In a world where magic is real and controlled by government authorities, H.G. Parry re-imagines true historical events and people, inviting readers to add an additional layer of conspiracy to movements that changed the course of history like the French Revolution or the slave rebellion in the Caribbean.
The premise didn’t work for me for a couple reasons.
I felt like this book minimized the atrocities that were committed during the era. The slave trade and the French Revolution’s cost in both human lives and suffering is immeasurable, and it felt somewhat flippant to take those events and say, “Well, magic,” as the main driving force behind the conflicts.
I felt the same could be said for the subtle twisting of the lives of historic figures.
“His quiet voice spoke of a country built on Enlightenment principles, whose people were virtuous, where magic was a free resource to be used for the betterment of all, where food was well distributed and plentiful, where courts were in the hands of the people and not the talons of the Aristocracy, where the poorest Commoner was free to vote and grow and be educated.” pg 155
That is not to say that history or historic personages couldn’t or shouldn’t be in fantasy novels. It is a hallmark of the genre to take a reality, change the rules of that reality, and then tell the story with the new rules. Though if that was what the author was going for, perhaps she should have staged her story in another world or made the focus of the story characters she invented with the real people living their lives in the backgrounds.
Taking real events, real people and real world locations to drive the story didn’t coalesce into the fantasy novel I believe she was reaching for.
I think fantasy, alternative-historical fiction is something that can be done successfully, but I have yet to see its promise fulfilled. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I had the same issues with this story that I had with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Students of history may find themselves frustrated by A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians because of the way the true events are spun. I didn’t have any specialized knowledge of the era, but a friend who is somewhat of an expert told me the complexity of the time period is so dumbed down that he was distracted by it.
“It had seemed so simple after the fall of the Bastille. The National Assembly of Magicians had risen up, exactly as Robespierre had hoped. They had issued a proclamation declaring it the right of all citizens to be free to practice their own magic: a Declaration of the Rights of Magicians.” pg 179
Setting my concerns with fantasy clumsily applied to horrific real life events aside, my biggest issue with this book was the glacial pacing. Readers sit through meeting after meeting, and it’s incredibly dull. But with the time period we were in, it should have been gripping. I told myself that a big payoff for all of this story building was coming, as the book clocks in at over 500 pages, but I felt like it never materialized.
I don’t mind a long book. But please, tell the story.
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