Sciona has spent her whole life studying magic, and is trying to become the first woman to ever be admitted to the High Magistry of the city of Tiran. Thomil is a Kwen refugee who managed to survive the perilous crossing into Tiran that killed almost everyone in his tribe. The story follows the two of them as they discover a secret about magic that could change everything. It starts off as a fairly generic fantasy & magic series, but once you hit the plot twists, the story hits its stride, and becomes an allegory for something much more interesting.
The allegorical nature of the story becomes apparent early on: Tiran is sexist, with only a handful of jobs being accessible to women, and racist, as the Kwen immigrants are treated as slaves. It feels fairly heavy-handed at first, but if you stick with it, the allegories become more and more moving, and this seemingly-simple fantasy story becomes a powerful story of exploitation, inequality, and religious dogma. It’s impressive when a fictional story about a completely made-up universe forces you to stop and consider some of the problems in the real world.
It’s helped along by strong writing and deep, interesting characters. I loved that Sciona and Thomil aren’t perfect bastions of goodness. They make mistakes, and they have flaws. The only drawback is the somewhat weaker beginning of the book, but the rest is a great read, and the book ends with a reasonably satisfying conclusion. I’ll have to check out more of M.L. Wang’s writing!
