyone happy by writing an ending that doesn't go with the vibe of the book.

"When you said ‘symbolism,’ I thought you were going to say it was a penis thing"

The book is fast paced, easy to read and cleverly conceived. The magic system is one of the best I have read in a while. In this world magic isn't something you inherit, it something that can be learned. Mages draw energy from other realm that is used, after coding magic formulas into a spellograph, to do magic. Drawing energy from other realm is complicated as both drawing too much or too little enegery can have negative  consequences. Sciona is an expert in mapping energy sources in the other realm. Mapping is crucial because energy is a limited resource, but mapping is hard since no one can see the other realm clearly.

The author has created a rich and  complex world, inspired by steampunk, that is both fascinating and horrifying. There is bit of info dumping but it is done in a very classy and interesting way. I had a great time learning about the magic system. I wish we had more books set in this world, but for the sake of the people in this book, I am glad it’s a stand-alone.

Her only distinction among these mages was that she was a more honest monster than any of them

Critiques
My only critique is the feminist message in the book. The problem is not the message but the explicity of it. I am not giving it 5 stars because at times the author was being too preachy and pushing his believes on the reader.  We also kept hearing about the absent father but that story arc didn't go nowhere. I'd have liked more explanation on that.

Favorite Quote

“Because good people can turn desperate when the horrors are upon them—especially people whose culture of plenty has left them with no systems to cope with scarcity or cataclysm. Good people will turn monstrous when it’s down to their survival or someone else’s.

This is such a powerful statement. I wish more people could understand this. The world would be so much more peaceful and harmonious if we did.

Trigger Warning
Sexual violence, suicidal thoughts, racism.

4.75
Writing:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐ 
Plot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐ 
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
World Building: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