Empirical philosophers--the term 'philosophers' used in the historical sense, which could include the practice of the sciences alchemy, astrology, etc.

In this alternate world of ours, magic works, has been developing rapidly and scientifically alongside the industrial revolution all through the nineteenth century, and it is mainly used by women, who are better at it than men.

The time is now early twentieth century, with World War I dragging on bloodily in Europe, and wars flaring fitfully elsewhere. Including at home.

Our first person narrator, Robert Weekes, is a teenager having grown up in Montana with a tough mother who has not only been fighting in every war, but fights on the home front, as men called Trenchers, who feel that magic is evil and women need to return to their place, use violence to carry out their views. And the philosophers use violence right back.

This is a wildly imaginative, colorful, often funny and even witty, rollercoaster of a book, with whipsaw emotions as well as violence, as Robert--who longs go to into Search and Rescue despite its being staffed mostly by women, and despite its death rate being roughly 50%--ends up going to college at Radcliffe as a Contingency student.

He's a token male in a female environment, and so he catches plenty of prejudice, but he also makes friends both male and female. We follow him in his studies, as the country boy gets used to the city, and all its complexities. And of course he discovers love.

The second half is somewhat more jerky in pacing than the first as things escalate in all directions, but it's such a fast and engrossing read that I sped right by.

An impressive first novel, in a fascinating alternate world, filled with interesting characters. The end seems to set up for more. If so, I will read them.

Thanks Simon & Schuster and netgalley for this ARC.

This is a young adult book really. I just couldn't get into it. It just seemed silly

My Review of “The Philosopher’s Flight” by Tom Miller Simon and Schuster, February 2018

Tom Miller, Author of “The Philosopher’s Flight” has provided a unique story that combines the Genres of Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Magical Illusion, Magical Realism, and Fiction. The author has woven these genres in a coming of age tale of a young man fighting for his dreams in a women’s world.

The author describes his characters as complex and complicated. The time-line for the story is around World War One and goes back in history, and speaks a little of the future. Women have been able to be “practitioners of empirical philosophy”….”Used to summon the wind, shape, clouds of smoke, heal the injured and even fly”(Blurb from NetGalley) The women have been able to win past wars and battles using these skills. Of course this has caused dangerous opposition from others that would want these women destroyed.

Robert Weekes was only a child when his mother, considered a hero, taught him to fly and apply this philosophy. At eighteen years of age, Robert’s goals are to become part of the elite medics that fly and Rescue and Evacuate during the war. Unfortunately this is a women’s branch in the government and most men don’t fly and use this philosophy. Robert is determined to enter an all Woman’ s College, and learn more philosophy and sharpen his personal flying skills. Many of the women bully him, and make fun of him. Society doesn’t really approve of a man being able to hover and fly.

What would it take for Robert’s dreams to come true? What are the risks for him. This is an unusual story, and if you try to imagine what if……..Can you imagine women having the power to fly their own bodies to save other people’s lives? Or women using smoke to cast an illusion or fight or heal others? I would recommend this novel for those who appreciate Science Fiction, Magic and Historical Fiction. I received An Advanced Reading Copy from NetGalley for my honest review.

Imaginatively inventive, an alt-history with a magical twist.

Book Info
Hardcover, 432 pages
Expected publication: February 13th 2018 by Simon Schuster
ISBN 1476778159 (ISBN13: 9781476778150)
Other Editions (3)
Source:Netgalley EARC

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BOOK BLURB


A thrilling debut from ER doctor turned novelist Tom Miller, The Philosopher’s Flight is an epic historical fantasy set in a World-War-I-era America where magic and science have blended into a single extraordinary art. “Like his characters, Tom Miller casts a spell.” (Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club and The Last Bookaneer)

Eighteen-year-old Robert Weekes is a practitioner of empirical philosophy—an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and even fly. Though he dreams of fighting in the Great War as the first male in the elite US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service—a team of flying medics—Robert is resigned to mixing batches of philosophical chemicals and keeping the books for the family business in rural Montana, where his mother, a former soldier and vigilante, aids the locals.

When a deadly accident puts his philosophical abilities to the test, Robert rises to the occasion and wins a scholarship to study at Radcliffe College, an all-women’s school. At Radcliffe, Robert hones his skills and strives to win the respect of his classmates, a host of formidable, unruly women.

