Witchmark

Slightly edited version of the review I posted on Mastodon a while back @ octodon.social/@kg6gfq/109491337149140152

Bicycle representation

I rate this a Platinum-Level Bicycle Friendly Book!

I so enjoy reading something where the main character and the general populace all travel by bike. There was even a bike chase scene! The book did end with the frustratingly common "Oh no, we need to get somewhere fast, better use one of those new automobiles to get there in time" trope... but it turns out the power source for the cars (and other new tech) is horrifically unethical, so at least cars are acknowledged as problematic.

Occasionally I encounter a book with cyclist characters who just "ride their bike" and it feels one-dimensional. The characters in Witchmark, on the other hand, get winded climbing hills, carry stuff in bike baskets, use bike locks, notice - in detail - the quality of other characters' bikes, and have to be cognizant of road rules & conventions for riding with crowds of other cyclists. It felt real, and like Polk put some serious thought into it. (Update: They did put serious thought into it, see www.tor.com/2019/05/10/the-city-of-bicycles-get-to-know-the-world-of-witchmark/ for a glimpse at the history of cycling in Aeland.)

Collective nouns

• "a competence of nurses"
• "a draft of cyclists"
• "a curiosity of reporters"

Brilliant! I kept highlighting these as I read. I love entertainingly appropriate collective nouns.

Baker Thief & Witchmark: Our new batteries are made from...

(I am really trying to be vague about spoilers, but it might become obvious now.)

Ok, so within a few chapters I was saying to myself "Is aether power really...?" Partly because foreshadowing, but I think also because I read Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault a few weeks before and the premise is similar.

If this is becoming a trope, I think I like it. We need more people saying that high-energy-density technologies are problematic. Electrification and "green power" cannot save us if we do not also reduce our power consumption. Plenty of folks are saying this directly, which is good. But stories shape the way we think, so putting the idea out there metaphorically in fiction is just as important.

I'm still giddy about Witchmark. This book hits the ground running and shouts brusquely over one shoulder that the reader had best keep pace. I felt like a detective slowly discovering secrets; the world was complex and the characters were immediately fascinating. 

It's world-building by immersion with very few asides and explanations for the first third of the book. By the time it deigns to pause for backstory it's all details of a personal nature; political alignments and players in power. It assumes that the reader knows whatever someone growing up here would have been taught, but it casually drops in just enough explanation that I felt a sense of triumph every time some previously opaque bit of detail was clarified. 

Even when I didn't yet know where I was I knew why I cared. Though the explanations took a bit to arrive, the characters were great from the start. Miles was likable immediately, the main plot kicks off with a bang, er, with a person desperately in need of his help, and it was a really fun read. I have a bias towards liking the character, Robin, but everyone felt really engaging (even the ones I don't share a name with). Flipping through it I see some stuff in the early bits that I didn't know were actually important when I started and it makes me want to re-read this immediately to soak up more detail. 

The characterization is solid, there's a quaint understated-ness in certain areas which made it really feel like it maps on to a vaguely 1900's, quasi-British sensibility while still being its own thing. Those points of familiarity helped ground me as I got a sense of how this world describes itself, while gradually making it clear that this was truly some fantasy land as the book kept rolling. 

I loved the ending, I finished this book really happy about how everything ended up and very excited to read the next one.

Tossup between rating this 3 and 2, but I had to work hard to finish it so I landed on 3. My problems with it were my own -- this wasn't the kind of book I wanted to be reading. Set in a post-WWI world with some heavy political dystopia stuff going on, our main character is a doctor who was in a war and an alien man who is the romantic interest.

It was confusing at first to have a male protagonist, it's been ages since I've read a novel with one. I haven't read any male/male romances before because I don't need any more male energy in my life, but the romantic aspects of the book were my favorite parts.

I never felt like I had any idea of the significance of the world structure -- the problem the magicians were primarily tasked with, the way the government works, anything about their enemies, no idea what is possible or not in this world. Endless exposition would be bad, but no explanation of the world left me failing to understand the significance of the things that happened throughout most of the book.

Also, the grimness of the society was a big turn off for me.

I'm sure I have friends that would enjoy this book, but it was not my cup of tea.

I heard about this book on Twitter and was intrigued by its cover.  I didn't really know what it was about when I picked it up.  I laughed when I realized that it is basically about treatment for war-induced PTSD.  I was reading this during a week when that was a frequent topic of conversation at my house and now my fantasy books were chiming in too.The world building in this book is extraordinary.  It is vaguely steampunk.  Horses and bicycles are the main modes of transportation.  The super wealthy have some cars.  Just reading about the system of bicycle transportation was fascinating and shows how much the author thought about how the world would work.In this world some of elite are mages who control the weather.  Other mages have different talents but they are bound against their will to weather mages to be used as an auxillary power supply for their magic.  Miles has healing magic.  He knew he was going to bound to his sister so he ran away and joined the army.  Now he is a psychiatrist working in a veteran's hospital and dealing with his own PTSD and that of his patients.  He doesn't want to use his powers because either:

• He would be found by his powerful family and bound - or


• People would think he was a low-born witch and he would be incarcerated in an asylum

His carefully planned secret life starts to unravel when a poisoned witch is brought to him by a stranger.  The witch knew who he was and now the stranger does too.There is so much going on in this book. 

• There is a very sweet m/m romance with fade to black sex scenes.  (Thank you very much!  I want more romance books without sex scenes please!) 


• There is the mystery of what the dying witch knew and what he wanted Miles to do about it. 


• There is the drama with Miles' family. 


• There is an usual increase in the number of veterans committing violent acts when they come home.  Can Miles figure out the cause of that?


• There is hatred from Miles' colleague who suspects he is a witch and is trying hard to prove it.

This is the start of a series.  I'm looking forward to reading future installments.  Come for the magic.  Stay for the unfortunately-too-realistic treatment of post-war veterans.  This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story