Quick-take: Magic as code. Patriarchy.

Dan's Review

Sciona is the first woman mage to reach the status of high mage. She has spent her entire life studying for this moment. Upon reaching this status, she is slighted by male her peers by being given the janitor, Thomil, to be her assistant.

What follows is a deep dive into the magic system that has computer programming vibes, her relationship with Thomil, and uncovering hard truths about how her society is built while fighting the patriarchy.

There are 3 running themes in this book. The first is the magic system. Mages type their 2-part spells onto a "spellograph" machine. The first part is the action spell, which says what to do. The second part is the source, which says where the power comes from. Sciona's specialty is sourcing and "mapping" -- where to find the source of power. The system and her specialty all makes sense in the story.

Sciona would not refer to herself as a feminist. However, she would sympathize. Sciona is constantly being slighted and underestimated by her male peers. They say she is too emotional and too weak for the rigors of being a high mage. Despite her skill and accomplishments, she is still not accepted -- to the point of near sabotage.

The third theme is her janitor, Thomil. He is of a lower status of citizen in society, and Sciona accepts him pretty quickly as her assistant. She would not call herself a progressive and offer him any charity. It is a pragmatic choice. She needs an assistant, and he was what was assigned to her. Their relationship grows throughout the book, and I won't go into more detail about that.

The author weaves all these themes together well. The magic system is interesting. Fantasy novels are basically a bile of BS with a logical hook to make them believable. This one works. M. L. Wang does not go too deep and the focus is on Sciona's efforts as she works out the spells.

I do not feel like I am qualified to comment on the feminist themes. I would say some of it felt a bit over the top. Reading stories online about women being slighted in their careers, perhaps it isn't too far? This is not a good place for career-oriented women. Deference to men is baked into the society's religion. There are even doctors whose job is to make women more docile. My one complaint is that her male colleagues often complained that women were too emotional, and Sciona was indeed quite emotional in the story. She frequently broke down crying and also raged. It all fit the story though.

I was ready to get really mad as the Thomil + Sciona story developed. After all, he is a janitor, and she is a very highly ranked mage. That seems very inappropriate. However, it was done well.

The ending closed all the story arcs. However, I think an epilogue would've been nice.

Score: 5/5. I like well-executed fantasy novels that are truly STANDALONE. No sequel needed here.