Witchmark by C.L. Polk

Cover of Witchmark. Review by Markus McDowell

The first thing I noticed about this book is that it was strikingly similar to Amberlough (see my review here) in approach and concept. While it takes place in a world created by the author, it is a world that is a mix between England in the 1800s and pre-WW I. Noble families, the fates of nations, doctors riding bicycles about town, and so on. Sure, there is a magical element, which plays into the social disparities (two types of magicians—slave and master, basically).

Why not just write a historical novel with magic in it? Why recreate a world that simply mirrors our world in almost every way?

The protagonist man named Miles who was born as one of the ‘lesser’ magicians. His choice was to become a slave or be committed to a witches asylum. So he becomes a doctor, serving in the military in a far away war. When he returns, he keeps his identity hidden and serves at a veterans hospital. But he can use his powers to help and is eventually discovered. This brings him back into contact with his sister (a powerful magician) who wants to use him, and colleagues who wish to have him committed.

But he meets a strange man from a distant land (planet?), also a magician, who has a different view of what is going on. Together, they begin unraveling the mystery of what is really happening in the political, social, and magic worlds. Without giving it away, it is not unlike discovering the medical experiments the Nazi’s did on Jews.

The plot was rather plodding and uninteresting until the end. Once everything came together, realities revealed, and characters unmasked, it was an exciting read. I’m not sure it was worth the wait.

The characters are rather flat: Miles is entirely and always altruistic, the man from another land (who, of course, becomes his lover) has no flaws whatsoever. Miles’ sister is perhaps the only one who seems to embody both good and bad traits and struggles with them internally. Their father is merely selfish, political patriarchy interested only in power.

Others have criticized this book as reading like fan fiction, a critique that I would affirm.

I am at a loss to understand why such a book would be selected as a finalist for the Nebula Award 2019. It is not a bad book, it is just not worthy of a significant award. The prose is well-done and enjoyable, but there is nothing particularly innovative or insightful, the first two-thirds are rather plodding, and it does not address the human condition in any particularly new manner.