I'm really enjoying the book generally, but I especially love the magic system! In so many books when there's magic, it's more or less "magic is real and it works like this". I love how here it's more complex. Just like every other aspect of humanity and culture, different people of from different backgrounds may have magic/witchcraft in common, but they have their own practices and approaches to it, even if there are similar threads running through each one. It makes it feel much closer to our own world, it's great!

When i tell you i felt this quote in my bones:

From the viewpoint of a private property economy, the “gift” is deemed to be “free” because we obtain it free of charge, at no cost. But in the gift economy, gifts are not free. The essence of the gift is that it creates a set of relationships. The currency of a gift economy is, at its root, reciprocity. In Western thinking, private land is understood to be a “bundle of rights,” whereas in a gift economy property has a “bundle of responsibilities” attached.

Because the book is speaking from the perspective of tangible objects/physical property right now, but it feels so, so relevant to community spaces/platforms too. Like with PB: the commitment the founders have to remaining independent and never touching ads or venture capital, the personal sacrifices they’ve made in order to make Pagebound a reality—even though nobody has to pay to be here or access the site, this is not nothing. it is not "free". It’s a gift from the founders to us, and just like any other gift, there is a bundle of responsibilities between both parties.

And personally, as someone who has been through the gauntlet of online community spaces revolving around my interests (with most of them failing or causing me to burn out in some fashion or the other), this thinking just resonates so, so much with me. Isn’t the idea of it just wonderful? To really, genuinely put your faith in something, and have that faith be returned tenfold?