Robert falls hard for Danielle Hardin, a disillusioned young war hero turned political radical. However, Danielle’s activism and Robert’s recklessness attract the attention of the same fanatical anti-philosophical group that Robert’s mother fought years before. With their lives in mounting danger, Robert and Danielle band together with a team of unlikely heroes to fight for Robert’s place among the next generation of empirical philosophers—and for philosophy’s very survival against the men who would destroy it.

In the tradition of Lev Grossman and Deborah Harkness, Tom Miller writes with unrivaled imagination, ambition, and humor. The Philosopher’s Flight is both a fantastical reimagining of American history and a beautifully composed coming-of-age tale for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.

My Thoughts


I was not sure what to expect when given a chance by the Publisher and Netgalley to download a digital ARC copy of this particular book.

As a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi the book description sounded challenging as well as interesting so gave a new-to-me author a chance.

Happily that idea was a sound one as the story engrossed me from beginning to end despite the fact it held many characters and many situations that were a stretch to find credible even when took into account that this is all make believe not real.

The themes of family, friendship, honor, rivalry and the concepts that make up the gist of a Philosopher competed with the overwhelming reverse sexism that was very weird to say the least.

Being female and reading about discrimination against males took some getting used to for me.

The fantastic married with realism married with futuristic flare combine to create a unique tale that at times bogged me down with it's very flavorful language used to describe the different branches of philosophers but never failed to engage my imagination at any point.

The use of alternative historical situations were well executed, the multitude of characters were each easily identifiable, the pace smoother than expected and the interwoven plots blended well with each other the more the story unfolded.

A different reading experience that I am happy to have undertaken and have no qualms recommending to other fans of sci-fi fantasy.

[EArc from Netgalley]
On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

The Philosopher's Flight is a strong debut historical fantasy novel from Tom Miller about an alternate World War I-era world where empirical philosophy, a scientific-based magical practice, is used by practitioners to fly, make smoke, and heal. The practitioners are predominantly female, but this story is about Robert, a male practitioner who, through an unfortunate event, winds up with a scholarship to one of the all-women's schools, Radcliffe. There, he learns to deal with his fellow classmates, who include a suite of no nonsense women, while improving on his current skills and learning new ones all with the ultimate goal of becoming the first male in the Rescue and Evacuation field. He also falls in love with a woman who is recognized as a war hero and on her way to becoming a political radical. Throughout the book, readers are told the history of the empirical philosophers, their role in military history, and the men who would rise up and destroy it. Ultimately, Robert and his colleagues come face to face with these men. The world building is amazingly creative. Overall, I enjoyed the storytelling, but found it could be a little slow at times. The author approached the concept of a man in a woman's world in a way that I felt was not derogatory towards either gender. The characters were believable and likable. Bottom line, strong debut and highly recommended.

I thought this book had a great idea and setting, but I am not sure if it was entirely successful in the plot. I liked the alternative history aspects, but it did seem a bit heavy handed in places. However, I did enjoy the feminist themes throughout, but at the same time it felt a bit like it was a man trying really, really hard to write a female-centric novel that he only got right part of the time. I did still find it an enjoyable read.

I must say that there is very little that the Philosopher's Flight does *not* offer readers. Intrigue, danger, conflict, unrequited/requited love interests, rebelliousness, war ...

The novel follows Robert Weekes as he seeks to prove himself in a field dominated almost exclusively by women, an interesting fictional paradox to modern life which is inverse for most women even today. Sigilry and the use of philosophy as a weapon has been used for centuries, but women are intuitively good at it; men, however, struggle to attempt it if they can even attempt it at all.

Weeks attends Radcliffe to study philosophy and is hazed, expectedly so, since he is a man in a 99% female school. The narrative follows his ups and downs as he's dedicated to his field, but also follows WWI and the complications therein. His friends at school are also foils and provide information on the school, those that have died at war, and the perils of Weekes' desire to become a R&E flier for the war.

I haven't read a book in a very long time that was as layered as this book. And many may see "layered" and think "too complex," but it isn't. It makes sense. I could definitely see this book being read with high school juniors and seniors (younger could but it's a bit long).

I highly recommend this book based on its interesting elements and layered plot sequence. I did not lose interest at any time, Great read!

