Draft:A Far Wilder Magic

A Far Wilder Magic is a fantasy novel by Allison Saft first published in 2022. The book brings up religious discrimination and religion as an identity, while also bringing light to mental health and difficult family relations. The young pair in the novel are forced together to fight for their futures in a world not made for them, and their lives depend on whether they win the sacred hunt or not.

In the small town of Wickdon, Margaret Welty lives in a closed-off manor with her mother who is currently off on a research trip as one of the greatest alchemists in New Albion. Weston Winters is the well-spoken and ambitious alchemist-to-be, hoping to become Evalyn’s new apprentice. Having traveled all the way from his busy home and city life of Dunway, with enormous dreams and expectations, he arrives at the Welty Manors doorstep. Wes is met by Evalyn’s cold daughter, who seems unresponsive to his usual charm, Maggie refuses to take him in despite his describing this as being his last shot at alchemy after being refused by every other recognized alchemist. Winters is forced to return the five miles to Wickdon with his dreams shattering, only to return the next day to plead to Maggie. Margaret states that her mother will be back in two weeks and agrees for Wes to stay there until her return, despite her not knowing when her mother will be returning. While out in the woods with her hound Trouble, the familiar woods suddenly feel threatening to Maggie. She then spots the mysterious Hala, a white fox that happens to be the last remaining demiurge in the world. The Hala appears once every year in one of New Albion’s cities, growing stronger and more dangerous every day up til the new moon, when people from all over the country gather to kill it. Margarete decides she wants to sign up for the hunt, and knowing she needs an alchemist to fight with her, she decides Weston will work despite his lack of training. Weston is counting down the days until his apprenticeship can start, spending his days wondering how Margaret survives the loneliness of the manor, while missing his four sisters and mother back home. With only days to spare until the registration for the hunt, Maggie has still not gotten the courage to ask Wes about it, nor has she confessed that her mother might not be returning at all. Then Wes gets a call from home saying he must return home, his mother has been injured and their already bad economic situation is now even worse off; Maggie asks Wes but is rejected. Maggie follows after him the day after, giving it one last chance, and manages to return to Wickdon with Wes just in time to register. The following two weeks are filled with preparations for the night of the new moon and competitions among all contestants. Wes must create a weapon that will kill the hala, and Maggie must use it. He manages his alchemy tests and ranks well in his category. Margaret shoots his bullet and places high as well, and together they place in the first flight, which is necessary if they want to be the ones to kill the hala. Four days before the hunt, Jamie Harrington, a rich katharist who hates Maggie, breaks into Welty manor and destroys all Wes’ work in Evalyn’s lab. Wes must now redo what took weeks, but starts realizing his enchanted bullet will not be enough. After decoding Evalyn’s notebooks he thinks he has found the way to kill a demiurge, something that hasn’t been done in over two hundred years. However when he shows his progress to Margaret she panics, refusing to let him go through with the last part of the alchemy. Eventually she agrees to using the formula Evalyn had written down. Despite her fear of Wes ending up like her mother; who almost died because of the transformation in her hopes of getting her dead son (Maggie’s brother) back. Two days before the hunt, Margaret and Wes are enjoying a peaceful moment alone, almost confessing their love for each other, when the front door is unlocked and Evalyn Welty is back after four months away. Evalyn is not happy that her daughter has let a boy stay with her and refuses Weston the apprenticeship he is now asking for. He is forced to leave but begs Maggie to come with him; she denies him this, as well as all their dreams of being together. Maggie next decides to leave her mother and go after Wes, and they spend their last night before the hunt together. On the day of the hunt Evalyn goes to speak to her daughter, telling her how Wes is only using her for money. Once again Maggie is questioning her and Weston’s relationship, but the hunt has begun and there is no time for contemplating. They are forced to face a crowd of competitors who all hate their guts simply because of their backgrounds. Together they ride on the back of Maggie’s horse, and following her hound that is tracking the hala, they separate from most of the crowd. Eventually they are only following Maggie’s own hound as well as Jamie Harrington’s, who is right behind. Jamie tries to trip their horse, but just in time Wes jumps, off pulling Jamie with him but leaving Maggie safe. Jamie who despises Wes as well as Maggie brutally attacks Wes, with intentions of ending his life. That’s when the terrifying hala shows up, attacking Jamie, giving Wes a way out. Maggie and Wes are ready, and together they kill the hala with the alchemy no one has used in over two hundred years, making them the victors of the long-lasting katharist tradition. They have won and their futures are in their own hands now: Wes’ family gets the prize money, and Margaret decides she will not give the hala to her mother like she had planned. Instead Maggie and Wes end up on the beach, destroying its body, and finally Maggie sees a future outside of Welty Manor, a future with Wes by her side following his dreams of improving their country.

