"The Philosopher's Flight" by Tom Miller

Disclaimer: I was given a free advance ecopy of this book via NetGalley from the publisher, Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review. My opinion remains as forthright as ever.

If you've ever dreamed of flying, have I got the book for you! The Philosopher's Flight is set in the early 1900s in a bit of a different world from our own. Society is matriarchal instead of patriarchal (i.e. women go to work and war, have the most influence, and generally rule the roost, while men stay home [for the most part], take care of the kids, and get catcalled on the streets). It's refreshing to read a fantasy book that doesn't have a patriarchal society, especially when it's alternate history. I find some books with your typical Tolkien-style worlds so true-to-history as far as misogyny goes that they're difficult to read (I'm looking at you, George R.R. Martin).

The first half of this novel is the most difficult to get through due to a complex magic system that involves science, therefore making this a bit of a sci-fi book. I had issues initially imagining it, but as the book went on the magic system made a lot more sense and I really began to enjoy it. Philosophers in this book are a bit like scientific magicians: to them, it's simple science to be able to fly, heal people, and transport things and people across vast expanses, but to those who don't understand the science it seems a lot like magic.

The Plot (As Seen on Goodreads):

'The Philosopher’s Flight is an epic historical fantasy set in a World-War-I-era America where magic and science have blended into a single extraordinary art. 

'Eighteen-year-old Robert Weekes is a practitioner of empirical philosophy—an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and even fly. Though he dreams of fighting in the Great War as the first male in the elite US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service—a team of flying medics—Robert is resigned to mixing batches of philosophical chemicals and keeping the books for the family business in rural Montana, where his mother, a former soldier and vigilante, aids the locals.

'When a deadly accident puts his philosophical abilities to the test, Robert rises to the occasion and wins a scholarship to study at Radcliffe College, an all-women’s school. At Radcliffe, Robert hones his skills and strives to win the respect of his classmates, a host of formidable, unruly women. 

'Robert falls hard for Danielle Hardin, a disillusioned young war hero turned political radical. However, Danielle’s activism and Robert’s recklessness attract the attention of the same fanatical anti-philosophical group that Robert’s mother fought years before. With their lives in mounting danger, Robert and Danielle band together with a team of unlikely heroes to fight for Robert’s place among the next generation of empirical philosophers—and for philosophy’s very survival against the men who would destroy it.

'In the tradition of Lev Grossman and Deborah Harkness, Tom Miller writes with unrivaled imagination, ambition, and humor. The Philosopher’s Flight is both a fantastical reimagining of American history and a beautifully composed coming-of-age tale for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.'

As someone born and raised in Montana, I expected this book to fail miserably on that end of things, but the setting where Robert Weekes grew up was spot-on for the area (though I did feel like the inclusion of Parmly Library would've amped the setting up a notch). Of course, due to this being alternate history, would the buildings have been the same? I am beginning to doubt that.

The central theme in this book is overcoming obstacles and adversity, along with how diversity should be considered a strength rather than a weakness. Although this book is a lot of fun to read, it does delve deeply into philosophical topics that don't involve magic. The last half of the book I read so speedily I worried I may have missed some of that depth, but when you love a character and their life is in danger, you kind of need to know if they survive that paragraph.

The Philosopher's Flight has the perfect fun to worldbuilding ratio of any book I've read in the past six months. The characters fly off the page at you and you find yourself a bit too invested in their well-being for them to be fictional. I am surprised that this is a debut, because it seems like someone who writes this well has had at least one book under their belt, but stranger things have happened. If you want an immersive fantasy experience that combines all of my favorite genres, The Philosopher's Flight may be the book for you. 

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars for an exceptionally exquisite alternate history debut!

Age Advisory: Ages 18+ for sexual content, swearing, racial epithets, and philosophical catastrophes!

Page Count: 432 pages