"If I’d ever had a trove of dresses like these, as a girl, or as a young bride, I wouldn't be here now. I would have slipped into another life. I would be happy, maybe, but not great. A wife, yes. But never a geomagician."

Quick note that Mary Anning was a real woman, who really found all of these amazing fossil discoveries that helped propel our understanding of extinction. She sold her specimens for pennies to members of the Geological Society of London—a society she was not allowed to join due to her sex and social standing—and only received proper recognition for all her contributions after her death (and there are many other women who never and will never be given the recognition they deserve). If you take anything away from this review or this book, I hope it is to take a few minutes to learn more about Mary and her role as a pioneer in palaeontology.

I will start by saying that I feel like this book will hit for a very specific (and what I would have thought rare) niche of readers, and luckily for me I am absolutely that niche. If you go into this book fantasy first or romantasy first, I think you will be disappointed. But I think if you go into it more so focused on the historical fantasy aspect of it during a period of tumultuous societal unrest and pre-Darwin's theory of evolution, where magic is used as symbol of wealth, you will be pleased.

As an academic ecologist who has always loved dinosaurs and was raised in the Catholic church, this book sometimes felt like something Jennifer Mandula had pulled directly from my brain. I can't even begin to describe the glee I felt when I read a hypothesis that was actually correctly written as a hypothesis and not a prediction!!! I would argue no character was "inherently good", and while Mary is the only POV character, it was clear that each character struggled with the balance between their ambition and the chance of finally obtaining something they had worked all their lives for, and what might be correct for the greater good, even if it is at the cost of their own wants. While this definitely made them not the most "likeable" at times, it also made them so much more relatable to me specifically with Mary as she wrestled through the cost of finally achieving everything she had worked so hard for.

"I winced to hear my own thoughts reflected back at me... I suppose it's too easy to forget the exact curve of your mouth, or the precise shade of your eyes, when you've gone a while without a looking glass. It's only when someone holds it up for you, says, Here—here you are. This is how I see you, that you see clearly."

I could go on and on but I will stop myself there. I do think at times there was a bit too much happening and that the climax felt rushed, especially compared to the relatively consistent pacing of the rest of the book. But, if you are interested in a historical fantasy book that features fossil magic, societal reform, evolution and ecology, theology (& its intersection and contradictions with science and magic), a baby pterodactly that I would protect with my life, and a retelling of a historical figure that went far too long getting their due recognition for their work in the sciences due to their sex and lack of wealth, give The Geomagician a try!

My arc doesn't mention it but that final copy notes that this is the first in a duology and I am very much looking forward to reading book 2.

Disclaimer: I received a physical arc and finished copy for free from the publisher.