Seven Recipes for Revolution

The fantasy genre is a form of comfort reading for me. The genre often follows similar tropes, and you can get into the rhythm of the story quickly. However, increasingly often in modern fantasy, authors are creating new and challenging ideas to shake up the genre. Magical systems are an area you can manipulate to create something new and here Ryan Rose’s Seven Recipes for Revolution excels as magic is created from the butchered meat of magical animals. When one butcher gets high on their own supply, revolution begins to brew. 

The Butcher King has been captured, and he sits in his cell recounting the tales of his youth to the court Archivist. He stands accused of regicide, murder, treason, cannibalism and more, but there is always more than one side to any story. What turned young Paprick into the Butcher King? The oppression of his people, his skill with blades, or his ability to produce new magical recipes, an art that has been lost for generations? All these factors and more led to the bloody reign of the Butcher King and in Seven we are witness to history. 

From the off, Seven has a different feel to it and that is because of the magic system designed by Rose. This is a low fantasy novel, you get that picture as soon as you read the bloody capture of The Butcher King. However, this is a book told in the past. It is narrated by the Butcher from his cell, and this makes it untrustworthy testimony. However, the Butcher is a great storyteller and tells the tale in a way that works as a novel. It opens inside the body of a giant creature. 

It is within the innards of this magical creature that Paprick develops his skills as a butcher but also starts to learn about magic and recipes. Inside the meat of these creatures is a substance that, when cooked in various specific ways, imbues the diner with magical powers. Each recipe gifts a different power, from speed to the ability to control minds. In a moment of panic Paprick invents a new recipe that makes him grow 20ft tall. This brings him to the attention of the Rares. As a Common, Paprick is not meant to know magic and they want to know how he has the skill to cook with it. 

The magical system in Seven is excellent and a real highlight of the book. Using food to gift powers allows Rose to extrapolate into a tale of cookery and killing. Paprick is elevated from Common to Rare and enrolled in Culinary School. Here the book does lose some of its edge. Suddenly we are back in the tropes of coming of age as Paprick meets other young adults and starts to develop. At times, even with the brain eating and murder, it started to have a slight Harry Potter vibe. 

Paprick must grow from the boy into the Butcher and this being Book One, it is necessary to cover the early years. I would hope that later books give us more of the man who is trapped in the cell years later, this creature seemed more interesting to me. There is a darkness to The Butcher King that is compelling, a roiling ball of anger and energy. This darkness permeates the book making it definite low fantasy. From the off we discover that the animals that are being butchered are being carved apart whilst alive to keep the meat fresh. The culling can take months to complete. This is a dark notion, but one that is perfect in this world. The Rares treat the Commons with the same level of dispassion and neglect. 

Seven is a book about class and revolution, Le Mis with the ability to grow taller than buildings. The magic is used sparingly, the ingredients scarce, this means that when the action happens it is explosive and vibrant as either the Rares or the Commons are using their precious resources and must get the maximum for them. If you like your low fantasy pitch black and you enjoy exploring fresh magical systems, then Seven is an excellent book to pick up.