Jennifer Mandula's engaging debut novel, The Geomagician, brings together fossil hunting, Victorian labor politics, and a baby pterodactyl--with a dash of romance and a generous helping of magic.
Mary Anning, poor but brilliant, has earned a reputation as a respected fossil hunter. But Mary yearns to be a geomagician: to join the all-male ranks of the Geomagical Society of London, whose members can use fossils to practice magic. When Mary unearths a pterodactyl egg that hatches in her hands, she hopes the infant creature (whom she names Ajax) could be her ticket into the Society. But when Mary tells the Society about Ajax, they demand she hand him over--via their representative Henry Stanton, her former fiancé.
Despite Mary's intellect, her social isolation renders her naive, especially given her complicated feelings for Henry. In London, Mary tries to protect Ajax while fighting for entry into the Society. Meanwhile, her best friend, Lucy, joins a shadowy group known as the Prometheans, who agitate for fairer labor practices for working-class Britons. But their methods give Mary pause, and the friends clash over a central question: Is it better to gradually reform the system of buying and selling magic, which exploits poor people, or destroy it altogether? As the various simmering questions come to a boil, Mary discovers some damning secrets about the Society, and she is forced to decide what--and whom--she is willing to give up in order to belong.
Packed with historical details and layered with emotion (not to mention amusing pterodactyl encounters), The Geomagician is an entertaining fantasy with big questions at its heart. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams