A DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAGICIANS

RELEASED 25 JUNE 560 pages | Paperback/ebook Author HG Parry Publisher Orbit

Pitt The Younger, magicuser. Thinking Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? No, this is no pulpy thrill-ride. It tells of the experiences of a handful of historical characters – Pitt, William Wilberforce, Maximilien Robespierre and Camille Desmoulins – and a fictional one, enslaved woman Fina. In this alternate history some humans have magical powers, though they’ve been restricted since the “Vampire Wars”, and the story is really one of quests for liberty, for commoners to be able to work magic, the rights of the working classes, tangled up with immortal powerplays. It’s subtle rather than bombastic, yet still compelling.

You can’t have a book themed around liberty and centred on even fictionalised versions of Wilberforce or the French revolutionaries without mentioning slavery, and the Haitian revolution plays a big part. While an altered version of the French revolution also features, and a mysterious presence manipulates Europe towards outright war, Parry – through Fina – stresses that the slaves freed themselves. If anything there’s perhaps an inappropriate lack of brutality and gore given the events portrayed, but the characters and fascinating twists on the European history carry it through.