(no subject)

[skygiants]

C.L. Polk's Witchmark is another one of those books that's, like, right next to what I want out of a fantasy about the aftermath of WWI.

... which is fair because it's not actually about World War I in any way; it's set in a gaslamp fantasy world - post-gaslamp? right on the borderline between gaslamp and dieselpunk? - in the aftermath of a war that hits approximately WWI-ish in cultural impact on this vaguely-British fantasy nation (though less messy and more directly Imperialist) and has resulted in a generation of young men coming home from the war feeling Real Bad.

Our protagonist, Dr. Miles Singer, is a psychiatrist working with returning vets; secretly he is also a magic-user on the run from his powerful magical aristocrat family, part of a secret organization of magic elites, who want him to bind his power up to the service of his more powerful sister like all the other good little low-key magic users in the secret magical aristocrat families. As a result of all this, he is officially keeping a low profile and not using his magic at all to try and investigate why so many returning vets feel like they're besieged by intrusive thoughts to the degree that they're not safe to go home, and, relatedly, why the papers are reporting a rising number of murder-suicides of veterans and their families.

However! after a patient dies in his arms in the first chapter, Miles finds himself investigating a different and yet perhaps related murder + magical conspiracy with a hot, mysterious, and potentially otherworldly gentleman, as well as accidentally reconnecting with his sister, who's in a political bid for leadership of the secret magical elite. Romance, fraught sibling dynamics, and rising consciousness of the atrocities that elite will cheerfully commit in the name of protecting the status quo ensue!

I enjoyed the experience and the shape of the book overall - some echoes in the worldbuilding of both certain bits of Fullmetal Alchemist and DWJ's Witch Week, both stories near and dear to my heart - with some caveats. Mostly, I really wish that a book that stars a psychiatrist in the aftermath of a terrible war did more than pay lip service to the existence of actual PTSD around the magical conspiracy disguised as PTSD ...

... actually, between the possession spell that's cast on all the returning soldiers, and the fake asylums to contain and channel the power of unjustly committed witches, there's a lot of magical conspiracy in this book disguised as mental illness without much discussion of actual mental illness and the ways those things might interrelate, though the PTSD thing bothered me personally more because at heart I want all books even vaguely thematically adjacent to Pat Barker's Regeneration to just be Regeneration. That's probably a me problem. And, like, the literalized metaphor of possession-by-dead-enemy-soldiers is a solid metaphor (much as the criminalization and draining of the witches is a solid analogy for the prison-industrial complex), it's just I would also like the PTSD to not be one hundred percent a magical metaphor. You know.

On another note, I also do not have any kind of grasp on the worldbuilding around the place that Tristan comes from ... fairyland? Heaven? Fairy heaven? ... which made him feel very slippery to me and the eight-day romance somewhat difficult to invest in fully. Very cute, though!

Comments

[oracne]

I enjoyed this a lot! I started the sequel and bounced off; am planning to return to it later.

[skygiants]

I've been curious about the sequel! will look forward to your thoughts, if you get to it before I do.

[sovay]

And, like, the literalized metaphor of possession-by-dead-enemy-soldiers is a solid metaphor

That is a solid metaphor. I just agree with you that people who have come through the local equivalent of World War I should have PTSD as well as ghosts.

So I don't know if you would like them, but I read about five books in the mystery series described here, enjoyed all of them as far as the mysteries went, but really enjoyed the fact that as far as I could tell, the books are in fact supernatural and just no one talks about it, including the ghost.

[lirazel]

This was a book I expected to love and just...didn't, and I'm still not sure why. I'm pleased for the author that she's been getting as much attention and praise as she has, but I'm not really interested in reading more of her books, and I wish I could put my finger on why.

SPOILERY REPLY IS SPOILERY. Also, mine is an extremely dissenting opinion. :(

[glitteryv]

I can deffo say that this was a book I read while hating abt half of it? OTOH, I liked Miles and Tristan, the way they worked together to solve the mystery, and the massive reveal of the energy source (which was crueler than I could've ever imagined.)

OTOH, I thought the worldbuilding was tremendously weak.

Frex, there's a lot of commentary within the text about how most folks drive bikes to and from places (with an occasional coach for those with more coin in their purses). But, given how the countries had been at war + the amount of returning veterans, I don't recall seeing a lot of people with disabilities out and about? Which then made me wonder: if someone can't ride a bike or pay for a coach (which means they definitely don't have the funds to get/drive a car), then how do they move around?

Another thing: how did the socio-political angle worked? Because, as I understood it, there were 2 governments: the non-witch one (that pretends witches and magic don't exist) and the witch one (which apparently is the real seat of power?)