Despite the slow pace, which did fit the WWI epoch perfectly, this was a well crafted story that kept my attention. As a wise old philosopher (not quoted in this story as they were at the time still just out of diapers) said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Suspend your need for immediate gratification and immerse yourself in the era and characters developed here. Take a flight in this fantastical alternative historical tale where the stereotypes are somewhat reversed, but intransigent opposition is still the norm. Be it with powder or smoke, chemicals or sand, your time spent in this debut novel by Tom Miller will be richly rewarded.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this first novel by Tom Miller.
It was a captivating read as Miller leads you into the world of hovering, transporting, and smoke carving with ease. I was immediately immersed in the world of Philosophers & loved the fresh look on gender roles.
Very much looking forward to the next book in this series.

<blockquote><b> And what is empirical philosophy—what is sigilry—except a branch of science that we don’t yet fully understand? There’s no dark art to it; it’s nothing more than the movement of energy to produce a physical effect. The human body provides the power, while the sigil, drawn sometimes with beads of water, sometimes with cornmeal or sand, catalyzes the movement. You can do a thousand useful things: make a plant grow larger and faster; send a message a thousand miles in an instant; fly. If you grew up with it, it’s natural. It’s right. Why would anyone want life to be otherwise?</b></blockquote>Why indeed?

Eighteen-year-old Robert A. Canderelli Weekes lives with his mother, Major Emmaline Weekes, in Guille’s Run, Montana. Mom is something of a legend in her chosen profession, that being <i>Empirical Philosopher</i>. Of course, the word <i>philosophy</i> is used a bit differently here from what most of us are used to. It refers to a special power, the ability to order the world about using sigils, or hand-drawn designs. The major sigil skill at issue here is flight. There are plenty of others, but flying is prime. Also core is that it may be a man’s world, but sigilry is most definitely a woman’s domain. Enough so, that many conflate it with witchcraft, to the sigilists’ peril. This makes life a bit challenging for Robert. Think the equivalent of a female left tackle for the Steelers. Sure, it is theoretically possible, but, for now at least, it is just not done. Mom passed along enough DNA, from her, and her forebears’ pool, and considerable training and practice, so that <i>Boober</i>—yes, really, this is the poor guy’s nickname in the family (palms to face, looking down, shaking head slowly left and right, while sighing deeply)—is actually a pretty decent flyer. A talent that comes in handy when emergencies arise that require rapid transport of aid in, and/or evacuation of the injured, or people in danger, when wheeled, winged, or aquatic vehicle-based transport is not a possibility. Serious, important, and challenging work.

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<b>Tom Miller</b> - photo by Abigail Carlin-image from Simon and Schuster

<i>The Philosopher’s Flight</i> falls into the <i>alternative history</i> category. The closest thing I have read to it is <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36476483" target="_blank" >Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell</a>, which imported magic into 19th century England. This one refers to roots in earlier times, but adds bits of magic mostly to the early 20th century in the USA, specifically in the days leading up to the USA entering World War I. I am sure there are plenty more of this sort, but you will have to rely on better-read reviewers to ferret them out. These two novels differ from works like Philip K. Dick’s <i>The Man in the High Castle</i>, which considers what the world might look like had the Axis powers won World War II, sans incorporation of fantastical elements.

Miller looks at how the presence of this strange ability, sigilism, might have changed events, how it might have been harnessed by governments for military purposes. The American Civil War is the first major application. Later, sigilry becomes subject to international treaty restrictions, sigilists being removed from combat, but employed as a sort of Red Cross. When the USA enters World War I, Robert, 18, is eager to join the Rescue and Evacuation Department of the US Sigilry Corps. Mom is aghast, knowing from painful personal experience how unsafe the war theater can be, and, in any case, they would certainly turn their noses up at a male applicant in an all-female group.

Robert may have serious sigilist talent, but is rarely taken seriously. After all, sigilry is woman’s work, and Robert is just a man. A nice twist on the usual gender-based trope. And Miller has a lot of fun with it. The serious aspect of this being a look for the reader at sexism as if through a photo negative. The imagined illuminates the real.

The major action of the novel takes place after Robert is accepted into one of the handful of colleges that trains sigilists, Radcliffe. It is at school where he not only makes some lifelong friends, but must overcome personal and institutional bias to prove his mettle. A love interest enters while there. I am not certain if this book is being marketed as YA or not but the sexual element struck me (heathen that I am) as tame enough for a YA audience, most assignations, thankfully, taking place off-screen, with lots of winking, nodding, and euphemism.

