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.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