Science Fiction
Shadows of God is one of those books I keep thinking about because it sits in that awkward, interesting space between science fiction and historical fantasy without quite smoothing the edges away.
That can go badly in lesser hands. Here it mostly works because the science, the magic and the politics all feel like they’re pressuring the same world from different directions. It’s not a neat blend, though. It has a slightly wobbly, alive quality to it, which I liked.
Probably best for readers who don’t need their genre boundaries tidy.
That can go badly in lesser hands. Here it mostly works because the science, the magic and the politics all feel like they’re pressuring the same world from different directions. It’s not a neat blend, though. It has a slightly wobbly, alive quality to it, which I liked.
Probably best for readers who don’t need their genre boundaries tidy.
That wobbliness can be a feature rather than a flaw, if the book knows what it’s doing. I’m usually more interested in whether the pressure points hold than whether the label on the spine is tidy. A story can be halfway between genres and still feel more alive than something that behaves perfectly within its box. This one is on my Want to Read list for exactly that reason.
That kind of “slightly wobbly, alive” blend is often more interesting than a polished one. If a book is doing science, magic and politics at once, I’d rather it feel a bit unstable than overmanaged.
The bit that catches me here is the premise around Adrienne. A character whose science can stand beside Franklin’s, and whose magic is in the same conversation, sounds like the real hinge of it. That’s the sort of setup where the genre labels start arguing with each other in a useful way.
The bit that catches me here is the premise around Adrienne. A character whose science can stand beside Franklin’s, and whose magic is in the same conversation, sounds like the real hinge of it. That’s the sort of setup where the genre labels start arguing with each other in a useful way.