This book was an incredible historical fantasy. I loved it so much! It was told from 4 different perspectives and it was done masterfully. I loved the characters and the POVs. The writing was superb.
And the blurb of this book is just a perfect definition of what it is. If you like that, it delivers with a 5 star plot and writing.

Thanks a lot to NG nad the publisher for this copy.

I had very few expectations going into this book. I hadn't read any of the authors other works and wasn't quite sure where the story would lead. What I got was a near, strict retelling of 1700's History filled with magic. Magic runs rife in the world, in most countries commoners have to declare their magic, and in others they are given a bracelet that doesn't allow them to work their magic. Across the sea slavers give their slaves a compound which dims their magic and ensure's they do their masters bidding. But something or someone is stirring, something that believes magic should be readily available to all who can wield it. He will be the spark that lights the revolution, but he has darker motives than anyone can grasp and it will take everyone working together to ensure his world vision doesn't come to pass.

I will say this book is very historically and politically heavy, so if that isn't your jam, it may be worth giving this one a miss. As a history buff, i threw myself into the story with gusto. This is a period of history that I knew little about and found myself overly invested in a story line whose ending should be predictable. I say should be predictable because, and this is according to Susan because she already knew about this period, the author sticks to the historical timeline, even down to the speeches made in parliament. However, we have the addition of magic, which obviously ensured some changes, whether simply of motivation, or of historical events. The magic gave a new edge to the story and gave us some truly heartbreaking and harrowing moments.

I think you can already guess that I loved this book, but the thing that really made it for me is the characters. The story is told from four main points of view; William Pitt, the prime minister of England; William Wilberforce, a member of Pitt's parliament and long time friend; Robespierre, the French revolutionist; and Fina a slave working in Jamaica. They all want the same goals, freedom and rights for commoners and the abolition of the slave trade. What makes them different is the way in which they go about achieving these goals. The authors use of dialect ensures you are easily aware who's perspective you are reading the story from. Because of the length of the book you get an in depth insight into the characters backstory's and beliefs which helps the author breathe life into her characters, bringing them off the page. There are a multitude of other characters we get introduced too and even the smallest leaves an imprint on you as a reader, sometimes that few authors have the ability to do.

The magic system was in-depth and brilliantly written. We see the differences in how magic is treated across the world, and the author manages to give us a full backstory without any info-dumps. She weaves the history of magic into the story line, feeding you bits of information as you go. No piece of information is pointless, every single line in this book has a purpose, Susan and I were throwing theories at each other all the way through this book... some slightly crazy and others that made perfect sense.

With this book being based on true historical events it was certainly heartbreaking in parts. But this is the reality of a revolution, one of the major themes of the book, and I suppose history in general is how far people will go to achieve their goals. We have characters that start out with the absolute best of intentions, but power and praise made them believe they were invincible. She shows us how beliefs can outlast even the strongest of friendships, and honestly the last part of the book made me an emotional wreck. This is another way that the authors brings the characters to life, there are no truly good people, no matter how well-intentioned they may be, and I certainly find it easier to empathise with 'morally grey' characters.

I'm so glad that I read this as a buddy read because I think it would definitely struggle to make my thoughts on this coherent if I didn't have a sounding board. The book ends with a bang and leaves you with a multitude of unanswered questions, and I am eager to find out where the story will take us in book two.

The blurb says that "A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians is a genre-defying story of magic, war, and the struggle for freedom in the early modern world", and truly, it is just that. Set in the 18th Century and following political and revolutionary leaders from London, Paris, and the Caribbean, the story interweaves events of the French Revolution and slave abolition movement.

There are magicians and the Knight Templars who regulate them. Both France and Britain are struggling for the independence of the Commoner magicians. We follow William Pitt and William Wilberforce in London, Camille Desmoulins, Maximilien Robespierre, and Georges Danton in France, and Toussaint Louverture in the Saint-Domingue. All of them were active participants in several well-known Revolutions. The author has done a commendable job of seamlessly inserting magic in and among the true narratives. Thus, although historical fiction, the book feels like a fantasy! And I am all here for it.

Reading it was like reading a book from the 18th Century. The characters are written so well that I instantly fell in love with them, the fact that they lived at some point also helped a bit. Pitt and Wilberforce's friendship is something worth dying for, one of the best friendships ever. I loved their banters and philosophical musings!. There is much moral dilemma in the story(which is natural due to the topic of slavery) and immense political intrigue! How people with good intentions can also become disillusioned and commit wrongs in the name of morality and how the line between 'right' and 'wrong' is very thin, all these and more are made apparent by the book. It draws upon the French Revolution and the Abolitionist movement but it has an originality that I fell in love with.

