It is the Age of Enlightenment — of new and magical political movements, from the necromancer Robespierre calling for revolution in France to the weather mage Toussaint L’Ouverture leading the slaves of Haiti in their fight for freedom, to the bold new Prime Minister William Pitt weighing the legalization of magic amongst commoners in Britain and abolition throughout its colonies overseas. But amidst all of the upheaval of the early modern world, there is an unknown force inciting all of human civilization into violent conflict. And it will require the combined efforts of revolutionaries, magicians, and abolitionists to unmask this hidden enemy before the whole world falls to darkness and chaos. This week I’m taking a look at the latest novel from H G Parry. A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians is a reimagining of a key moment in European history, with the addition of some distinctly more fantastical elements. Taken from Africa as a small child Fina, is a slave on a British plantation in Jamaica. Magic is used to control the workforce as they are forced to toil in back breaking conditions. Fina has learned to internalise everything as the magic that binds her ensures complete, unyielding…