MagicLand

A debut post-apocalyptic novel presents a fateful encounter between two young people from different sides of a catastrophic war. Thousands of years in the future, Earth suffers the ill effects of a long-standing war, and evolution has taken humans to new heights and diverse branches. The surviving few live on opposite sides of the planet: some in The Homeland, where citizens permanently uplink to the Stoven collective, and others in Moria, where magic reigns supreme. When a young man from The Homeland named Belex Deralk-Almd crashes on Moria, all his biosystems are disconnected; his memory is fuzzy; and, to his horror, he finds himself trapped in "MagicLand," where savage people disavow science and embrace aging and death. But he also discovers, in the midst of all the ugliness, "a mystical, hidden factor of beauty that restrained his hatred." One of those beauties is 17-year-old Aurilena, a gifted magician. When she finds the crash survivor, she is immediately wary of this potential enemy, but she is also attracted to his differences. Against all odds, Belex and Aurilena start to fall for each other. As they investigate why Belex is in Moria, they realize not only that everything they know about their respective cultures is a lie, but that they have roles to play in the next step of their evolution as well. In this promising first novel, Bastille introduces a world that features a surprisingly well-balanced mishmash of genres with robust elements of SF, fantasy, and romance all wrapped up in a post-apocalyptic package. From Belex's relationship with his body's augmentations to Aurilena's empathic connection to Moria, the absorbing story examines the seemingly conflicting ways these new types of humans engage with the world, suggesting a balance can be found. But Moria's magic system comes with strong religious undertones that become progressively prevalent toward the tale's open-ended climax. Readers will enjoy trying to spot the truth in the novel's unreliable narrative about war and history while navigating Belex's lack of memory and Aurilena's reliance on disputable sources. A bracing dystopian tale that deftly mixes magic, evolution, and romance.

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October 11, 2021
Bastille’s debut artfully combines magic, technology, and romance when a witch and a bioengineered actor fall in love despite a centuries-long conflict between their homelands. Actor Belex is a Gath, a DNA-altered humanoid controlled by a collective network referred to as stoven.net. When he crashes just outside of Moira, the country Gaths call Magicland, his biosystem goes offline, leaving him temporarily blind. He’s rescued by Wiccan priestess-in-training Aurilena, but receives a cold welcome from the other Wiccans, who see him as a threat, as Gaths have been responsible for many Wiccan deaths over the years. With the help of High Priest Hilkiah, Aurilena attempts to acclimate Belex to their society. But as Belex’s biosystem comes back online, they discover a sinister Gath plot to destroy Moria and must race to save the land: when Belex’s systems are fully working, the town will be exposed and its people destroyed. Along the way, Aurilena and Belex fall for each other and fight the opposition to their relationship. Bastille handles the multilayered plot well, creating a fascinating world populated with empathetic characters. The result should win Bastille some fans.