Book of the Week: A Dangerous Energy.

So I come across John Whitbourn’s A Dangerous Energy via Twitter…

…and ‘weird alternate-history magic novel’ sums it up.  In spades, and with a special emphasis on ‘weird.’ Wikipedia calls it the ‘first Counter-Reformation science fiction novel;’ I would say that the magic system is barely explained well enough to qualify as weird science rather than straight-out fantasy, but the Counter-Reformation bit is spot-on.  I found the book entertaining, fascinating, and remarkably (and cheerfully) alien to our currently secularist society: I suspect that many of my more socially conservative readers will find the protagonist’s (he’s not even remotely a ‘hero’) eventual end both satisfying, and starkly inevitable to boot.

And so, adieu to The Sky People.

 

4 thoughts on “Book of the Week: A Dangerous Energy.”

  1. Wait. The tweet was yesterday afternoon. You read it already?
    .
    I saw the same recommendation. I added Frankenstein’s Legions and Binscombe Tales I because of it. I’ve got a (virtual) pile to get through before I get to them, though.

      1. I’m more impressed by having time to read on the first kid-free day in weeks. I’m not even caught up on the house and laundry yet.

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