Deus lo vult – Carlo Zen

A senior corporate bureaucrat is killed - and resurrected as a new-born girl in a world similar to our world in 1914. Most of the book takes place about a decade later, when this world’s version of WWI starts, and the child (despite her age) is serving in the army as an aerial mage. She becomes a brilliant and effective war hero - but never stops also being the bureaucrat.

Some context. This is a light novel: You can think of light novels as being novelizations of manga. (This isn’t always true, but the characterization gives a feel for flavor and target demographic.) “The Saga of Tanya the Evil” is available both as a light novel and as a manga. (The manga is shorter, covers a bit less of the plot, and is lighter on content.) This is a review of the light novel. It is apparently the first in a series, as several more volumes are scheduled to come out (in English) this year.

The world of TSoTtE is similar to ours. Some of the differences are almost cosmetic - e.g. the Empire is somewhat larger than our Germany, and the Entente Alliance is approximately Sweden and Denmark. A less-cosmetic difference is the technology that allows people capable of magic use to serve as the equivalent of an air force. (There are never enough people with the requisite talent, which is why a ten-year-old finds herself on, or flying over, a battlefield.) Their war is also similar to ours, with political posturing leading to a major war that has been waiting to happen.

The protagonist is complex. The relentlessly-talented girl is a gifted aerial mage and a leader. The reincarnated salaryman understands organizations, and uses his understanding to manipulate the army and land safe postings. (That the manipulations inevitably backfire is the author’s running joke.) The salaryman also understands what a waste the war is - and how hard it is to extinguish.

I enjoyed this book. It’s a concoction made with disparate and unexpected ingredients - a scholarly corporate drone inside a ten-year-old officer, a mad scientist, a petulant god, military magic - and it works.

Postscript: The review URL is linked to a Japanese edition.