A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians: A Novel

I have never found the 18th century particularly interesting, but then it’s never had Pitt as a vampire or Robespierre as a necromancer before... Even Wilberforce becomes someone worth following rather than the sanctimonious bore he always seemed before. This is a beautiful book, brilliantly written. It captures neatly the intelligences of the time and while the dark magic may not have been intended as a metaphor for the evil at the heart of capitalism, it achieves that end with remarkable skill.

WHOA! This book was... breathtaking. In scope, in storytelling, in characters and perspectives and emotions and political machinations. I seem to have read this at just the right and the wrong time, simultaneously. The wrong time, because this story requires an intense amount of concentration, and thanks to the current state of the world, my reading attention span has been SHORT. But also the right time, because this book is basically historical fantasy about abolition in Europe & the Caribbean. The debates, the questions, the implications, and the reminders (both of how far we've come and how far we have yet to go) feel very relevant at the moment, when George Floyd's death woke many up to the way systemic racism has been affecting Black people. (The racism is not new; the awareness being raised and universality of racism as a conversation subject is, at the very least, not something that's been tackled on this scale in recent history.) It took me a while to get into this book. 25% or so. Before that, it felt like a jumble of characters and places. I could tell there was a lot going on, but my mind had trouble grasping it all. Then... as occasionally happens, something clicked. (Also, it probably helped that my husband watched the baby for a bit so I could actually concentrate without her constantly trying to steal or click on my kindle.) I found myself riveted. Invested. Fully absorbed. Obsessed. In AWE. Sooooooooo I do want to give readers warning that this book will take time to get into. I've read some of the other reviews saying it's boring or they DNF'd the book, and I honestly understand that. I considered it as well. But I'm so, so glad now that I read on. It's worth it! Now, onto the actual book. In the alternate historical world of A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, magic is strictly controlled. The rights of magicians are under debate, and the author doesn't hold back when it comes to the way magicians of different classes and races (well, Black & White, as I recall no mention of other races in the story) are treated starkly differently. The story is as much about slavery and abolition as it is about the rights of magicians. And more than anything else, at its heart is the question of change. How do we bring about change? What's the best way to upend everything? Must it always turn to bloody revolution, or can it be done through peaceful negotiation? Is it fair to ask oppressed people to wait a single minute for freedom in order to usher in a new era with little or no bloodshed? Do the people who benefit from systems of oppression deserve to die for their parts in perpetuating those systems? This story tackles all of these questions and more. For someone like me, who loves thought-provoking reads, this story was so powerful and generated so many interesting questions without clear...

The story started well, but then became a retelling of the French Revolution with zombies. Sorry. Writing was good. Parry told the story, especially the interactions between characters well and with believability. Pitt and Wilberforce in particular.

Do you like history? Do you like fantasy? Do you love when authors mix them both? Then this is a perfect book for you. In this AU, magic exists and is highly correlated with the social class system in Europe. When commoner magicians revolt against the bonds keeping them from fully utilizing their magic, it sparks the French Revolution, the Haitian slave uprising, and more. With viewpoint characters in the "great men" of the era (Maximilien Robespierre, William Pitt, William Wilberforce) but also in people whose stories have not been recorded (an enslaved woman in Jamaica, young magicians in France and England), the book takes the conceit to its logical end. Truly an original and fascinating read!

Someone unfamiliar with history might criticize this book by arguing how unrealistic a Mary Sue character this William Pitt is, becoming chancellor of the exchequer at 22 and prime minister at 24? And surely it is implausible for a wealthy member of parliament to have the sort of spiritual awakening that hits Pitt’s good friend, William Wilberforce! (By the way, if you haven’t seen the Wilberforce biopic Amazing Grace, I strongly recommend it before reading this book.) I have long been a fan of Wilberforce, so I recognized some of the ridiculous youthful adventures from his biography, though they didn’t make the wiki pages. Basically, the most implausible things about these characters are probably the things most likely to be historical. The author does a marvelous job of tweaking biographies to fit his plot. Desmoulins actually had a stutter and Robespierre’s mother did die young; the author twists these facts into his plot, keeping their biographies as close to our time as possible while setting up motives for the book’s world. I am sure this would be a fun read on its own just for people who enjoy period urban fantasies, but people who have engaged with the late 1700s will find quite a lot more to appreciate.