The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps

Relatively short read in the form of Kai Ashante Wilson's The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, one of the first releases in Tor's new novella program.

The story is essentially a road journey. Demane, the titular sorcerer, is a guard to a merchant caravan. Hailing from a distant province and of a different ancestry — he is descended from a group of god-like post-humans, the most advanced of whom have long since departed — his abilities seem like magic to his brothers in the guard troupe. The Captain, the leader of the guards, also has divine heritage, but his stems from a very different line to Demane's and manifests itself in astonishing physical prowess. The Captain and the Sorcerer have a complex relationship that only gradually unfolds as story progresses, intercutting events from the past with the caravan's journey

Stylistically complex, with jumps from the present to the past and to Demane's time studying under Aunty, his teacher in the forms of his mystical heritage. From the first time Demane lapses into the mystical language of science with its references to entropy, to viruses, and to faster than light travel, it becomes clear that much — but not necessarily all! — of what the locals see as magic is actually some version of science. Demane's language, which switches from the scientific to the vernacular and includes his degrading inability to speak the merchants' tongue of Merqerim with anything like fluency, contrasts with the easy patter of those around him which mixes African-American English with bits and pieces of other languages — T-Jawn's half-French sentences — to suggest the diversity of the world.

The universe is beautifully imagined with a deep history that bleeds through in the small asides and details of the everyday. The characters are well drawn and interesting and the ending is ambiguous enough that it's hard to tell whether it's upbeat or bittersweet, making the whole thing an enjoyable and adventurous read.