the prince of milk

blogs/2022/10/18/the-prince-of-milk.md

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+# The Prince of Milk
+
+The Prince of Milk is a science fiction novel by Exurb1a of YouTube fame.
+
+It follows the story of a fictional village in southern England named Wilthail, which ends up the unwilling venue for the settling of an ancient grudge.
+Deities known as Etherics exist alongside the mundanity of 21st century Wilthail, and engage in absurdity, sodomy and violence with its quaint populace.
+The books makes reference to a number of popular philosophical debates, and takes inspiration from a number of classical sci-fi authors.
+
+A common theme is the idea that power is relative.
+Though the deities are immortal - their grudge has played out across hundreds of 'Corporic' incarnations - having power far beyond the comrehension of their human counterparts.
+However, they do not necessarily view themselves as gods.
+This is particularly true of the character Beomus, who frequently plays down their immortality and returns fire with questions about modern humans' relationship to their primitive ancestors, or ants.
+This relativity of power recurs plenty, and is reminiscient of Arthur C. Clarke's statement of any sufficiently advanced technology being indistiguishable from magic.
+As characters in a book, the Etherics are understandably cagey about how any of their abilities work - but broadly refuse to allow them to be classified as magic or technology.
+
+Reincarnation is viewed as a fundamental way of the world - Chalmers' panpsychism, or the Hard Problem of Philosophy.
+This goes further than to suggest that people are simply reincarnated as others when they die, rather suggesting that consciousness is a fundamental force of the universe, in just the way electromagnetism is.
+It's a recursive thing, from the lowliest atom up through rocks, mice, snakes, cats, people, stars and gods.
+It's a neat and satisfying view, and one that has yet to be disproven by neuroscience.
+
+The human characters are invariably damaged - mental health issues, broken relationships, toxic parentage, drug use, suicide, difficult histories.
+This paints PoM's world as realistic, and grounds it through the fantastical happenings in the middle act.
+It grips the reader with its variety of characters, and follows them all as the confront not only their own personal hells, but the one they now find themselves sharing, in a twisted take on country bumpkinism.
+
+Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to reading more of Exurb1a's writing.
+I am a little biased, as I have already enjoyed the YouTube channel for a number of years.
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+There is a short glossary at the end naming and exploring some of the particular concepts explored in the novel, which prompt the reader to explore further.
+Top marks!
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