The Philosopher's War

by Tom Miller
389 pgs  (The Philosophers series #2)

Picking up where The Philosopher's Flight left off, nineteen-year-old Robert Canderelli Weekes has successfully fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming the first male to join the US Sigilry Corps' Rescue and Evacuation service. It's a previously-all-female military service, which uses expert "empirical philosophers," who use a unique form of magic to fly into battles to retrieve the wounded and fly them to aid stations.

Robert knew life in the R&E Corp was going to be hard, but he didn't know it was going to end up being this hard, what with the long grueling hours of flying rescue missions into battle zones, not to mention the fact that being the first and only male allowed to do it added unique challenges as well. But eventually he begins to win over the respect of his superior officers and other women in his division. Eventually, his natural talents become evident and he catches the attention of General Tomasina Blandings, who recruits him to join a secret--and unauthorized--group of flyers she intends to use for more than just R&E missions. She plans to use Robert and a select group to bring about the defeat of the German army and the end end of World War I.

With these first two books, Tom Miller has created his own unique and entertaining alternative history story, one that is tense, filled with action, and very entertaining. I don't know whether he intends to write more stories featuring Robert after this one, but regardless, I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Philosopher's Flight

by Tom Miller
423 pgs  (The Philosophers series #1)

The Philosopher's Flight is the debut novel by Tom Miller. The story takes place during World War I and centers on a young man's pursuit to become the first male accepted to the Rescue and Evacuation Division of the US Sigilry Corps. Empirical philosophers, aka sigilrists, are individuals adept at "Sigilry," the mysterious and unexplained art of manipulating energy to produce a physical effect. Through sigilry, an individual can make innumerable fantastical things happen. They can make plants grow faster, they can send messages from one end of the country to the other instantaneously, they can cause the bones of the enemies to dissolve, and they can fly. Those who master the art wield immense power, and are almost always women.

Robert Weekes grew up in rural Montana. His mother is a philosopher and he's always dreamt of one day joining Rescue and Evacuation and saving peoples' lives. His mother taught him sigilry and he's good at it, far better than any of his male peers, and almost as good as some of the female ones. In fact, he's good enough to be accepted to Radcliffe College in Massachusetts, a school famous for producing some of the best sigilrists. Once he's there though, he learns how formidable achieving his dreams is going to be. No one believes a man belongs in R&E, not his professors, and definitely not his female classmates. He's bullied, picked on, and ridiculed. But he's not a quitter.

As his abilities become stronger, he gets caught up in an even bigger battle, the one that's been going on for many years between sigilrists and "trenchers." Trenchers are those who don't understand and fear sigilry, and who believe those who practice it are a danger and need to be eliminated.

The Philosopher's Flight is part Harry Potter, part The Magicians, and part Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It's a fast-moving, imaginative book that shows a lot of promise for what's to come from Tom Miller. The sequel, The Philosopher's War, comes out in June, and I'm looking forward to it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