Rating- ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25/5. It is coming out on 25th June, keep an eye on it! I promise it's worth a read. Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the e-ARC. (less)

This book is alternative fantasy, combining real historical events with fantasy. It is incredibly well written, and had me hooked from start to finish. Signed copies available at goldsboro

William Pitt and William Wilberforce are old friends, drawn together by their careers and enjoying the last years of their youth. But a trip to France, shortly before Pitt becomes Prime Minister, sees them encountering something strange and deadly. Meanwhile, Robespierre discovers his own magical abilities, and uses them to light a spark to France’s revolution. In Jamaica, Fina’s body starts to rebel against the potion that keeps her and other slaves unable to do anything but obey the men who run the plantations.

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians is a book which covers the growing abolitionist movement in Great Britain, the French Revolution, and the slave uprisings in the Caribbean, with the addition of magic. In this world, the aristocrats are able to essentially use magic freely, as long as their form of magic isn’t too dangerous. The commoners, however, are tested when born, and if they are found to have magic, The Knights Templar – who oversee the use of magic – attach a bracelet to them, which alerts them and injures the wearer if magic is used.

Many of the main characters are dedicated to trying to eradicate this system, seeing it as unfair and cruel, while Wilberforce is particularly troubled by the treatment of slaves. There are many historical names that crop up during the course of the story, and it’s clear the research done for this novel is solid. Parry makes it feel like this book could have been lifted from 18th century. The way magic presented is interesting, but the majority of the book, admittedly, is taken over by dialogue and politics.

This book is politics heavy. It’s something I really liked, but I can imagine would put other readers off. I liked the discussions between the characters, the talks over morality and freedom and responsibility. There were still some tense action scenes too, but most of the big action was sort of shifted off-screen slightly, with the POV characters only taking small roles and not witnessing much of the actual action.

I really enjoyed the verbal exchanges between various characters, which at times felt like reading a dance or sword-fight, as characters untangled their words and tried to plot their next steps.

My only (minor) complaint was that the novel finished really abruptly, but I was very relieved to find out this was the first in a duology.

In a lot of ways, the book reminded me of Johnathan Strange & Mr Norrell, another book I really loved, with the time period and the weaving in of magic with actual historical events. But in A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, the scope is wider, the story more sprawling, and it covers more aspects than Susanna Clarke’s novel.

I’ll be eagerly awaiting the sequel to this novel, and if you like Historical Fantasy with a heavy dose of dialogue and politics, definitely pick this one up.

I would say that A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians is a slightly less boring version of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I say that because I actually managed to finish the book and it didn’t drag out its boring nothingness to 1000 pages. That said, the book was still intensely dull. There’s too much standing around talking and not enough action.

The plot begins with the division of magicians. There are rich magicians who can basically do anything they want and poor magicians who are required to register their magic, wear bracelets and are restricted in their magic use. Poor unregistered magicians are arrested and imprisoned in either the Tower of London or the Bastille. Parry uses this premise to connect her story to both the French Revolution and the abolitionist movement in Britain. It’s in interesting concept but it actually raises several issues. The biggest one is that it reduces several very important world events into things that are just an argument about magic.

There are four main protagonists in the story. The first is Maximilien Robespierre, who in this story is a necromancer who wants to improve the rights of commoner magicians by starting the French Revolution. The most interesting thing about this book is that Robespierre is portrayed as a sympathetic character when history has remembered him as a tyrant. He is essentially a well-intentioned man who is manipulated into using his magic to create an army of the dead at the behest of an unseen benefactor. It’s an interesting choice but it’s also a poor one since it reduces Robespierre’s agency and turns him into nothing more than a pawn. He is no longer the paranoid tyrant who led France into the Terror by guillotining thousands of its citizens, he’s a misunderstood hero manipulated into his terrible actions.

The next protagonist is Fina, a slave with magic transported to the Caribbean. Her story is connected to the slave uprisings in Saint-Dominigue (now Haiti) and Toussaint Louverture. This is actually the most interesting of the storylines and at least Parry manages to connect pretty well to the events in France. It’s also the least focused on plot and although I am going to assume this story will become more important in another book (since the story heavily implies it at the end) I’m not likely to read it so it feels like a bit of a wasted storyline.

