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celestialjane's review against another edition
It’s long, and a slog to get through. I could read for maybe 20 minutes before getting bored and putting it down. I was intrigued by the world building, which is what got me as far as I did. It just wasn’t enough to keep me fully engaged in the story.
earthier's review
1.0
The elements of things I like even love such as magic, vampires, history, mystery, and darkness but this was difficult to get through. I at times found it grueling and very slow-paced. I'm not familiar extensively with the political landscape of France or Britain but the magic inserted into the storyline didn't save it or provide a captivating focal point.
claire_melanie's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
okevamae's review
5.0
I’ve seen alternate histories with a magical twist before (it’s one of my favorite fantasy subgenres) and I’ve seen fantasy novels closely based on historical events before, but I’ve never read anything quite like A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians. This book is “what if people had magic” set in the time of the French Revolution, but unlike alternate histories I’ve read before, our main characters are the actual major historical figures who played key roles in those historical events, and the events closely mirror actual historical events, only reimagined in a world with magic.
In the world of this book, the struggle of the rights of magicians is seamlessly woven into the real-world political struggles of the fight to abolish the slave trade and the burgeoning French Revolution. In Europe, magic is a right reserved for the aristocracy alone, and commoners are prohibited from practicing magic of any sort, with registered magicians closely monitored by the Knights Templar and unregistered magicians living in fear of being caught. The punishment for unauthorized magic is severe, and hundreds of people are languishing in terrible prisons like the Bastille or the Tower of London for relatively minor infractions. Additionally, thousands of Africans are being stolen from their homes, sold as chattel, and being controlled and abused through sinister magical means. The book closely follows key historical figures like British Prime Minister William Pitt and French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre, both of whom are hiding magical secrets, as they struggle to shape the world into a place without such abuses of power, where common magicians have the same rights as the aristocracy. And unbeknownst to them, a shadowy figure is pulling strings in the shadows, working towards his own agenda.
All this historical and political stuff might make the book sound very dry, but I didn’t find it to be that way. The writing style is very engaging. We see first-hand the toll that the inequity of the society takes, not just through the POV of the politicians – one of the POV characters, Fina, is an enslaved woman in Jamaica, which brings home the horror of the lives of enslaved people and gives them a voice in a book that could easily have been yet another historical fiction driven by the lives of white men. The book focuses a lot on characters’ emotions, relationships, and the experiences behind the passions that drive them to want to change the world. It’s also a story about how power corrupts, and how the road to hell can be paved with the best of intentions. It’s a story about friendship and betrayal. The historically-based characters are, naturally, heavily fictionalized, but the author really brings them to life, and makes them sympathetic in a way that it’s frankly hard to feel for their real-life counterparts. The book is clearly extensively researched, and it’s fascinating to see how the facts of real history are woven in with the magical alternate version of reality.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.
In the world of this book, the struggle of the rights of magicians is seamlessly woven into the real-world political struggles of the fight to abolish the slave trade and the burgeoning French Revolution. In Europe, magic is a right reserved for the aristocracy alone, and commoners are prohibited from practicing magic of any sort, with registered magicians closely monitored by the Knights Templar and unregistered magicians living in fear of being caught. The punishment for unauthorized magic is severe, and hundreds of people are languishing in terrible prisons like the Bastille or the Tower of London for relatively minor infractions. Additionally, thousands of Africans are being stolen from their homes, sold as chattel, and being controlled and abused through sinister magical means. The book closely follows key historical figures like British Prime Minister William Pitt and French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre, both of whom are hiding magical secrets, as they struggle to shape the world into a place without such abuses of power, where common magicians have the same rights as the aristocracy. And unbeknownst to them, a shadowy figure is pulling strings in the shadows, working towards his own agenda.
All this historical and political stuff might make the book sound very dry, but I didn’t find it to be that way. The writing style is very engaging. We see first-hand the toll that the inequity of the society takes, not just through the POV of the politicians – one of the POV characters, Fina, is an enslaved woman in Jamaica, which brings home the horror of the lives of enslaved people and gives them a voice in a book that could easily have been yet another historical fiction driven by the lives of white men. The book focuses a lot on characters’ emotions, relationships, and the experiences behind the passions that drive them to want to change the world. It’s also a story about how power corrupts, and how the road to hell can be paved with the best of intentions. It’s a story about friendship and betrayal. The historically-based characters are, naturally, heavily fictionalized, but the author really brings them to life, and makes them sympathetic in a way that it’s frankly hard to feel for their real-life counterparts. The book is clearly extensively researched, and it’s fascinating to see how the facts of real history are woven in with the magical alternate version of reality.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.
theorah's review
For me personally, I think I just love and know too much about the French Revolution to be able to enjoy this book! I feel the circumstances of the revolution and the characters who partook in them are wonderfully complex and fascinating, and for me the writer was failing to really nail that down. It felt like they had created flat versions of the people lifted from a few specific sources, and chosen not think more carefully about their motivations, the culture around them etc.
From a non history nerd pov, it was a good effort and I think people not majorly into the history might enjoy this and it's useful of magic to help glide over very complicated politics and capture the essence of the problems of the time.
But as someone who pm knows people like Robespierre and Camille inside-out, it was weird to read these versions of them where their motivations and personalities were more simplistic, and various circumstances/psychology hadn't been taken into account.
From a non history nerd pov, it was a good effort and I think people not majorly into the history might enjoy this and it's useful of magic to help glide over very complicated politics and capture the essence of the problems of the time.
But as someone who pm knows people like Robespierre and Camille inside-out, it was weird to read these versions of them where their motivations and personalities were more simplistic, and various circumstances/psychology hadn't been taken into account.
pepsimaxx's review
Each read was as forgettable as the last which with such an exciting premise it just falls flat. The characters and setting are so forgettable I had to keep going back to remind myself what the point of any of this was.
librarianryan's review against another edition
This was a DNF. I started this as an audiobook three different times, and each listen only lasted an hour and a half to two hours into a 20 hour story. The main reason that I DNFed this book is that every time I started this book I couldn’t remember anything I had already listened to. This is because so much of this book is telling not showing. At least in the beginning there is so much set up for who the characters are what they’re doing, etc. It’s almost never ending. Even now, though I have listened to those first two hours multiple times I still cannot tell you anything that happened. I’m not saying this book was bad I’m just saying it wasn’t for me as an audiobook.
urat_forta's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25