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A review by okevamae
A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry
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.