There is another seam that permeates. A dark side to the bright light of sigilry. There is a group that breathes brimstone and is determined to restore the world to its pre-sigilry state, and if that means slaughtering all sigilists, they are perfectly fine with that, eager in fact. The Trencherists. Think KKK mixed with misogynist Death Eaters. Atrocities happen. There is a significant body count. The politics of bigotry certainly has resonance with the real world. It is what happens when hatred and fear turn kinetic that we must worry about. There is plenty of <i>kinetic</i> here.

We know that Robert survives it all, as the book opens with him telling his nine-year-old daughter about the history of sigilry. But we do not know the fate of anyone else. And some of these characters will make you care, will make you want to know.

The age grouping here is late teens, early twenties, with most teachers and leaders being a generation or more ahead. The age difference of the primaries separates this a bit from the Harry Potter target demo by at least a few years.

I was very much reminded of a science fiction writer of note. Robert Heinlein, who wrote a passel of books featuring young and young-ish characters. <i>Starship Troopers</i> stands out, but there are others. The group camaraderie is reminiscent of boot-camp-bonding and allegiance under fire. An older female character stands in for the cigar-chomping Drill Instructor who is tough as nails, but truly concerned for the safety of his charges, and a softie underneath. In many instances, Heinlein’s teen heroes shared a sort of gung-ho, let’s-go-kill-the-enemy vibe. That feel permeates here, with the significant difference that, despite having to engage in actual battle at home, the wartime activity that our hero and heroines aspire to is not mass murder but search and rescue. As with many such novels, the gung-ho mindset gets exposed to actual mortal peril and has to face up to the reality of war, battle, and group hatred.

My primary gripe with the book is that the characters seemed a bit thin, with the exception of Robert. There are enough edges, hard and soft, to go around, but some of them seemed lacking in texture or color. Also, the mechanics of sigilry seemed a bit clunky to me. I don’t really see the sort of writing devices sigilrists use ever matching up against wands. I expect, though, that much of the hardware can be downsized or eliminated with some creative writing in future volumes. Too much hardware resembled contemporary digital devices. On the other hand, the costuming was pretty sweet.

I don’t want to leave you with a narrow view of what sigilists can do. Flying is definitely way cool, but there is a thing called <i>Smokecarving</i> that is pretty impressive, and a transport talent that comes in quite handy. Definitely a grimoire or two short of the Potter range of magical capability, but this is the first in what absolutely has to be a series, so I expect that range of magical possibility will fill out in time.

One item of note is that each of the chapters is introduced with a quote from a noted personage, some of whom are characters in the book. These offer some interior history and a bit on where this alt-history diverges from the one we know. One thing these quotes provide is a glimpse into both what came before and what lies ahead in the big-picture story arc, seeding material for future sequels and prequels.

In short, this was a delightful read, fast-paced, engaging, with a few nifty core themes and concepts to add substance to the mayhem. My only real disappointment here was that the book was not due for release in time for Christmas. It would have made an outstanding holiday gift. Next year, for sure. I’d sign out, but don’t want to chance making a mistake and transporting myself into a boulder. Tom Miller is a major new talent. <i>The Philospher’s Flight</i> is the opening gambit in what promises to be a brilliant new fantasy series. It soars!


Review posted – 12/22/2017

Publication date – 2/13/2018


=============================<b>EXTRA STUFF</b>

Miller maintains a minimal on-line presence. I am hoping that as the release date nears, that will change. When it does, I will add the appropriate links here.

In addition to the absence of on-line activity, there is a singular absence of interviews with the author. I am also hoping that this changes ‘ere long.

The book was formerly titled <i>The Philosopher’s War</i>, which maintains the focus on one character and would have been a better fit, IMHO, but not by a huge margin. They could use it for a subsequent volume.

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Image from Pinterest

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley, but my opinions are my own...

...And my opinion is: Mr. Tom Miller needs to write more books in this world!

This is a 4.5 rounded up. The only reason it isn't a solid 5.0 is because I wanted the plot and story to cover a little bit more ground, but I expect that this is the first in a projected series.

If you liked the depth and texture of Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, then this is the book for you. The character's are realistic and the world is like a marvelous tapestry with tidbits of worldbuilding woven into every bit.

