Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
Feb. 14th, 2019 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoeOr, this is a good book but Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell has ruined the entire rest of the fantasy genre for me forever, part 839.
This one caught my eye a while ago because of the obvious relevance to JSMN, and clearly owes quite a lot to it: an alternate Regency England where magic is widely accepted as part of society; a plot involving the mysterious decline of magic, which the main characters end up succeeding in bringing back; a focus on issues of race and gender and what magic has to do with them. But it's also very much its own thing, and goes in some interesting directions with the basic premises.
Starting with things I liked, and the thing I liked most about this book was the main characters. I liked Zacharias Wythe, the Sorcerer of the title, who is serious and careful and studious (he reminded me a little of Stephen Black, which isn't a coincidence: Cho is very clear how much Zacharias's character and actions are shaped by his position as a black man in Regency English society), and also highly concerned about both magic and injustice. I loved Prunella Gentleman, a young woman with surprisingly many magical secrets in her possession, who is confident and ambitious and delightfully unscrupulous in what she's prepared to do to get what she wants, to the point of real moral doubtfulness in a few moments. That was great to see in a heroine. And I love how they interact with each other, and some of the other relationships we see—Zacharias and his friend and supporter Damerell, Prunella learning more about magic and her own place in it from the magician Mak Genggang.
It's also an interesting fictional world. Unlike in JSMN, there isn't anything special about English magic here—it's simply the magic that lives in England, and other countries have just as much magic and do all sorts of different things with it. One of the main plot threads revolves around a group of Malaysian vampire women, led by the highly memorable Mak Genggang, and the relations between them, the rulers of their country and imperial Britain, and it was very interesting to see both what magic looks like in the rest of the world and magic playing a complex role in international relations in the context of empire. We also meet Indian and Chinese magicians and get some hints at the role different cultures and their philosophies play in views of magic. You could do an awful lot with this sort of worldbuilding, and I really enjoyed the look at magic in world history.
For all this, however, I felt that there was something lacking in the worldbuilding and atmosphere. There are an awful lot of interesting details, but not much in the way of real depth. I didn't get much sense of what magic really is in this world or why it matters so much, besides being a way of making cool fireworks and getting your political enemies to take you seriously. And (the inevitable comparisons with JSMN in mind) I think this goes along with my other main criticism, which is the lack of a sense of place. There's very little description of settings: the main action takes place in London, but apart from the political relevance it barely matters, and Prunella's school or the village with the Fairyland border could have been anywhere. The subtle atmosphere, the sense of the numinous, that are essential to any really good fantasy, weren't there, and when I think about the fantasy books I consider really good, the nature of magic and the sense of place always go hand in hand. There was a lot this book could have done with different places' magic and how different human cultures deal with an essentially unchanging magic, and I don't think that was explored nearly as much as it could have been.
(The book is unsubtle in other ways, too, like its treatment of racism and sexism—which isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course, but you don't have to be unsubtle to make a point obvious, and I think JSMN's way of doing it is more interesting).
There are a few other criticisms I could make, like how the narrative is a bit too consciously quirky for my liking, which doesn't go well with the serious social and political themes, and it doesn't hide its influences as much as it needs to (the plot points lifted straight from P. G. Wodehouse look particularly odd next to the rest of the book).
Overall, an enjoyable read with a lot of interesting details and potential, but disappointing in terms of what this sort of fantasy can be. I'd recommend giving it a go if you like the historical aspects of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and/or enjoy Regency romance type stuff as well as fantasy, but don't expect too much.
This one caught my eye a while ago because of the obvious relevance to JSMN, and clearly owes quite a lot to it: an alternate Regency England where magic is widely accepted as part of society; a plot involving the mysterious decline of magic, which the main characters end up succeeding in bringing back; a focus on issues of race and gender and what magic has to do with them. But it's also very much its own thing, and goes in some interesting directions with the basic premises.
Starting with things I liked, and the thing I liked most about this book was the main characters. I liked Zacharias Wythe, the Sorcerer of the title, who is serious and careful and studious (he reminded me a little of Stephen Black, which isn't a coincidence: Cho is very clear how much Zacharias's character and actions are shaped by his position as a black man in Regency English society), and also highly concerned about both magic and injustice. I loved Prunella Gentleman, a young woman with surprisingly many magical secrets in her possession, who is confident and ambitious and delightfully unscrupulous in what she's prepared to do to get what she wants, to the point of real moral doubtfulness in a few moments. That was great to see in a heroine. And I love how they interact with each other, and some of the other relationships we see—Zacharias and his friend and supporter Damerell, Prunella learning more about magic and her own place in it from the magician Mak Genggang.
It's also an interesting fictional world. Unlike in JSMN, there isn't anything special about English magic here—it's simply the magic that lives in England, and other countries have just as much magic and do all sorts of different things with it. One of the main plot threads revolves around a group of Malaysian vampire women, led by the highly memorable Mak Genggang, and the relations between them, the rulers of their country and imperial Britain, and it was very interesting to see both what magic looks like in the rest of the world and magic playing a complex role in international relations in the context of empire. We also meet Indian and Chinese magicians and get some hints at the role different cultures and their philosophies play in views of magic. You could do an awful lot with this sort of worldbuilding, and I really enjoyed the look at magic in world history.
For all this, however, I felt that there was something lacking in the worldbuilding and atmosphere. There are an awful lot of interesting details, but not much in the way of real depth. I didn't get much sense of what magic really is in this world or why it matters so much, besides being a way of making cool fireworks and getting your political enemies to take you seriously. And (the inevitable comparisons with JSMN in mind) I think this goes along with my other main criticism, which is the lack of a sense of place. There's very little description of settings: the main action takes place in London, but apart from the political relevance it barely matters, and Prunella's school or the village with the Fairyland border could have been anywhere. The subtle atmosphere, the sense of the numinous, that are essential to any really good fantasy, weren't there, and when I think about the fantasy books I consider really good, the nature of magic and the sense of place always go hand in hand. There was a lot this book could have done with different places' magic and how different human cultures deal with an essentially unchanging magic, and I don't think that was explored nearly as much as it could have been.
(The book is unsubtle in other ways, too, like its treatment of racism and sexism—which isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course, but you don't have to be unsubtle to make a point obvious, and I think JSMN's way of doing it is more interesting).
There are a few other criticisms I could make, like how the narrative is a bit too consciously quirky for my liking, which doesn't go well with the serious social and political themes, and it doesn't hide its influences as much as it needs to (the plot points lifted straight from P. G. Wodehouse look particularly odd next to the rest of the book).
Overall, an enjoyable read with a lot of interesting details and potential, but disappointing in terms of what this sort of fantasy can be. I'd recommend giving it a go if you like the historical aspects of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and/or enjoy Regency romance type stuff as well as fantasy, but don't expect too much.
no subject
Date: Feb. 16th, 2019 09:06 am (UTC)I agree with you that numinous atmosphere adds to magic but never think it is the requirement. Magic is only a tool.
no subject
Date: Feb. 16th, 2019 05:34 pm (UTC)I suppose it's a matter of taste, really, but I've read some very good fantasy books (e.g. thinking of Alan Garner here) where the magic basically is the numinous atmosphere, and they're always my favourites.
no subject
Date: Feb. 20th, 2019 02:11 pm (UTC)