Name: The Philosophers Series (2018/2019) Author: Tom Miller Length: two novels Sub-genre: science fiction/magic alternative history Why I like about it/what it’s about: Women do magic, which in this universe must never be called “magic”, but sigilry (after the way it’s done, with powders released to timed hand gestures) or empirical philosophy (which is what the academics call it); it’s WWI-era America, and Robert Weekes is the only son of a war veteran county philosopher in rural Montana. He can fly (“hover”). His big sisters taught him. He wants more than anything to fly Rescue and Evacuation with the Women’s Sigilry Corps, but he’s a boy. Boys don’t have the quanta (power) to do much sigilry. It’s all he can do to just about keep up with any of the women in his family. He supports his mother in her work, but when the war starts, he goes to Radcliffe College on a government scholarship meant to address the wartime philosophical shortage—many of the trained women have deployed to Europe. He’s one of three men in the program. The Philosopher’s Flight is a school story; it’s about his experiences at Radcliffe, where he encounters skeptical (sometimes highly opposed) classmates both philosophical and non, Trenchers (mostly men violently opposed to women doing sigilry), and a high-profile intercollegiate flying competition. The Philosopher’s War is about philosophy on the front line, especially the day to day of Rescue and Evacuation flyers, the technology of Smokecarvers (sigilrists who shape smoke into useful forms), and the wider impact of philosophy on war and war on philosophy. Robert’s a helpful, polite, pro-social young man whose greatest ambition is to do good as a philosopher in the tradition of his foremothers and sisters. I really love the flavor of the worldbuilding in these books. It’s systematic and vivid, and it blends my love of women’s colleges/communities, military-style protocols and traditions and roles (but in a mostly noncombatant force), science-y magical systems, and in-universe epigraphs hinting at lots of other parts of this world. I think the pacing and momentum are pretty great too. Any other important information to know about: It’s about a women’s world, but from the perspective of a man, albeit one who is very much culturally part of that world. As the protagonist of a coming of age story, he does end up achieving a lot of the crucial things. There are a lot of interesting characters around him, but the more unlike him and what he’s familiar with, the less we see of them. These things could be disappointing or (and) it could be an opportunity to expand on the world, your mileage may vary. There’s some graphic violence, mostly on the front or involving the Trenchers. One scene I found especially difficult happens early in the first book.
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Author: Tom Miller
Length: two novels
Sub-genre: science fiction/magic alternative history
Why I like about it/what it’s about: Women do magic, which in this universe must never be called “magic”, but sigilry (after the way it’s done, with powders released to timed hand gestures) or empirical philosophy (which is what the academics call it); it’s WWI-era America, and Robert Weekes is the only son of a war veteran county philosopher in rural Montana. He can fly (“hover”). His big sisters taught him. He wants more than anything to fly Rescue and Evacuation with the Women’s Sigilry Corps, but he’s a boy. Boys don’t have the quanta (power) to do much sigilry. It’s all he can do to just about keep up with any of the women in his family. He supports his mother in her work, but when the war starts, he goes to Radcliffe College on a government scholarship meant to address the wartime philosophical shortage—many of the trained women have deployed to Europe. He’s one of three men in the program. The Philosopher’s Flight is a school story; it’s about his experiences at Radcliffe, where he encounters skeptical (sometimes highly opposed) classmates both philosophical and non, Trenchers (mostly men violently opposed to women doing sigilry), and a high-profile intercollegiate flying competition. The Philosopher’s War is about philosophy on the front line, especially the day to day of Rescue and Evacuation flyers, the technology of Smokecarvers (sigilrists who shape smoke into useful forms), and the wider impact of philosophy on war and war on philosophy. Robert’s a helpful, polite, pro-social young man whose greatest ambition is to do good as a philosopher in the tradition of his foremothers and sisters. I really love the flavor of the worldbuilding in these books. It’s systematic and vivid, and it blends my love of women’s colleges/communities, military-style protocols and traditions and roles (but in a mostly noncombatant force), science-y magical systems, and in-universe epigraphs hinting at lots of other parts of this world. I think the pacing and momentum are pretty great too.
Any other important information to know about: It’s about a women’s world, but from the perspective of a man, albeit one who is very much culturally part of that world. As the protagonist of a coming of age story, he does end up achieving a lot of the crucial things. There are a lot of interesting characters around him, but the more unlike him and what he’s familiar with, the less we see of them. These things could be disappointing or (and) it could be an opportunity to expand on the world, your mileage may vary. There’s some graphic violence, mostly on the front or involving the Trenchers. One scene I found especially difficult happens early in the first book.