Check this book out, you'll love it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

In the midst of World War I, society grapples with the proliferation of Empirical Philosophy or “sigilry”, an art form that allows users to summon wind, carve smoke, or fly through the sky. Opponents of the field denounce and demonize these practitioners, as they seek to eradicate their kind from the face of the earth. Robert Weekes, a teenager with a burgeoning gift for sigilry, attempts to succeed in the female-dominated field and find himself along the way. He must exert considerable effort to prove himself against the notion that men are not good enough to be skilled in Empirical Philosophy.

In today’s current cultural climate, it seems ill-considered to center a book around a male character who must overcome gender discrimination...but at the same time, it’s refreshing to read an alternate history where women are so revered and respected for their talents in the first place. It also helps that Robert is a virtuous and endearing lead character who is easy to root for and works hard for everything he earns.

Author Tom Miller displays an impressive aptitude for storytelling as he deftly spins this wholly engrossing yarn. His writing style and dialogue choices really do a great job situating the reader in the early 20th century setting. Additionally, the plot, characters, motivations, and worldbuilding are all nicely fleshed out and well developed.

The Philosopher’s Flight is a wonderfully inventive historical fantasy that sinks its hooks into you and doesn’t let go. I truly enjoyed Tom Miller’s debut and hope a sequel is on the horizon. (The cover is great, too!)

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my candid opinion.

What a delightful book! It is a book about "Philosophy" or what we would call magic. There are Hoverers, Transporters, Smokecarvers, with each having special talents.

While it is a wonderful fantasy about magic and college...it is also a social statement about war and about sexism. In this book, women are typically the only ones with these special skills. And it has become a women's world. The world revolves around women and women have the power---women even go to war. Is was a wonderful look at how silly some things can be and about how enervating sexism can be. This story is about Robert, a man with special magic skills and about how hard he has to fight to get recognized in spite of all the prejudice. I laughed particularly when Robert was asked if he would be called a "First Sigilwoman". Of course he would----it would be too silly to change it. They even got into whether or not Robert would have to wear the uniform---skirt and all!

I loved Robert from the first moment and you will too. Please, please read this book!!!!

Even though this book was very well written I had a hard time finding a connection. So many made up words and words I had to stop reading to look up. I really struggled to finish it. Definitely a book for fantasy readers.

This fantastical tale is well written, but I just could not grab a connection to it. The words are inventions and why so many?

It was difficult for me to suspend belief and jump into this fantasy world when I had no idea what some of the words meant and they sure were not in the dictionary!

However I can see how it would appeal to hardcore, world building, fantasy lovers.

Netgalley/SimonandSchuster  February 13, 2018

I enjoyed this book although Im not sure why calling the characters, Philosophers has to do with the story at all. Jumping into this book felt like I was coming in half-way through a story that I really didnt understand but I did enjoy reading it.

This is a solid fantasy, with decent world-building and alternative history in the Victorian/WWI era in which women can draw “Sigils” in the air to access abilities such as flight. And, it’s a solid debut novel. I definitely wanted to finish it. This world where women can outdo men in many ways is introduced through young Robert Weekes, whose mother is a decorated flyer, legendary in war efforts and in rescues. He is one of the few men who can use sigils and receives a scholarship to Radcliffe, along with a handful of other men, to hone his skills. He wants to join the all-femalerescue corp in Europe to help with the war effort.

So...we see a talented young man trying to break through barriers in a world dominated by females. I struggled with this overall theme because...we still have too few tales of the reality of women making it in a world designed by men. Yes, the author does a great job of probing male assumptions, both with the norms in Rober’s world and with the all-male “Trencher” terrorist groups who want women in their place at home and no use of these new powers. And yes, these themes parallel some of the craziness in our own society. However, I got tripped up by the stereotypes of the women—the love interest Danielle who is a hero of Gallipoli but is turned to mush by the thought of Robert serving overseas and being in danger. Or the way the female instructors are betrayed.

Read and enjoy the book—I certainly did. But pause and think about what we really need if both males and females are to be free to reach their full potential, no matter the nature of their gifts.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

I was taken by surprise by this book because for a good portion of it, I was feeling quite positive about it. it was no in first person, which was wonderful, and I was able to skip the boldly-marked prologue, so that was fine, but the last section really went downhill fast and spoiled the whole novel for me. I can't reward a novel that just goes from A to B. For me it must go from A to Z, and this one fell short of that, but it's not the destination alone; it's also how we get there. In the end, I felt this one went nowhere good even though there were some pretty sights on the way downhill.

