Gold Magic By Dr. Bruce Davis

Gold Magic

By Dr. Bruce Davis

Before I start, a quick disclaimer, I know Dr. Davis. I am a friend of the family and consider his oldest son one of my best friends. Your editor has known and been friends with the family since he was a child (He’s family. Straight-up.). Also I got my copy of this novel for free. So while everything in this review is my honest opinion, I feel it best if I'm upfront with y'all.

Doc Davis got his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago in the 1970s, which might as well be a whole other world given how much has changed since then (Tell me about it…). He completed his surgical residency at Bethesda Naval Hospital and served with the Navy as a surgeon for 14 years. During that 14 years he met his wife (Who is a nurse.), got married, had children, and served in the first Gulf War. He currently lives in Phoenix working as a general and trauma surgeon with his wife (who is also a doctor [of nursing, we need to make this clear because the roles in medicine are different] and fair warning, a very good shot [Mom is scary. Dad can’t hit the broad side of a barn with a street-sweeper. The Hippocratic oath enforces itself ;) ]), surrounded by large dogs and when he can, enjoying time with his sons and grandchild. Now, I should note that Gold Magic isn't his first book, nor is it the first work of his we've reviewed. Among his prior works to show up on this review series are Queen Mab Courtesy, the For Profit Series, and Platinum Magic. I honestly recommend all of them and you can find most of them at the publisher of this book's web site for Brick Cave Media, we'll include a link at the end as they are a small independent publishing outfit and we’d like to show our support for them. Just leave them a note that we sent ya.

Gold Magic is the second book in the Magic Law series, which is about the problems of enforcing the law in a world where magic has been industrialized to the point of common use. How common? People call each other on personal mirrors and leave text messages. There are magic weapons that fire needles that can be enchanted with anything from lethal force to tranquilizers. Enchanted air sleds provide personal transport. This world isn't a carbon copy of ours with magic serving the role of technology however, it's evolved in ways that are different from ours (Which I like, because most of the time someone tries to do urban fantasy, they go to great lengths to create a world that is somehow just our world, with wizards in it.). The biggest differences seem to be social because some people are born with the ability to kill someone with their brains and others... Aren't (The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father. Sorry I’ll just be over here…). Now Doc Davis avoids the mistake of info-dumping (where characters have long conversations about the world simply to inform the audience) instead leaving the readers to infer facts about the world from character actions and statements. Which can honestly be the most intriguing way to world-build as your readers have to assemble the world from pieces you leave them, making it something of a mystery as well as the one that gives you the most maneuvering room as a writer. The books mainly take place in the nation of the Commonwealth, a multi-ethnic state of Elves, Dwarves, Humans, and Orcs. It's a monarchy, which seems to be a compromise as the prior government (called the Magisterium) was made up of mages (Look bro, once the wizards start calling themselves The Magisterium, shit’s gonna go downhill fast). This so traumatized everyone that it's the law that the throne can't go to anyone with magical talent and everyone agrees that a politically powerful mage, especially one who exercised their magical power against their enemies, would be worth taking up arms over and starting a civil war. That's not a position you get to without a whole lot of history behind it (I mean, yeah…). Of course not every nation takes that position, the Commonwealth's neighbor the Havens (a state dominated by old and traditionalist elf lords) for example doesn't seem to have a problem with its rulers and political class (land-owning, wealthy elves all) having and using magical power. The Havens is also a rather repressive place for a lot of people (Well gee! It’s ruled as a mago-plutocracy apparently! Shocking, that!). For example, in the Havens, Orc's testimony can't be used in court without supporting dwarf, human, or elf testimony (Woooow). It can be used in the Commonwealth which as a matter of policy grants all races equality before the law. However, the Orcs are incredibly disadvantaged and face a lot of economic and social discrimination, that the prejudiced justify by invoking prior history.

