Description
My Review
I had a NetGalley copy of this book, but i struggled to read it. I liked the bit I read but it is easier to read a physical copy. When I could, I got a copy and I’ve been reading it since. I finished it last night.
The reader follows Ella, a skymage who almost died in an accident and now gets about in a wheelchair. She’s relegated to working in a factory producing crystals to power weapons to pay off the massive debt incurred in her treatment. One day a research project goes wrong and Ella is drawn into the orbit of Jacken, an engineer who once made bridges and has now been conscripted into the war effort.
Ella and Jacken are inspired by the accident to build a rocket to the moon, so that they can ask the gods why they allow the never ending war. The pair gather a group of other mages, Katherine, who is a skilled Alchemist; Guylan, another engineer; and Rojer, a war mage, to design and build the device.
After years of development, during which they have to lie, steal amd move to a fort further from the front lines, they build the device. Just in time. Investigations into their work come to a head in an attack by their own side. Ella, Katherine, and an Imperial engineer mage, take their Dragon into space.
The novel starts with an execution, the end of the story at the beginning. That intrigued me. Who was being hanged and why? Who was Katherine? We then dive into Ella’s daily life and difficulties as a disabled mage working in a factory. We meet the other characters in turn, and each is plaited into the plot.
Ella’s development from an exhausted worker to a revolutionary via travelling to the moon, is the backbone of this story. Her development as a character was well done, as she faces her struggle to build a better life, and build her dream of a world that used magic to make lives better, rather than making war and destruction.
The story is clearly inspired by the Cold War space race between the US and USSR. The hierarchs of the Unity are very much the Industrial oligarchs of the US, while the Imperial kommisars are reminiscent of the complex structure of the USSRs government and spying organisations. The rhetoric of both is disturbingly familiar to anyone who lived through it or has studied the 20th century. Swapping nuclear weapons for magic was clever, and points out the absurdities of the Cold War.
I enjoyed the world building as it doesn’t just draw on real world events, but also adds interesting factors like the details of life in the factory and the Impetial constructs in battle.
The relationships that develop between the main characters as they go through adversity together, developing trust, friendships, and strong working relationships to build their dream.
If you enjoy science fantasy with disabled rep, I recommend this novel.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 