I was particularly disappointed because the novel engaged me from the start and it presented a world which, while familiar in many respects, in others it was pleasantly different. It raised hopes only to dash them at the finish line. Set in 1917 in the US, it's a world where magic is real, but everything else is very much the same as we remember it historically. except that women are the standouts and leaders in one field of endeavor: a magical one. This unfortunately was misleading, as I shall get to in a moment.

Before I start though, I find myself once again having to say a word for our poor trees. If this novel went to a large print run with its three-quarter-inch margins all around, it would kill a lot more trees than it would were the margins more conservative. I continue to find it astounding in this day and age how many authors and publishers seem to truly hate trees, but I seem to be in a minority position, which is depressing quite frankly.

Moving on. The magic is called sigilry, because it's done by writing sigils, which are magical signs that provide the user with some sort of an ability to overcome nature. The most common of the supernatural powers is that of flying, and rather fast, too. Some sigilrists have been clocked at over 500 mph. One thing the magic cannot do is tell you how the word is pronounced! I always say it with a hard G, but it's also pronounced with a soft G. Google translate doesn't help, because the English version is pronounced hard, but the Latin version from which it derives is pronounced soft! I guess it doesn't matter. The Latin is sigillum, meaning a seal - as in seal of office, not in the bewhiskered, flipper toting, dog-like mammal that lives in the ocean.

Robert Weekes is an eighteen year old who lives with his mom, Major Emmaline Weekes, who is a renowned sigilrist who acts like a medic: going to the aid of people - and animals - helping them out, but Boober's mom is getting old, Robert is known in his family as Boober, which is unfortunate, not only in how it sounds but in why the author chose such a name. It seemed pointless to me since it's barely used.

Anyway, Robert wants to join the US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service, which is also unfortunate because men are at best frowned upon in this world of magic. At worst, they're reviled. I found this gender reversal to be interesting because it mirrored the bias against women in the real world, which has eased somewhat of late, but which is still a big problem, and especially so in what have been traditionally regarded as male preserves.

Robert ends up being one of only three students at Radcliffe college - yes, that Radcliffe, the one of Jennifer Cavilleri. It's quite a change since he comes from a very rural part of Montana, but he has two sisters and his father died when he was young so he isn't unused to being surrounded by women. The interesting thing then, is not the fish-out-of-water you might expect, but the reaction to these men from the women, which mirrors what you might have expected from men towards women in the same circumstance.

It was here that I began to find weaknesses in the story. It was tempting to ponder how a female author might have written this, but given how many ham-fisted stories I've read, I'm not convinced they would have done better. Yes female YA authors, I'm looking at you. The girls here seemed far too hostile. That's not to say women cannot be feisty, hostile, and even violent, but it seemed a little out of character for these students to exhibit such flagrant disrespect and such a violent attitude. Women are not men in reverse and this story seemed to behave as though they were. I found that very sad.

Another weakness was that even though this is a story about a man trying to make it in a women's world as it were, the story is largely about the men, and the world at large is still very much a world of men: men in charge, men making decisions, men being called to fight in the 1914-18 war in Europe, men of violence opposed to the sigilrists. Having read through the early chapters, I quickly began to feel that it was a mistake to have it set up the way it was. The impact of the female sigilry was really undermined by the rest of the world being a male preserve. A female trying to make it in this world would have made a much more rational story, but I kept hoping something would happen that would make all this make sense. Unfortunately it did not; quite the opposite, in fact.

Robert gets a girlfriend, and a sterling one in my opinion (and not the one you might think he will become involved with), but despite her accomplishments she seems very much like a secondary character and that saddened me. Why make her such a great and nuanced character and then under-use her? The book is about Robert, admittedly, but it started to feel like even he was as bad as the rest of the men in excluding women, what with his little male clique. I as hoping he would grow and learn, but he did not, and nowhere was this more stark than in that last ten percent. And worse, why make him a man if he's not going to react as many men do when provoked? It made no sense.

