““The Court Magician” by Sarah Pinsker (3160 words) No spoilers: The story follows a young boy who is brought into a system because he wants to learn magic. The piece is at turns brutal and tender, showing him age into a role he doesn’t fully understand, and what it costs him. Keywords: illusion, magic, sacrifice, loss Review: It’s rather chilling how the story follows the main character, a boy who isn’t cruel but who has a burning desire to know how things work. And, driven by this desire to know how, finds himself pulled into a game that he doesn’t know the rules of, where he agrees because he hopes to learn them well enough to win and doesn’t see until it’s far too late that the rules are something of a cheat, and the how might not be as important as the why. And that’s a lot of what I love about the story, that it shows what even a not-cruel person will do and be apart of when they let the how become the only thing they think about. That curiosity that pushes him forward is a vital tool for progress, and yet it’s also a tool for a lot of tragedy, pain, and loss. It’s almost shocking how much I as a reader wanted to root for this character, to see him as a victim, because in many ways he is the victim, and the story does an amazing job of gaze. It keeps the entire focus on this character, and doesn’t look elsewhere. We get to see what he loses every time he uses his power, and in seeing that he becomes a tragic figure. Only we’re not really seeing the true tragedy, which has much more to do with what he’s using his power for. The problems that he solves and has to pay for are huge, and though he’s curious about what his power is doing, he doesn’t examine it. He could be killing hundreds, thousands, or millions of people, and he doesn’t care, doesn’t stop. Because he wants to understand what’s happening. And it’s like watching a train wreck. He can’t pull himself away and I as a reader can’t look away, until all that is left are the unanswered questions, which really weren’t all that important. It’s not “how does it work?” that haunts me, at least. It’s “what has he done?” And I feel the story does a great job of being about mysteries and the different ways people can approach them, and how dangerous it is to pursue only some answers while ignoring other pressing questions. But yeah, it’s an excellent story!  ” - Charles Payseur

— Quick Sip Reviews - Lightspeed #92