Victoria A Grefer

Eleven-year-old Zakry is intensely curious about the world, asking questions, and even listening by the window of a tavern to eavesdrop on men's talk.

When he is harshly punished at school for disputing the revised official history, his protective sister, seventeen-year-old Kora, complains bitterly. But in the second year of a sorcerer usurper's rule, men are tortured for questioning authority, and Zakry risks putting his family in danger.

This is the first novel in the Herezoth trilogy.

Telling of the rate of tax appears to be an appeal to prejudice - a disreputable use of drama. Although we are (eventually) shown the salient evidence of the ensuing poverty and desperate overwork of Kora and her mother, I'm left curious about the state of the country and its history. As the story develops, shades of grey emerge - some of the ancien regime who were unhappy that magic was suppressed welcome a new pro-magic regime.

I don't find the nobles entirely plausible. While license should be given for an author to create a fictional world which is different from familiar times and places, if characters appear to conform to "human nature", some inferences can be drawn.

The depicted society is paternalistic and hierarchical. There are sizeable cities. People in a privileged role tend to be arrogant and insensitive to the lower social orders - despite mixing of social classes this isn't depicted. Nobles would have servants and wouldn't participate in front-line missions. If women (nobles) are active in front-line missions, why aren't there women soldiers or commanders?

But in comparisons to familiar societies, magic is a confounding factor - if reports of the sorcerer usurper are true there is at least one real live sorcerer; a public high-status figure unlike credible societies known to historians.

In a low technology society, magic can substitute for technology. Just as technology (e.g. washing machines) does away with the need for domestic servants; magic can be employed to accomplish chores as ubiquitously depicted in wizard's apprentice scenes e.g. Faust, Mary Poppins.

Nevertheless, in the story there is a widespread prejudice against sorcerers - nobody could dare to use sorcery openly, so meals must be cooked, fires must be built, clothes must be washed, floors must be scrubbed, high windows must be cleaned without the use of levitation...

The author announced a giveaway offer in an online forum. I applied and received a free e-book.… (mais)