Lud in The Mist, Hope Mirrlees

Lud in The Mist is a dense and rich book, which has left me thoroughly satisfied. Mirrlees blends together fantasy and political science so well blended that is refreshing and modern.  Unlike the fantasy books of the 1920s, that is mostly retellings of old fairytales. Mirrlees however is like the modern fantasy writer of today, although at some points her writing is definitely from the 1920s in its descriptive telling and strict grammar. This did cause me to read slower. But did not stop me from my enjoyment.

Now her blend of political science and fantasy was quite surprising, I thought it wouldn’t balance well, but it did perfectly. Her humor with how law is malleable with in class and interpretation left for the whole fairy fruit fiasco to be quite hilarious. And I think with the combination of the fantastical element, it allows the reader to be fully impressed in this actual societal problem.  Which truly still leaves me taken aback at the relevancy of this book to today. For example, the Miranda Rights, which we hold so dear, are in the end flawed by division of wealth. Due to public defenders being over whelmed and little government support for them, if you are poor it is better to plead guilty, even when innocent. This is due to the expenses of the court. Mirless reflects this in that even though the aristocracy has been thrown, the government officials and wealthy still have power like that of the aristocracy. That when the fairy fruit gets around, they hide the taboo under their wealth, while if you are poor you are blamed. This is highly modern and holds a candle to today’s law and shows that law really doesn’t change much unless the power is distributed among the classes.