Aspects is preceded by a fulsome introduction by Neil Gaiman. John M. Ford was my good friend. John M. Ford died tragically young, his works largely unknown. John M Ford was a genius, who tossed off sonnets like most people toss off Facebook updates. Aspects is his unfinished magnum opus, and in my estimation its pretty good.

Aspects opens with a duel. Varic is a noble, a parliamentarian and a reformer, and for the honor of the cavalry and the stability of the realm, his enemies want him removed from the picture. And then it's on to a busy closing session of Parliament before the equinox holidays, and a romantic encounter with our second viewpoint, Longlight, and a holiday at Strange House, a grand way station for people with special powers.

This book is really closest to cozyfic. Despite opening with a duel and the promise of intrigues, the story ambles though good friends and good meals, and setting details of history, magic, and religion rather than the urgency of Varic's reforms or the conspiracy against him. Cozyfic isn't really my thing, but these people are quite pleasant, and realistically often confused or ambivalent about their lives and relationships, chewing things over as they come to a realization. The setting is very much a Europe 1850 variant, where mostly the names have changed, though it is interesting puzzling out what has diverged. I have a low tolerance for kindly liberal nobles and honest servants who are happy to know their place, but other might not mind so much. What Gaiman is 100% right about is that Ford is one hell of a wordsmith, and this book is an absolutely pleasure on a sentence to sentence level!

The story ends as its barely getting started. I do wonder if Ford could have stuck the landing on plot, or if it would have dragged around for a while and gone nowhere. I do wish I'd started one of Ford's finished novels, but I don't regret the journey.