MOVING ON.

The main reason why I ended up giving this book a massive side-eye was Grace, Miles' sister. I just couldn't believe that she'd betray her brother time and time again. So, to me, her v. late in the game redemption arc (which happened in, what, the next to last chapter?) completely sunk the entire book and series for me. I just couldn't believe that all she did at the end was feel terrible about her involvement once she knew the truth of everything. Learning that the sequel is focused on her cemented my decision to bounce from reading that novel. It simply wasn't enough, I guess I'd call it grovelling, for me given how many terrible things she'd done before.

TBH, I had a difficult time trying to understand how Grace was advocating for a better magical system while pressuring her brother to be part of the same oppressive system.. She wanted to do good things by engaging in terrible acts and that way of thinking never worked for me. My best guess is that the author was aiming for making Grace a complex character, maybe? But she ended up being on the same level as the main villain in my mind. #YMMV

In the end, Miles and Tristan's extremely slow burn couldn't save this novel from my complete and utter loathing.

(I also think I really disliked it because it'd gotten so hyped at one point that my expectations were pretty high.)

[vass]

I want all books even vaguely thematically adjacent to Pat Barker's Regeneration to just be Regeneration. That's probably a me problem.

Not just you. I immediately thought of Regeneration when reading your description above.

I would also like the PTSD to not be one hundred percent a magical metaphor. You know.

I know. In fact, I think that might be a deal-breaker for me.

[qian]

vaguely-British fantasy nation (though less messy and more directly Imperialist)

Wait, how could any fictional nation be more Imperialist with a capital I than the actual British Empire in the early 20th century??

[shadaras]

I have been curious about this book for a while but never actually read it! From your description, I think I would find it frustrating (mostly for the psych/PTSD aspects).

However, this does make me curious about Pat Barker and Regeneration, because I know it's a title I've seen around but not had enough information about to go look up.

[chestnut_pod]

I found this book to be incredibly frustrating for the reasons described above (except I think I was even more disbelieving in the Tristan/Miles instalove plot) and also because what the fuck does the novel think it's doing with Grace? She does things that are genuinely unforgivable, things the fear of which motivate Miles' entire character and living situation for the first half of the book, and then it's just fine when she does in fact enslave him? And then she betrays them all again, and we're supposed to believe that she not only feels bad about it but truly has learned something after three prior chances to learn which she tossed away? I know the second book is meant to be about her, and I am frankly dubious it could possibly turn out well.

And what was up with Robin? That had the distinct air of a dropped or badly edited-out plot thread.

[skygiants]

Oh, messy grammar on my part -- I was comparing the war to WWI, not the nation to the Empire! The nation itself is if anything rather less Imperialist than the actual British Empire, since this very directly colonial war appears to be its first major land grab and not its umpty millionth.

[skygiants]

And, like, this is a bit unfair on my part I guess because there's nothing to indicate that they don't also have PTSD, but also the book is just ... not interested in that ...... and I very much am!

...and those books sound indeed very much like the kind of thing I would like to read about WWI and ghosts right now, thank you very much for the rec. :D

[skygiants]

For me I think it was a book with perfectly good bones and not quite enough substance to fill it out -- I could see all the outlines of the things I liked in the worldbuilding and character relationships, and the prose was perfectly readable, but none of it was quite fleshed out enough yet to make it fully stick. I'm curious to see if that's a debut problem, though, and if the worldbuilding gets more depth in later books.

Re: SPOILERY REPLY IS SPOILERY. Also, mine is an extremely dissenting opinion. :(

[skygiants]

I had a lot of worldbuilding questions -- it felt to me like the worldbuilding was leaning fairly heavily on Edwardian/postwar conventions to evoke a world except when it was convenient that it didn't. So, like, women seemed to be more or less equal in this society except when they weren't, and marriage was required but having children outside of wedlock was fine if you had enough power except I have no idea how they kept that secret from non-magical society, and psychiatry was an established discipline but it wasn't quite clear how anyone did feel about real PTSD ....

(I wasn't actually sure whether or not I would like it, so I think it helped to start with expectations that were not super high!)

[skygiants]

Yeah, that's legit. I mostly want to go back and reread Regeneration now ....

[skygiants]

Regeneration is GREAT. I read it eight years ago and this is what I said at the time:

Regeneration does two things better, I think, than any other book I have ever read: first, convey the sheer horror and senseless damage of World War I; second, convey the kinds of things that the mind can do to itself when dealing with that kind of strain, and convey them with understanding and compassion and respect. Very few books deal with invisible illnesses well. This does.