Margaret’s mental state is something that reoccurs in the book, because her brother David died years ago, her father left long ago and her mother is completely invested in her work of finding the philosopher's stone and bringing back her dead son. It is clear something horrible happened to her mother, which has traumatized Margaret. She has recurring nightmares and flashbacks, and has adapted a way of living where she shuts herself off from the world and simply focuses on survival. Her struggles could be signs of PTSD, and present a realistic view into living with PTSD and how it impacts every aspect of your life. Later in the book we learn what exactly happened to her mother (an accident in which she almost died and Maggie was forced to save her, something she relives constantly afterwards).

Cultural differences. In New Albion the katharist religion’s rules and other cultures and backgrounds are hated and looked down upon. When Maggie and Weston meet neither reveals their differing backgrounds, because of the fear of judgment they have both faced living as minorities. Margaret is half Yu’adir and is an outcast in her hometown because of this, never having had friends or having been treated impartially. Weston is sumic and has grown up poor with his big family, who are banvish immigrants, being denied work and apprenticeships because of where his parents were born. The sacred katharist tradition that is the yearly hunt of the hala, is something that both the sumic and yu’adir faiths see as wrong. In contrast to the katharist, who view demiurges as evil beings that god wants them to kill off, they see demiurges as a part of god himself, sacred beings that must be respected as well as feared because of their strength. Margaret and Weston struggle with the internal fight of following their cultural beliefs versus going against them and being able to make a better future for themselves. At the same time the other competitors in Wickdon, all of katharist faith, want Maggie and Wes out of the hunt, believing that they have no right to win an important tradition that doesn't belong to them. Their struggles are a parallel to the real world, and represent different religions, discrimination, and xenophobia . Although it is not explicitly stated, Margaret could be representative of the Jewish community according to Bookishly Jewish and Saft's own content warning for antisemitism displayed in the novel.

Throughout the book Wes’ and Maggie’s family relationships are put to the test, as they are forced to go through old and new issues with family members. Maggie and her mother have a very strained relationship, which is practically non-existent for the majority of the book, yet still it has a huge impact on Maggie's life choices. Weston struggles with his family’s situation, his four sisters and mothers are struggling financially and he as one of the oldest is meant to help out. When his mother is injured he is forced to return, all though he eventually decides to join the hunt, despite his family's disapproval. The hard choice between yourself and your family is portrayed throughout the book. In the end both Maggie and Weston choose themselves, realizing they will never live happily if they don’t –– even if this is an extremely hard decision, especially for Maggie who leaves her mother and Welty Manor in the hopes of finally having a life of her own.

The love story between Maggie and Wes is very complicated. The respective problems and issues they face constantly get in the way for them. At first they openly dislike each other, Maggie being very distant and Wes trying unsuccessfully to charm her. Slowly they warm up to each other, thanks to having to depend on the other to succeed with their goals. As they both start realizing their feelings mean more than friendship, they are met with problems stemming from families, and fears of commitment. Maggie is scared of being loved, believing if she keeps herself closed-off she won't get hurt again. He is proven wrong when she grows attached to Wes and gets hurt, despite her drastic measures taken to avoid this. . Weston is also scared of commitment, and his very real feelings for Margaret confuse him. He has never had actual feelings for a girl, never truly cared about anyone outside of his family, and this terrifies him. But neither of them can fully deny the spark between them that grows as they are forced to put their own futures in the other's hands.

Genre and style: Fantasy, romance, YA, ages 14-18

Development history: Allison Saft says she wrote A Far Wilder Magic after debuting in 2021, making it her second novel after Down Comes the Night. Saft had expected the process to be more difficult but with a lot of help she managed. Throughout the writing process she saw it as opening up places in herself she hadn’t accessed in a long time, and she describes it as coming home. A Far Wilder Magic explores the most vulnerable parts of her, making it the novel it is. She says she writes for the reader, hoping people find comfort in her words. A Far Wilder Magic and her other books are all YA romance fantasy novels. She often includes themes such as racism, xenophobia, abuse, neglect and trauma in her novels.

Publication history: First published in 2022 by Wednesday Books

Literary significance and reception: New York Times bestseller in 2022, Indie bestseller in 2022, Indie Next Pick in March/April 2022, A Waterstones book bestseller in 2022

External links:

https://www.allisonsaft.com/afwm

https://bookishlyjewish.com/?p=315

https://wednesdaybooks.com/