Review: The Floating Lake of Dressa Moore by George Allen Miller

A visionary and whip-smart fantasy, The Floating Lake of Dressa Moore by George Allen Miller is a whimsical adventure with a brilliantly off-kilter cast.

Lakes, towns, and entire chunks of continents are hanging inexplicably in the sky after an epic clash between the last dragon and the last wizard ripped reality asunder with a magical tsunami. The final moments of those two mystic titans remain immortalized in time, frozen by an explosion of magic. Fascinated and determined to unravel this enigmatic puzzle, two eccentric scholars, Jonathan Braxton and William Watts Worthwaddle, embark on a bold expedition to Dressa, the heart of the mystery that reshaped the world.

After allying themselves with a flesh-eating crew of undead pirates, the pair discover that their curious quest is drawing significant attention, from scheming power brokers with military backing to obsessive cults dead-set on releasing magic back to the people. Valiantly putting their devotion to science ahead of all things, they navigate bizarre waters to find their elusive answers, and potentially save the world.

The two curious professors at the center of this tale are crafted to perfection, particularly their penchant for clumsy faux pas and decidedly oddball personalities; they capture the essence of book-wise academics let loose in the wild. The nuance of conversation, the unpredictability of every interaction, and the delicate slashes of sarcasm are all signatures of a skilled wordsmith, one who invests and revels in every detail of their world-crafting.

The treatment and perception of magic is an especially fascinating wrinkle in the story – many people seem to fear its presence, and the shocking marks it left on the world a century ago, but there is also the sense of forbidden curiosity about its return that underpins the plot. Mirroring a question that should be asked more often in the real world of technological advancement, the novel discusses the ethical underpinnings of magic itself, whether it should be researched and explored, or if the potential dangers of annihilation are too great.

The book is full of such allegorical nudges, infusing subtle commentary on the rise of artificial intelligence and other technologies with paradigm-shifting potential, echoing the impact of the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago. Similarly, the relationship between the Empire and the Democracy unfolds like an outright satire of contemporary geopolitics, with the pros and cons of liberalism being debated cleverly on the page.

On an editorial level, the writing has an occasional tendency to tell, rather than show, often oversharing the emotions of characters or the tenor of a given scene, rather than allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. The long-arc plot also starts rather slow, even if individual scenes and chapters are packed with action and witty dialogic exchanges. That aside, the sheer creativity of this ambitious novel is worth the price of admission for both devoted and casual fans of fantasy, which could potentially reach across the aisle to readers of other genres, akin to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

Immersive and unbelievably inventive, this is the kind of dark-horse novel that is enchanting, thought-provoking, and thrilling in equal measure, which deserves a wide audience.