Set in a world of angels, monsters and musketeers, Garth Nix’s standalone fantasy novel Angel Mage cleverly transposes the essence of The Three Musketeers into a beautiful tale of magic, adventure and friendship. Over a century after fleeing her homeland of Ystara in the wake of a great tragedy, the powerful mage Liliath wakes in Sarance and begins the next stage of her grand plan. She seeks out four individuals – a musketeer, a scholar, a clerk and a doctor – who find their paths converging and who feel an unexplained connection between themselves. While Liliath spins her web for them, the four companions are swept up in events of great import and placed in danger they can’t begin to comprehend.
Agnez, Dorotea, Henri and Simeon provide varied, youthful perspectives on Sarancian life, contrasting with the cruel (but still somehow relatable) Liliath and the various figures of authority they meet along the way. They have relatively straightforward arcs and don’t develop a huge amount, except perhaps scholar Dorotea who builds a rather sweet sort-of romantic relationship with the conflicted Captain Rochefort, but each one has a distinct voice and there’s a delightful dynamic between the four of them. Liliath meanwhile makes for a strong antagonist, and while there’s a certain inevitability to proceedings she has a real air of danger about her. Around these core characters Nix builds an engaging cast of soldiers, mages, royalty and poverty, full of potent female characters and a delightful sense of political intrigue as the conflicting bodies of power – church, state, city – form spheres of loyalty and rivalry.
The book opens (in true fantasy style) with maps – impressively, drawn by Nix himself – which help set the scene as a secondary-world mainland Europe, beautifully realised throughout the novel with a real sense of depth and history. The clear Dumas influences, including familiar names like Dartagnan and Rochefort cropping up (as secondary characters), are largely used for tone and detail, while the unique, elegant system of magic reinforces the fact that this is fantasy, not swashbuckling historical adventure. It’s wonderfully simple, as mages use painted icons to tap into angelic power, drawing upon heavenly hierarchy and beautiful imagery with a compelling risk/reward ratio. To most characters magic is just part of everyday life, which leads to a powerful societal divide for the Refusers, distant descendents of Ystaran refugees for whom magic is a death sentence…or worse.
The characters and the depth of the setting are what really drive this story, from the cost implications of drawing upon angelic power to the ethics of employing (and largely abusing) a put-upon minority group. Meanwhile the plot that this all feeds into is pacy and gripping from the off, with more than enough excitement and momentum to keep you turning the pages and desperate to know what happens next, even if it’s a touch predictable at times (not really an issue when it’s this enjoyable). The pacing is a little odd towards the end however, with the final quarter suddenly moving out of the city and racing off through scenes that could have done with lingering over a little longer. It might have benefited from either a little editorial pruning or splitting up into two books, but really that’s nitpicking as it’s still tremendously enjoyable despite the rush to the finish line (and a sequel wouldn’t go amiss).
Nix is better known for his Young Adult fiction, and while this is billed as a fantasy novel for adults the reality is that it feels more like a sort of crossover book, ideal for adults looking for an easy to read adventure story or younger readers wanting to broaden their horizons. That’s not a criticism in any way, just something to be aware of in setting expectations. At a time when so much fantasy that’s published leans towards the darker end of the spectrum, the fundamentally hopeful tone of this book, its natural depiction of women in positions of power and the way it tackles racial inequality, all add up to a fresh, brilliantly readable and hugely enjoyable story. If you’re on the lookout for a fun, action-packed fantasy adventure with clever real-world influences, unique magic and loads of great female characters then this is well worth checking out.
Many thanks to Gollancz for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
Click this link to buy Angel Mage (or this one for the audiobook).