This is a problem for our protagonist Simon Buckley, a member of the King's Peacekeepers and leader of a Magic Enforcement Team. Simon is a liberal who pushes for fair treatment for Orcs and other races but is often against the memories of the longer-lived races, including elves who remember first-hand warring with orcs out to kill everyone and Dwarves who learned about it from their Fathers and Mothers (And this dynamic makes perfect sense. When you’re old, you get set in your ways, and if you got set in your ways 300 years ago you’re not going to be changing things very fast in response to changing social conditions.). He has a better understanding of this than you would think, as his father was murdered by Orcs when he was ten and he was raised by Hal Stonebender, a dwarf Keeper from that age. This is done well as we see Simon using Dwarf figures of speech and mannerisms without even thinking of it. For that matter I do have to note Doc Davis' attention to detail in the language used by all the characters, for example no one says Okay or Goodbye or uses the causal slang of the United States. Instead characters say things like All Good, or Good Parting or other slang that is easily figured out by the reader but enforces the idea that the Commonwealth isn't just some magical USA but an entirely different society. It is also kind of interesting that despite their relationship, he not only works in the same department but on the same team as Hal, as his direct boss. Hal has been refusing promotions since before Simon was born. Of course, that's not the full extent of Simon's dealing with other races, he was engaged to an Elf woman, who was killed by a terrorist bomb (before the beginning of Platinum Magic) and is currently dating another Elf woman, Sylvie who is a member of the Haven Rangers. This relationship is fairly well-accepted and we see that even in the Havens, human+elf pairings aren't considered out of bounds. Of course that doesn't make their relationship easy or simple and things may get even more complicated by the event of this story.

The Hollows, the section of the capital city of Cymbeline where Orcs live and work is on the verge of boiling over. A pair of gangs are building power and clashing over the drug trade and general control of the underworld. When four Orc children are found murdered as part of a ritual of Blood Magic, accusations are flying back and forth and everyone is moments from reaching for their weapons (Because of course, racism leading to desperation and gangs vying for power means we have to pogrom the victims of racism… Dad and I don’t agree on much politically but he is right on the nose here with how this shit is self-reinforcing sometimes.). But the more Simon looks into this the more things seem odd. While the children were originally from the Hollows, they're throwaways. Children turned out by their parents due to a lack of resources, where Orc parents will turn out their oldest children so they can feed their youngest. However, at least some of the children are wearing what seems to be uniforms and no one remembers seeing them around for some time. Simon, however, isn't afraid to investigate and he used to work in the Hollows as a beat cop; so he knows who to lean on for information. He also has the help of a team that he put together himself, including the new guy, a Half-Orc named Kermal. Having Kermal might help get information out of the Orc residents who distrust cops for a lot of good reasons. Simon also has to worry about resentment building up in his team; as well as resentment from Kermal who feels like he's only given jobs or not on account of his race as opposed to his talents and abilities. Talents and skills he might be underselling due to just who his parents were. Of course, he also has to try keeping the peace between the two Orc gangs and keep a gang war from going hot before he can finish the investigation and find the murderers. He can't be too overt about that though, because then he's stepping on the ego of the guy who replaced him on the Hollows beat. A peacekeeper who already resents him. On top of that he also has to worry about more rarified entanglements, as the orc children in question have links to a school for disadvantaged children. A school with noble and royal backers and connections leading to the top. Just in case you thought Simon didn't have enough balls to keep in the air? Sylvie gives him a call to let him know there are also missing Orc children in the Havens. What's tying all of this together and can Simon follow the threads of evidence to the answers to all these mysteries? Does he even have time before the Hollows starts going up in smoke and everyone is staring at massive street violence in the very capital itself?