The final POVs are Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce. I’m not sure how well known eighteenth century British politics is around the world but if you don’t know, Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister at the end of the eighteenth century (and he was only 24 when he became PM) and William Wilberforce was an MP who campaigned heavily for the abolition of slavery. In this story Pitt the Younger is a vampire. Maybe it’s because Pitt and Wilberforce aren’t as well known as Robespierre or maybe it’s because they just spend most of the novel standing around talking but I found their parts to be even more dull than the rest. At least Robespierre’s part had a revolution to make him slightly more interesting.

The British storyline is another place where I have an issue. It reduces the slavery issue to a simple matter of magic which in turn reduces the importance of the issue. It also doesn’t really go anywhere because the book ends before the Act to abolish Slavery in Britain is passed (the novel ends in 1794, Slavery was abolished in 1807).

All in all A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians was boring and very disappointing. Normally something like the French Revolution would make me very interested but Parry manages to make the upheaval of French society and an event which influenced French politics, society, culture and the economy for a century afterwards a chore to read. The British sections were even more boring and on the whole incredibly pointless. I was never engaged in the story at any point and I just wanted it to end. It’s not a book that I enjoyed in the slightest.

I really enjoyed this book. Party’s writing style is elegant yet immersive, and retains distinctive voices as the story moves from one character to the next.

As the story is set in an AU 1700s, there’s a fair bit of history to read through. This made it a slower narrative for me, but one that was no less engrossing. I think this is because Parry takes care to put the gravitas in these moments, does not presume we know the ins and outs but also does not talk down to the reader as each moment takes place.

The ending is suggestive of more books to follow, and I really hope there will be as I was fully invested in all of the character’s moving parts and I can’t wait to see how they come together.

Abolition, revolution and freedom.
Do you like your historical fantasy to be really historical? Enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell but want something darker? Then this is the book for you.
Set at the towards the end of the 1700s following the political rise of William Pitt the Younger in Britain and Maximilien Robespierre in France and the life of Fina, a black slave who escapes from a Jamaican plantation to join a rebellion on Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and meets Toussaint L'Ouverture.
Real people and real events have obviously been carefully researched and expertly twisted ever so slightly so that now magic is one of the key issues. Commoners are restricted or prevented from using the magic they have been born with and slaves are controlled and suppressed with magical concoctions. And, on top of that, there's a malevolent force hiding in the shadows.
The author doesn't shy away from the horrors of the time, the dehumanisation of enslaved black people or the terror of the revolution.
Lots of political debates, discussions and manipulation. I enjoyed seeing the characters discuss and debate the topics of the time and see how change could be continually pushed back or postponed by current events or could be inflamed suddenly.
I can't wait to read the next one.

Repeat after me: "This isn't real history. This isn't real history." Oh, but what if it wasn't an alternative history/reality novel?! I want to know what life would be like now if this had actually happened. The story and writing are both superb. The characters are incredibly well-balanced, with my feelings towards them fluctuating with events. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this before. Bring on the sequel!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

A DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAGICIANS is a stunning historical, political fantasy that had me reading until almost midnight to finish in one sitting.

It's not going to be a book for everyone. It's a slow-paced book full of intricately detailed political scheming written in a more formal, distant prose that observes the action more than experiences it. I loved the style and the depth of the book, how the magic was woven into the historical events to create an alternate world that felt close enough to touch.

It follows the political turmoils of France and Britain through the later 1700s. Revolution rocks France, and the Revolutionary wars begin. The British Government are trying to keep hold of their own stability as France descends into revolution and Abolitionists try to get bills through parliament. At the same time, a shadowy figure is pulling strings.

I really loved the inclusion of the shadowy figure and the central mystery it created. It's really hard to talk about it, and the way it plays into the mythology of the world, as it has so many spoilers, so all I'll say is that the information gained about the said figure is enough to satisfy the mystery of this book, but also leave it hanging for new revelations in the sequel (yes! there's going to be another book). I have a few theories already!


While the book is not written in a particularly deep POV, the characters themselves are vividly painted. They are very morally ambiguous at times (except Wilberforce). I loved the relationship between William Pitt (the Younger) and William Wilberforce. It's full of mutual respect and brilliance, which makes the strains on it thanks to differing ideas and careers so heartbreaking to watch.

However, the best characterisation of the book comes from Robespierre, and the negative character arc he goes on. Even knowing the history of the French Revolution in broad strokes, I was still hoping he'd change path and wake up before he took a step too far. He's a character steeped in a vision of a free France, only his action are painted in ever darker shades of grey. He's got such a strong central moral code that made me root for him, even as his vision corrupted his action. It was so well done.