And eight years later I think that is still true; I cannot think of another book I've read that does it better.

[skygiants]

like, Miles and Tristan are both very nice but still don't fully understand what either of them see in each other to get FOREVER ENGAGED! after EIGHT DAYS! which is SO FAST! like I guess if you're Miles and a very dreamy, supportive fairywarriorangel who nonetheless acts exactly like an upper-class British lad-about-town decides you're the One then it makes sense to lock that down, but ....

I'm actually real curious about the Grace book because, like -- I actually fully believe her as a milquetoast liberal who thinks that she's the bee's knees because she's taken one tiny step to the left of center and is not at all willing to budge from there despite the fact that this still entails being cool with a tremendous pile of atrocities, but I very much want to know if we're meant to believe that by the end of the book she's Fully Woke or if the second book is going to be a long, hard journey to get there. Like, I'd be real interested in that journey but only if it's actually a journey and we're assuming a starting point way back in privileged asshole territory.

Robin definitely had the air of a dropped plot thread and I think I read a review (Tor.com maybe?) that confirmed that this was in fact the case and she had a much bigger role in the earlier draft .... pour one out.

[sovay]

...and those books sound indeed very much like the kind of thing I would like to read about WWI and ghosts right now, thank you very much for the rec.

You're welcome! I remain puzzled there is no TV series and like three fics on AO3.

[merit]

Witchmark hit a lot of my instant-love points so I'm particularly partial to it. I finished Stormsong a few weeks ago and in many ways it was a much 'tougher' book due to Grace's central position within the power structure and how much change that has to happen.

You may be pleased to know that Robin is the protagonist in the third book though!

[skygiants]

I'd be curious to hear more about what Stormsong is like! What's Grace's arc like in the book?

I'm glad to know those hints of latent protagonisthood in Robin are going to be realized!

[merit]

Grace has to face the reality of her privileged circumstances and how she contributed to societal structures that exclude great swathes of society. What does she do? And so, the story follows Grace through storms, political shenanigans and her own romance with a star reporter.

I would say there's more work for Grace to do - but much progress since the beginning of Witchmark and there needs to be enough plot ends for Soulstar.

Re: SPOILERY REPLY IS SPOILERY. Also, mine is an extremely dissenting opinion. :(

[glitteryv]

Yup, there was a lot of "dire consequences" suddenly getting resolved because of [convenient thing]. Which, to me, is yet another indication of how underdeveloped the worldbuilding was. Never mind the fact that my attention would wander during some key moments because, in the back of my mind, I'd go "wait a minute, what about...?"

I mean, I should't have to be wondering abt the methods of transportation during a bike chase OR why was it that women were suddenly NOT at the same societal power level as men at random moments, you know?

Re the hype: I was still hanging out a lot around Book Twitter and, let me tell you, I heard abt this novel for months. Always in a positive manner while highlighting the diversity rep (including the fact that the author is a WOC who identifies somewhere in the queer spectrum.)

And, ngl, the premise sounded cool (I'm a sucker for queer historical mysteries and can roll w/fantasy just fine.) Unfortch, the book fell way short for me.

[glitteryv]

LOL at your fairywarriorangel description of Tristan (though, it's also 100% true!) Although I tend to be mostly wary about insta-love situations, Miles/Tristan didn't bother me as much in this book because so much of Miles' life (and backstory) was depressing as hell. So I clung to the syrupy happiness of his slow burn romance with the ~mysterious fairywarriorangel. YMMV,obvs.

Re Grace in the second book...I dunno. After my comment here, I pinged a book friend who read the sequel (they found it to be "Okay"). And, after a bit more chatting, they spoiled me about the entire novel--which made me glad that I stayed away. It seemed to me like there were too many plotlines (between my friend and I, we counted 7?) that the author did a poor job in juggling.

Also, the touted F/F romance Grace has is more like a tertiary addition and/or nowhere near as central to the overall story the way Miles/Tristan was in the first book.

Your definition of Grace as a milquetoast liberal is painfully accurate. Unfortch, it seems like the sequel fails at exploring Grace's sudden 'wokeness' in lieu of handwave-y political story (and, as I understood it, the politics are treated with the same wobbliness as PTSD was treated in book 1. *hands*)

FWIW, I'm curious if you'd like the second book (and would most deffo be rarin' to hear your thoughts about it if you do.)

[lirazel]

Yes, I think that's probably part of it--it felt insubstantial. I want immersion in my fiction, and I didn't get it from this book.

[qian]

Ohhh, that makes much more sense! I was really perplexed, haha. (But again a very useful review, thank you!!)