đâď¸đThe Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula - 2.5 / 5 starsđâď¸đ
god this was INFURIATING. Because there is so much about this book I love but then thereâs a few things that just had me so goddamn annoyed at it and the main character. But also Iâm definitely going to read the sequel because I am invested in that Pterodactyl and I need to know that he has a happy ending.
Mary is a class traitor. She only works for her own advancement, not that of other women. The rules of the academic society she wants to get into say âmen onlyâ and when she has the chance to change that so both women and men could be members she does not do that, instead she changes it so that it says âmen only, and also Mary, no other women tho lolâ. Are you kidding me. And yeah she realises that this was a big mistake by the end of the book but that doesnât make her behaviour before that point any less infuriating.
Maryâs âfriendsâ let her wile away in poverty while they live in vast mansions in London. Also Buckland is âsupportingâ her by buying her fossils, but he is also 100% exploiting her precarious situation for his own gain. Yes, he mentions her as the one who found the fossils, but thatâs the barest minimum! Heâs still made a name and a fortune off of her discoveries, while she wasnât even able to get a full education, she was just as smart and brilliant as him, but he never even tried to change anything about the sexist and classist power structure that prevented her from getting her due accolades BECAUSE HE WAS PROFITING (monetarily and academically) OFF HER DISCRIMINATION. And heâs supposed to be one of the good guys???
Her only good friend is Lucy, who actually helps her and cares for her and Mary ends up treating her like trash. But also Lucyâs crusade against slickers is questionable and she doesnât quite seem to get that just banning a legal, if morally reprehensible, way that the poor can earn money without doing something against the whole crippling poverty thing doesnât actually end up helping âthe poorsâ all that much. Like, of course no one should have to sell their magic to survive, but if you just ban the selling of magic, it wonât stop the sale of magic. People will still sell their magic if itâs the only way to feed their families, itâs just that now they have to do it illegally, which makes them a lot more vulnerable to exploitation. Mary is still somehow miles better than every other âfriendâ Mary has.
Thereâs some parts that really seemed like plot holes, but then at the very end of the book thereâs a revelation that means it actually not a plot hole, but it still doesnât explain why the main character didnât ever question this âthingâ. The main one is the fact that Henry ghosted her for years, during which he lived lavishly in London, while Mary barely managed to stay above water. And when Mary reconnects with Henry she never asks why he stopped writing and broke their engagement, and doesnât even expect an apology from him? Like girl, have some standards ffs! And yes it is later revealed that Henry didnât actually stop writing, but that Edgar intercepted both Henryâs letters to Mary and Maryâs letters to Henry, so that both would think the other hates them now or something like that. But neither Mary nor Henry knew that at the time! And yet they still asked 0 questions!
Also Edgarâs whole plan. What the fck was that about.
All of that christianity stuff. I honestly liked the way that the book interwove real religion and the magic seen in this alternate earth, because a lot of historical fiction and historical fantasy especially, just likes to forget about the religious landscape of the time it is set in. Which is fine, I donât always wanna read about religiously motivated bigotry in my fiction, thereâs enough of that irl. But the way this book used actual Christian theories and ideology that wouldâve been widespread at the time and interwove it with the theories around magic and history was so good? I was a little weirded out at the beginning though, because initially it seems like the main character is using her fossil findings to support a creationist view of history, which is not what I expected going into this book. But it becomes clear pretty soon that the guys peddling creationism are obviously going to end up being in the wrong and Mary actually isnât a believer in creationism either but kind of pretends to be to be accepted in her social circle. So yeah that was very unexpected but I ended up really loving that aspect. I grew up non-religious and thus luckily have 0 religious trauma baggage, but a lot of people arenât as lucky, so I do find it a bit questionable that the religion-element of the story really isnât mentioned at all in the bookâs description.
Thank you to Del Rey for the ARC
