“It’s you and me against the world, Margaret.”
Thank you to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Once I saw the author compare A Far Wilder Magic to The Scorpio Races (and that she was a huge TSR fan too) I put this book on my to-read list. Oh boy, was it a journey. Magic, or in this case, alchemy, comes at a cost. Power comes at a cost. Love is never easy, either. The worldbuilding was a bit hazy for me, but also sometimes info-dump-y, and it took me a little while to get truly invested and captivated by the book. Maggie’s isolated, rural town never felt as strongly grounded and real as Thisby in TSR to me, and the real-world comparisons to ethno-religious groups prejudice and oppression were pretty obvious/on the nose. But once I did get invested and captivated, I DID. Oh, the yearning in this romance. If you want yearning, if you want angst, if you want opposites attract/sunshine and grump, this is for you. If you want a confession of love that is potentially equal to Darcy and Lizzie, this book has it. But be warned. These characters and their relationship are as messy as they are beautiful. Maggie has PTSD, and there seems to be a co-dependent and emotionally manipulative/abusive element to her relationship with her famous alchemist (and chronically absent) mother, whose actual character is more heard about than seen on page but nevertheless casts a shadow over Maggie and Wes’ lives and ambitions. To Wes, though, an apprenticeship with her mother is his last hope at becoming an alchemist, his last shot and becoming “someone.” A Far Wilder Magic is definitely a character-driven story. The character arcs are beautiful, full of pain and healing, of realizing your true worth and what you want in life, and what love truly looks like. Maggie is also half Jewish (Yu’adir in the book), Wes comes from an Irish-Catholic family (Banvishman/Sumic), and it’s implied that Wes has some kind of learning disability that has consistently marked him as a failure. Both face prejudice because of their identities.  I like that we see side characters and a little bit into how prejudice is spread and upheld through complicity, peer pressure, fear, and expectations through the character of Annette. I really liked the alchemy-based magic system, learning how it works, and seeing how it has shaped Maggie and Wes’ lives differently. However, the whole reason Maggie and Wes team up and a major aspect of the plot---the Great Hunt for the hala---gets maybe a couple of chapters at the end of the book. Considering I had not read Saft’s debut novel, Down Comes the Night, prior to A Far Wilder Magic, I can’t compare how her writing has improved, evolved, etc. However, I highly recommend reading a Far Wilder Magic and have but DCTN on my to-read list!