The Philosopher's War

May 20, 2019
In this crafty alternate history of WWI, Miller (The Philosopher’s Flight) continues the story of Robert Canderelli Weekes, the first male medic to join the all-female Sigilry Corps. Having studied under his mother since a young age, Robert has perfected Sigilry (an “empirical philosophy” that allows practitioners to fly) and gains admittance to the female-dominated Corps after a spectacular performance at the General’s Cup flying tournament. Even though Robert is a great flier, he struggles to prove himself amongst his seasoned colleagues as they transport soldiers from the battlefield back to the hospital. Emotionally scarred by the gruesome injuries and hopeless causes he encounters among the soldiers he rescues, Robert finds strength in his Sigilwomen colleagues. He forms unbreakable bonds with the members of his division, including General Blandings—who plans to end the war by transporting the entire city of Berlin out of Germany. Caught between his loyalty to his Sigilwomen comrades and his lover, Danielle Hardin, who is working on behalf of a U.S. senator against the plans of the Sigilry Corps, Robert is stretched thin as Blandings moves forward with her plan and Danielle tries to stop her. In the end, Robert must choose between duty and love. Fans of fantastical war dramas will enjoy this entertaining tale that strikes smartly at the cultural norms of the early 20th century.

May 15, 2019
An even more propulsive follow-up to emergency physician Miller's imaginative debut, The Philosopher's Flight (2018). Alternative history is endlessly malleable because you don't have to rewrite the whole thing--just change one element and the way the world plays out is completely different. Here, the difference is Miller's concept of "empirical philosophers," nearly all women who practice a kind of magic that employs glyphs and sigils penned with silver chloride, not to mention a few more complicated potions, to enable healing, smoke summoning, and, most importantly, flight. Imagine Quidditch on steroids plunged into the First World War and you'll get an idea of what to expect here. Once again, our storyteller is 19-year-old Robert Canderelli Weekes, who has broken decades of tradition to become a "sigilwoman" in the U.S. Sigilry Corps on the eve of WW1, working in the Rescue and Evacuation Division in a tough outfit full of misfits and hard cases. His job should be simple: fly in, stabilize wounded warriors, and fly them back to an aid station. But things go a bit sideways when he's recruited by Gen. Tomasina Blandings to become part of a secret faction that Blandings intends to use for armed offense against the Germans, violating wartime codes of conduct. "I don't need to tell you how they punish those crimes during wartime," Blandings warns Weekes. Miller has accomplished something really grand here: Despite its lone fantasy element, this is a visceral war novel that blends into a twisty spy novel with brief interludes of heated romance between Weekes and his beloved Danielle Hardin, not to mention the quiet yearnings of Weekes' best friend, Essie Stewart, who secretly loves him. The combat is incredibly tense, the palpable tension between characters is genuinely authentic, and the character arc that changes Weekes from an eager young soldier to a hardened veteran is truly compelling. A fantastic example of worldbuilding on a grand scale that combines cinematic action with historical accuracy to great effect.

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