Bayesian Investor Blog

Ramblings of a somewhat libertarian stock market speculator

The Spriggan Mirror

Posted by Peter on February 6, 2009
Posted in: Book Reviews.

Book review: The Spriggan Mirror by Lawrence Watt-Evans.
I normally don’t review fiction, but this has enough intellectual value to be more than just entertainment (although it is primarily entertainment).

This novel does an unusually good job of portraying scientific approaches to analyzing magic (better than the two other Lawrence Watt-Evans novels I’ve read).So in a sense it ought to be treated as science fiction about a world whose laws of physics happen to resemble those of many fantasies.
It provides a good example of how humans ought to treat a species of beings who are less intelligent than humans but capable of understanding a good deal of human language.
It also raises some unusual questions about personal identity.

You should read With a Single Spell and possibly others in the Ethshar series before reading this.

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