The book mentions slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade, through the eyes of the British Abolitionists (acknowledging the culpability of the French and British in the Atlantic Slave Trade) and a slave girl snatched from her home at the beginning of the book, Fina. Her POV is very scarce in the book, coming up more in the final act but still not much, as she shows the reader what's happening on Saint-Domingue (a former French Colony in what it now called Haiti). It feels like she should either have had a more prominent role, or been cut, and I hope it was written with sensitivity readers.

I was very excited to discover this was a duology, so roll on book two!

I was really impressed by this novel, being the big fantasy reader that I am, the magical element drew me to this novel but I was pleasantly surprised with how well the historical fiction aspect was woven in. as I have read many novels that have done it poorly, was a breath of fresh air that has opened me up to the historical sub-genre of fantasy.
The relationship dynamics between characters were interesting but what really grabbed my attention was the ominous feeling that surrounds the truth in the historical events.
Great read, can't wait for the sequel

1. I need the sequel.
2. Perfect historical fantasy.
3. A true successor of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell ( no footnotes though ).
4. I am hoping to meet Napoleon Bonaparte in the next book.
5. Read this book only if you like History or Politics .
6. This book is a mytholization of real history and depicts the Abolitionist movements and the French Revolution with a magical twist.
7. A sequel is definitely coming.
8. Ughhh Robespierre .
9. Full of humour and occasional darkness.

* I received an e-arc in exchange for an honest review .

I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley.

There are a lot of books appearing recently which are a fantastical take on history, and for me this is one of the best. It covers the time of the French Revolution, the Abolition of the Slave Trade in Great Britain and the Haitian Revolution, but thrown into the mix is a widespread mix of magical talents. But these talents are restricted or suppressed by the governing authority, which gives a different flavour to all the revolutions. Yes, in history they all happened without any magical involvement, but by inserting magic we get a different viewpoint of oppression.

The historical characters retain much of their real personalities, and history does stay mostly on track, but subtle changes begin to creep in. I kept going off to look at the history to see if things really happened since they seemed credible within the story, and there was an excitement when things changed – how is this going to change bigger events. The use of real snippets of fact brings home the horrors that were happening in all the societies: a list of people killed on the guillotine contains ″Jean-Paul Robert, convicted of using mesmerism to influence his neighbours against the Revolution″ but the other people on the list were all actual victims, and with similarly minor crimes.

I particularly liked the relationship between Pitt and Wilberforce which seemed very similar to that in the film ′Amazing Grace′ but probably because they drew from the same source material. There is a wit in the exchanges between them and sometimes between the French revolutionaries which add some light to what can be a very dark book. The sections in the Caribbean are particularly gruesome in light of current events, and yet even there some hope exists that this time the revolution might work out better for the Haitians. There is a villain behind the scenes, who will take greater prominence as the story continues. I′m certainly hoping the story continues since although it doesn't end on a cliffhanger I can′t wait to read the next book in the series.

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians is an alternate historical novel with a twist of fantasy, and the story it tells is dark.

Split between events in Haiti, France and England, it imagines the both the plight of those with magic in a society where they are repressed, and the plight of those elsewhere who are repressed using magic. The contrast is really fascinating, and shows how difficult it is to see things in black and white when there is so much grey in between.

At points, I found the book quite difficult to read because of the events taking place. A lot of the book made me distinctly uncomfortable - and strangely, I liked that.

The plot is very slow at times and it did take a lot of focus to get into the story. There was a lot of politics covered and the strongest section of the book (the parts set in Haiti) were frustratingly short. However, I did think it was cleverly woven together. This definitely won't be a book for everyone!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book and I'm certain that most people who read it will love it but I didn't.

This book is an exceptionally well written, well researched work of genius.

The way the author brings characters to life is fantastic, my issue is that they are not characters but real people and real events with a layer of the fantastic weaved in.

I enjoy historical fiction and I love fantasy. The blending of the two, just doesn't work for me.

The star rating (and I hope most of the review) reflects my appreciation of the book and the talent and skill of the author rather than my level of enjoyment.

A retelling of the French Revolution, England's role and the slave trade. I loved learning more about all the details of the revolution, England's role and the people behind it all. I never really knew much about that time especially englands history and im ashamed to say im english! Ot was a great insight into it. But I really had to push myself to read it. I think with out the magical element I would of quit as it was very much a history lesson and the magical theme brought it to life!

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more into crime/thriller books and even psychological thrillers too so I am extremely pleased and grateful to them for opening up my mind to something totally different.

I read the previous book by this author and was left feeling a bit deflated, it promised a lot but for me didn’t deliver, this book really does deliver and there is so much I would love to discuss about the characters and the story but I am afraid that would spoil it for the person who wants to read it, let me just say it is very good and worth spending money and time on