Review: 'Aspects' by John M. Ford

I went into Aspects fully aware, especially after the introduction, that it was unfinished, and yet the closer I came to the end of the page count, the more I prayed that extra pages would magically appear. I truly feel bereft at only having received a glimpse at this story, and yet I do also feel richer for it. Thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 4/5/2024
Publisher: Tor Books; Macmillan-Tor/Forge

At last, the final work of John M. Ford—one of the greatest SF and fantasy authors of his time.

Enter the halls of Parliament with Varic, Coron of the Corvaric Coast.

Visit Strange House with the Archmage Birch.

Explore the mountains of Lady Longlight alongside the Palion Silvern, Sorcerer.

In the years before his unexpected death, John M. Ford wrote a novel of fantasy and magic unlike any other. Politics and abdicated kings, swords and sorcerous machine guns, divination and ancient empires—finally, Aspects is here.

Starting something which is destined to remain forever unfinished is an interesting challenge. I thought that, knowing this, I would not connect to the material as much, or that it would be obvious that this was a work in progress. What emerges in Aspects is a drastically exciting fantasy world which would have cemented itself as a forever favourite if it had been finished. (Even now it is a favourite!) While an unexpected death is always a tragedy, knowing what Ford could have given the world through his fiction makes it even sadder. Thankfully he wrote many other books before his death and I will dive into those as soon as possible.

Aspects starts with Varic, a Coron, about to begin a duel. It seems he has been challenged rather a bit lately and a cloud hangs over him. As a Coron, he represents his region in Parliament, where he is trying to push through reform. During a session, he encounters Lady Longlight, another Coron who has travelled to Parliament to ask for support against rebels invading her own region. A spark lights between them and he invites her to Strange House, which truly lives up to his name. Strange is an odd fellow, seemingly incredibly old and full of good but mysterious advice. There we also meet a set of other characters, each of whom is fascinating and suggests a whole other set of layers and depth. Varic is called away from Strange House urgently due to an emergency and then... Aspects ends. Each chapter begins with a poem and Ford had already written the rest of the poems for the rest of the chapters. I believe that what we have now is roughly the first third of the novel, which means that the world has been properly established and the plot is now fully underway. I would kill (almost) for the rest of this novel! I will write more about the writing style below, but the world Ford creates in Aspects is utterly sumptuous. There is truly a whole world there, which stretches beyond the confines of the plot, full of history, politics, and legend. The characters are intriguing. Varic is quite reclusive, in his way, highly polished and restrained, and yet brimming with passion and energy and destiny. Longlight is something of a fish out of water, introduced, by Varic, to the world of politics and Strange House and she serves as an excellent guide to the reader, who is equally new. There is a whole magic system which is not fully explained in what exists of the novel but is given enough space that you can't help but want to know more.

This was my first time reading John M. Ford, but it will not be the last time. From literally page 1 of Aspects I could feel the world he was trying to create. The novel starts, as said, with a dueling scene and not only does it serve as a good introduction to Varic, but also to the world. We get an idea of religion in the world, how they count time, what their days are called, how magic functions, how bureaucracy impacts everything, and the balance between the fantastical and the urban. And on top of that it is a good action scene! Ford crafts a post-industrial but pre-modern world in which magic exists, but so do trains, where a Goddess occasionally descends into the mortal realm, but humans sit in Parliament. Fantasy novels sometimes run the risk of including too many details, going on endlessly about how a certain building looks or what someone is wearing, and this can get tiresome. Yet somehow Aspects is full of details and yet I was never bored of it. I will be rereading this novel in the future, I am sure, because there are things I missed, or didn't understand what they meant. Aspects can be difficult reading, due to the details but also Ford's seeming desire to push you into the deep end, but I found it very rewarding as well.

I give this (unfinished!) novel... 

5 Universes!

Aspects, in all its unfinished glory, lifted me out of a reading-slump with its detail and craft. If you enjoy puzzling out details, slowly creating a cohesive picture of a world, and if you think you can handle having to accept the picture will never be complete, then please give Aspects a chance!