The Magic Circle

"The pace of the final chapters are relentless. It's impossible to put down." - R. J. Logar. Forty years ago, nuclear war devastated vast swathes of the world. Since then, the remaining countries strived to rebuild and grow stronger. Continents formed The Peace Accords, an agreement that cut all contact with each other to prevent such a war from ever happening again. Three strangers—an art student in Paris, a Russian spy, and a South African programmer—find their lives intertwine as magic returns to Earth. Guided by the mysterious Celestials, they must choose how they use this force in a fight that will determine the fate of every single living thing on the planet. What's in the book? Set in a dystopian future where half the world is uninhabitable, different continents develop technology along different paths. Russia depends heavily on its old military technology, though they are the only superpower left that can launch satellites. The Federation of Africa were left untouched in the devastation and use highly-developed electronic devices such as chips in their scalp that lets them communicate with machines through thought, laser rifles and drones, and haptic shields. The remains of Europe have removed all traces of fossil fuels and computer technology, preferring a mixture of basic electronic devices and biological engineering. Characters come in all varieties, too, with straight, disabled, gay, bi, pan, poly, questioning, and intersex representation and romance. Why? Because they very much represent real people in real life, and need to be shown in books. If you are in any way uncomfortable with that, then perhaps this book isn't for you. If that isn't enough, there is a complex plot which is revealed in a simple way, along with tense military action and adventure, some humour, some sadness, and the kind of ending that makes you unable to put it down. It's a great scifi action adventure technothriller with LGBT romance and representation.