review:
The more you read, the less the changes that a book makes you go 'wow, hang on, how does that work?' and eager to read more which opens even more questions. This is one such book. The topic under consideration is magic - all kinds of magic from divine to infernal. There are so many clever and admirable inclusions of aspects such as gods, worshipers, their relation and association, and the use of magic through 'decanted' artefacts. Think 'The Matrix' bottling up humans, except in this case its magic from objects, people, even 'gods'. And then there is the question of the all too apparent fascist country that want everything to be 'perfection' - basically a rejection of anything other than what the 'committee' decides. Too real, too close for comfort, and a constant acknowledgement of the world I live in which makes for a serious and melancholic reading. And yet - I enjoyed all of it. The stories, the settings - the world is massive that I would gladly read a whole lot more books about it, to the various philosophical provocations that got raised in my mind. I consider this an enlightening book because it expands the consciousness into new ways of thinking about something I didn't know about. Sure, all of it is about 'magic', but you could just as well replace it with other things to see how it helps be a foggy reflection of the actual world and people. Excellent read.,