Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week my Can’t-Wait-For is Mage of Fools by Eugen Bacon!
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: African setting & cast
Published on: 15th March 2022
Goodreads
In the dystopian world of Mafinga, Jasmin must contend with a dictator’s sorcerer to cleanse the socialist state of its deadly pollution.
Mafinga's malevolent king dislikes books and, together with his sorcerer Atari, has collapsed the environment to almost uninhabitable. The sun has killed all the able men, including Jasmin’s husband Godi.
But Jasmin has Godi’s secret story machine that tells of a better world, far different from the wastelands of Mafinga. Jasmin’s crime for possessing the machine and its forbidden literature filled with subversive text is punishable by death.
Fate grants a cruel reprieve in the service of a childless queen who claims Jasmin’s children as her own. Jasmin is powerless—until she discovers secrets behind the king and his sorcerer.
Mage of Fools sounds very strange, very different from what I usually find myself reading – and incredibly interesting. A land without men – worse, a land without BOOKS??? (Could the story machine be a book? That seems too simple, especially since it sounds like the machine contains literature, which means it can’t be a piece of literature itself…?)
The early reviews on Goodreads say that this set in a mystical African kingdom, which raises my hopes that there are fantasy elements worked into the dystopian setting. ‘Mystical’ = magic, right? And the title is literally Mage of Fools… But it may be that this is one of those stories where science or trickery is masquerading as magic (I’m not about to trust the king’s sorcerer to be what he claims to be!) and that will still be something I want to read!
What bookwyrm isn’t in love with stories about the power of stories??? And I’m flat-out feral for parents out to save their kids, okay? I need Jasmin to get her children back – and preferably take down the monarchy in the process!
Finally, I’m really excited by all the praise for Bacon’s prose! I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but prose matters to me so much more than story – I just can’t enjoy a book, no matter how fantastic the premise or plot or characters, if I don’t click with the writing style. But it sounds like Bacon’s style is exactly what I most love, which means Mage of Fools officially ticks all my boxes, and I can’t wait to get to read it!
What’s your Can’t-Wait-For book this week?
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