Angel Mage

Garth Nix

Angel Mage
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Allen & Unwin
Country
Australia
Published
2 February 2021
Pages
496
ISBN
9781760526511

Angel Mage

Garth Nix

WINNER OF THE 2019 AUREALIS AWARD FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL

The icon-maker and angel-summoner Liliath, long believed dead, has woken from her century-long sleep to pick up the threads of a plan that has already destroyed one kingdom and may yet destroy another. To succeed, Liliath must bring together Agnez the musketeer, Simeon the doctor, Dorotea the mage, and Henri, one of the Cardinal’s clerks, and take them into utmost danger …

Set in an alternative seventeenth century where angels can be summoned (and controlled) by those with a talent for magic, Angel Mage is an action-packed story of angels, heroes, gunpowder and high magic.

Review

If I was offered the chance to leave the stresses of our world behind and step into Sarrance, the stunningly well-realised world of musketeers and magic in Garth Nix’s Angel Mage, where mages summon powerful yet costly angels, and a forsaken people are turned to horrific beasts, I would do so without hesitation. (Perhaps after saying goodbye to my loved ones and urging as many of them as possible to come with me.)

In Angel Mage, four young heroes are drawn together by unseen forces and are embroiled in a plot that threatens to shake the foundations of their world. Agnez is an aspiring Musketeer whose tongue is almost as swift as her sword; Simeon is a burly doctor whose size hides his deft and caring physician’s hands: Dorotea is a spacey but sweet scholar skilled at making the angel-summoning icons that serve as the basis for Angel Mage’s magic, whose talents draw her into danger; and finally, Henri is a young clerk with an eye for money and a near permanent state of disgruntlement. These heroes, their growing friendships, and the incredibly lifelike cast of characters around them are the lifeblood of the story and I fell in love with every single one of them.

I could talk forever about Nix’s exceptional world-building, but I couldn’t truly do it justice. Rest assured, he has created something special here which will entrance you from cover to cover – utterly creative, yet as grounded as a historical novel. The adventure is riveting until the end, the writing dances off the page with wit and style, and the heroes are tremendous fun. What’s not to love?!


Joe Murray works as a bookseller at Readings Kids

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