Now I do need to address something that is often called coding, where fantasy races become stand-ins for real-world races (It is broader than this as well. Where a character or even a race takes on traits that are often associated with a minority group either to serve as an analogy for a conflict that that author does not want to tackle directly, or to demonize that group with dog-whistles. Zootopia, for instance, does it pretty blatantly with predators as coded black. To the point of actually using elements of a very real and not a “conspiracy theory” conspiracy by the US government to help the Contras fund their war against the Sandinistas by funneling crack into black communities, as a plot point. Scar is often seen as gay-coded as well but the less I talk about The Lion King the better, I am a biologist and a communist, the whole thing makes me scream. Anyway, for a long time the only portrayals of homosexuality allowed in film had to be both subtexual and villainous. Ursula was based on a real drag queen. Granted Divine was a very “unique” individual and the portrayal was likely a loving homage.). Doc Davis does try pretty damn hard to avoid this, the Orcs history doesn't mesh with the history of any minority group in the states for example (Yeah, but the social phenomenon of racism is such that it’s just not really possible to avoid the coding.). They are loathed and hated because in the past they led a genocidal campaign of warfare against everyone else. Additionally most Orcs are immigrants from the Orcish homelands, called the Azeri Empire. So they also have the stigma of foreigners with strange ways and customs coming over here to take our jobs. Never mind that the jobs they get are ones no Human, Dwarf, or Elf would want in the first place (See what I mean?). However their treatment does invoke some of the treatment that modern-day and historical minorities in the US have lived and are living through and it would take a dense reader not to notice that on some level. Whether it's being trapped in a racial ghetto, facing unfair policing and dealing with glass ceilings that lock them out of certain trades and social positions. Doc also does a good job of showing us that the reason this treatment continues isn't that the Orcs are any less capable or trustworthy than anyone else but because there are massive economic and social machines that benefit from it, whether it be the Elves in the Havens profiting from indentured laborers in the fields or the vast magical industries of the Commonwealth being run on cheap Orc Labor (He’s so very close sometimes…). Just like our world, justifications are often created to cover for the profit that the status quo gives and if you can ground it in a historical grievance? So much the better (The bourgeoisie - or aristocrats if those exist - will always create or perpetuate these wedges to keep the working class divided from itself and thus maintain their stranglehold on power.). So those who profit the most, fight the hardest to prevent any improvements in the situation.

Doc Davis gives us a tense, interesting mystery with a lot of moving parts to keep track of. Set in a world that feels very real partly because of how familiar it is, while being rather alien in some respects. It's a fast-moving story however so you need to keep track of everything or you'll miss something. So I would tell people not to be afraid to reread a page or five if you think you'll need to. The characters are well done too. Simon comes across as a man who honestly just wants to stop treating each other like crap and be decent to one another. You know, for a change. That said he isn't perfect, and I can understand how Kermal feels like he's the Orc cop on Simon's squad instead of the orc Cop if you catch my meaning. Something that Simon himself has to confront in the story, although having more space to it in would have been nice. The biggest issue I have here is pacing, at 250 pages, there is a lot to unpack and I feel we could have used more space to unpack it in. For example the case brings up some personal issues between Simon and Sylvie that I feel aren't entirely resolved and we don't get to see Molly, Hal's wife in this story (Honestly, this reflects reality. A lot of cops’ marriages are troubled for a host of reasons.). Honestly, though the lack of space and the fast pacing are the only complaints I have with the book. It seems I'm spending a lot of time in reviews yelling at authors to hurry it up or slow it down and in this case I'm asking for it to be slowed down. Still, all things considered, this was a great read and I really enjoyed it. I hope to see Simon and his crew back on the job soon. Gold Magic by Doc Bruce Davis gets a A-

So this bonus review is a bit late due to technical issues and I apologize for that but here it is! We hope you enjoyed this review. I am linking to brickcave media below, they're an independent publishing company that makes most of their sales on the convention circuit but with the convention circuit down, there go most of their sales. Now that said, they didn't ask me to link you and have no idea I'm doing so. But I do like to try and support the independents out there when I can. So give them a look, most of their prices are pretty reasonable. Next week, we return with The Sundering by Jon Walter Willaims to end the month of May and after that it's on to World War II month in June! Our vote for the books in June is still open and you can join that poll for as little as a dollar a month at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads Until then, stay safe and keep reading!

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen
Normal text is your reviewer Garvin Anders

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