I don't want to give away too many details, but the fact is that he quite simply turned his back on someone who had been a loyal and trustworthy friend, who had stood by him through thick and thin, encouraged him and had his back, and he callously betrayed all of that out of pure selfishness. This completely changed my opinion of him and made me dislike him immense. I don't know if the author thought he was creating some sort of Hemingway-eque figure in Robert's unflinching manliness; all it did for me was to convince me that Robert was a complete dick.

In addition to this rather unrealistic conflict between the men and women at Radcliffe, there's a larger, more deadly conflict out in the rest of the country and I'm not referring to World War One. Many people, men and women, but mostly men, are opposed to women having this kind of power. They conflate it with witchcraft and militate against it, in some cases violently, and sometimes the sigilrists fight back with the same deadly aim., although that part of the story went nowhere and just fizzled out. Even here, we hear only of the conflict in the US though and while in a sense, this does match the reality of the isolationist stance of the US prior to both world wars, it means also that we learn nothing of this world outside the US borders (aside from references to the war).

In the case of one sigilrist, we learn of her outstanding exploits in that war, but I think this is another weak spot. It's common to many novels written by US authors - no matter how wild and supernatural the story is. We never get a perspective on the world at large. It's like the author is boxed in and can see only the US. It's a very provincial view which cannot see consequences or reverberations that might pass beyond the US borders, nor can it detect any influences or feedback from outside. I find that to be a sad and blinkered position, but like I said, it tends to be all we get in too many novels written by US authors.

So for me the novel was uneven, but even so, I was prepared to follow it to the end. The ironical thing is that had I DNF'd it, I might have given it a positive rating just as I give negative ones to bad novels which I DNF, but no one DNFs a novel they're deriving some sort of entertainment value from (and a from many reviews I've read, a disturbingly large number of readers punish themselves by actually finishing novels they didn't like!). I kept reading because I was curious where the author was going to take this when he seemed to have no endgame in sight. Was this merely the first in a series? The ending brought the whole edifice crashing down, and it was this collapse which made it easier to see fault-lines that I might have chosen to overlook had the ending made sense.

I think this author is a good writer and has a few tales to tell, but in this one case, to see the 'hero' of the story turn his back on people who have helped him, break promises, and leave loved ones in grave danger to pursue his own selfish interests just turned me right off the entire story. Worse, for a novel so centered on a female art form, there really are no strong female characters in this story, We read of past exploits speaking of female strength and heroism, but nowhere is it really apparent during the course of the actual story. This was sad to begin with, but it was exacerbated criminally in the end, through seeing one of the strongest of these devolve into a simpering, wheedling jellyfish, creeping back to a man who had callously spurned her. She deserved a far better ending than she got. Because of these reasons, I cannot in good faith rate this positively.

This is a story of alternate history with magic. Robert Weekes has a goal of joining the US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service. He has a number of obstacles in his path. First of all, he is male and empirical philosophy and sigilgry is a predominantly female pursuit. Second, he is stuck in rural Montana assisting his war hero mother who is the Empirical Philosopher for her region of Montana.

One night Robert is drafted to fly with his mother to rescue a family of empirical philosophers who have been attacked. He manages to rescue a number of people and fly them to the nearest hospital. Then he has to turn around and rescue his own mother who had a flying accident. His daring rescues wins him a place as a contingency student at Radcliffe - a female college noted for educating empirical philosophers.

He has a very uphill battle to reach his goal. He is harassed by women who don't want him at the college at all. But he makes friends too. Felix Unger is another contingency student who is a theoretical empirical philosopher who isn't able to make sigils work for him. He is also befriended by Danielle Hardin who is a war hero who is turning to politics.

This is a troublesome time. The Trenchers who oppose the use of empirical philosophy for any reason are gaining a political foothold. They are also perpetrating attacks on empirical philosophers which trigger attacks by vigilante empirical philosophers. Meanwhile, World War I is dragging on and on and half of the women who are in Rescue and Evacuation are killed or gravely injured. While the more dangerous sort of empirical philosophy - smokecarving - has been banned in warfare, there are fears that the Germans will loose their empirical philosophers and escalate the war.

I enjoyed the world building in this story. I also liked the role reversal for the genders with Robert being the definite minority in his college and in his future career. The format of the story with a prologue written by a more mature Robert retelling the events of 1917 and 1918 and the chapter beginnings being excerpts from other history books written about the time, added a sort of reality to this fantasy story.

Fans of alternate history and magic won't go wrong reading this novel about a young man with a goal and the turbulent times he lives in.