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I'm in the middle of reading the book now and wanted to know what everybody thought about the technology in Voulhire. I know this book explores the relationship between magic and science, but it seems to me that some of the technology lacks continuity. For example, it appears that steam engines have been in use for some time, but I don't see any evidence of early car prototypes, or even of steamboats. And the people in Voulhire use gas lamps and torches, which suggests there are no lightbulbs yet, but in our world, lightbulbs were invented shortly after heated plumbing, which Voulhire does have.

So, do you think that the advancement of science and technology is as developed in this book as the magic appears to be?

And if so, what age in our own history have you compared it to in your own reading? It will help me to visualize the setting much better!

This is a great question, and something that has been brought up as one of the main criticisms of the book. I am thinking of going back and adding/highlighting details.

Of course, there is a difference between "clarity" and "continuity." As far as that latter is concerned, it is important to understand that the development of technology is influenced almost entirely by the state of a society. For example: did you know that the steam power was first invented not in the 19th century, but in classical Rome? However, since the Romans had slaves, there was never a necessity to develop the technology for societal convenience, and the invention was turned into toys for children. As for Voulhire, well, they have magic; this can throw a society's technological advancement into a wildly different direction as compared to the one we know.

As far as clarity, again, I am considering highlighting more details but would love to hear the community's thoughts. Is the reading experience merely a matter of getting used to Voulhire's unique position in technological advancement, or something that could use a little more emphasis in certain places?

I think that it's a blend of old and new, because we don't see a general development of technology in all the cities. Some of them are setting the trends, but some small communities will not change very soon. Tysz presented these discrepancies like a normal thing: some cities focus in industry development, some of the them are just exporting raw materials, and some of them consider themselves very fancy and cultured. But they all need each other in order to properly function.
I think they will focus on magic rather than science, because of the attack from their enemies.

I believe it is important to keep in mind that this is a different world than ours. Their technology is not going go progress in the same manner. Technologies are developed out of the needs of a society. There is also the question of materials available. You also have to consider if the creators of technology have freedom to just make advancemants, or are they held back by a government or ruler. To compare this imaginative world of Voulhire to our world is like comparing apples to oranges.

You have a good point there. As stated already above, I think we cannot compare Voulhire to our normal world. Their technological evolution follows a different path, probably mainly because they have magic to refer to.

I think that is an interesting question. The setting of the book was actually one of my least favorite parts of the books. By the end I was still confused to be honest. At first when I started reading, I imagined it like a Medieval setting, but then there were some cities which seemed to have more advanced technology. I similarly found it difficult to picture their clothes etc. I think the setting in general needed to be fleshed out more.

I think the plot stages the conjunction of science and magic. However, for technology, I would say it depicts the late 19th to early 20th century timeline.

I think the magical world and the dark turns Galen witnessed on his journey are more gripping than the technological plot. While reviewing, I had to read carefully. Of course, comparing to ground technologies we live with, the technological evolutions composed by Matthew Tysz are beyond our imaginations.

I don't have much clarity on the difference in ages in history. However, I think that the use of too much magic slowed Voulhire's technological advancementt. Fom the onset, I felt that the technological development proposed by Eldus would fail. This was because magic was interwoven into their leadership system so much that it would slow down scientific development.The powerful characters in the society were those with magical powers. They didn't hesitate to destroy anything and anyone in their way without thinking.

I agree with you, I don't think that technology is paid attention there. There's an over usage of Magic to deal and explain most of things.

I don't see this book as having a particular era or time period to reflect in while you are reading this novel. I do agree that many societies in the past have had modern technological advancements, but have not used them fully due to the society not viewing these technologies as important. For instance, just like the steam engine was developed in France; the wheel was being used in what is now Mexico thousands of years ago not as vehicle to transport things, but as a child's toy. I can only think of the setting being the 19th century mixed with the Middle Ages.

Tysz uses scientific inventions of modern world throughout this series. But I don't think he has followed a tight timeline. He has introduced speaker system as new invention when the plot was perfect. But he hasn't followed a specific timetable thinking steam should come before electricity and so on. I don't mind that because this is fiction.

I felt like there was more magic than science in the storytelling... I imagined it as roughly medieval with different cities at different stages of development.

The later books depict different cities as having different levels of technology. The second book is probably the most extreme example of this, as it depicts Virko as the main industrial center of Voulhire. Virko has smokestacks and other items that I'd associate with the Industrial Revolution.

By contrast, the first book visits several different towns. Magnum Caelum, Alcovia, and Hillport all seem to be small and relatively poor. Alcovia is a mining town, Magnum Caelum has a stone quarry, and Hillport provides fish. None of those would call for particularly advanced technology. We also get glimpses of Yamon Soul, the local equivalent of the Vatican or Jerusalem, and Soulhire, which is the capital.

The first book takes Galen (and the reader) on a tour of various places in Voulhire, while the later books tend to use a given city as the main setting.

I feel Tysz wanted to paint a picture showing the difference between development and underdevelopment. Even though I struggle to understand the difference in time.