The Society of Unknowable Objects
by Gareth Brown
“All unknowable objects did something: ordinary, everyday items could enable those who possessed them to do unusual and extraordinary things.”
6.8
The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown follows Magda Sparks, an author who becomes the newest member of a secret society tasked with protecting powerful magical artefacts known as the Unknowable Objects. When a previously unknown object is discovered in Hong Kong, Magda is sent on its retrieval, throwing her straight into a world she barely understands. As she is drawn deeper into the Society’s work, Magda begins to uncover long-buried truths about her family, the nature of magic, and the dangerous cost of using it. Set in a world where magic is treated with suspicion rather than wonder, the novel blends mystery and fantasy while questioning whether magic is something to be feared, controlled, or avoided altogether.
Judging the Book by Its Cover
The copy of The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown discussed in this review is the Bantam 2025 hardback edition. This copy is signed by the author.
(The cover plays no part in our final rating, but it’s always fun to discuss!)
We really enjoyed the colour palette used on this cover. The dark golds and browns set against the deep background help to create a strong sense of mystery, which feels very fitting for a story centred around a secret society.
We did have a few small gripes with some of the imagery. The bag, for example, bears little resemblance to the one described in the book, and while we understand that not every object can be fully explained, only two of the items depicted on the cover are actually mentioned in the story itself.
That said, this is still a very striking cover, and it undeniably did its job — it was the reason we picked the book up in the first place.
Closing the Book
The Society of Unknowable Objects is a fantasy novel that takes an unusually sceptical view of magic, and it ended up splitting our club right down the middle.
Each of us differed in our character opinions but we all agreed that Magda was not a very strong main character. We all found that she ran from more situations than she actively took part in and didn’t have enough character development to make her compelling as the lynchpin for the whole book. Though Magda had her moments - Jess F particularly enjoyed the relationship between her and her mother, Imelda - more often than not, she came across as a bland main character, with the supporting cast proving far more interesting than the person meant to anchor the story.
On that note, the characters around Magda really had the club divided on who we liked and who was a waste of pages. We discussed our differing opinions on each character in more depth on our podcast and we enjoyed how varying our opinions were, each of us finding connection to different characters. Rob, for example, particularly liked the character of Frank whilst Jess B thought he was the real bad guy in the end.
The one thing we all truly agreed on was Gareth Brown has a brilliant writing style. His easy-to-read style flowed wonderfully making it easy to imagine the world in which these characters live. We especially enjoyed the way Brown wrote from different character perspectives and how easy it was to tell through their narration who was describing the scene. At times, his writing style was occasionally the only thing that kept some of us reading.
Whilst there was an occasional lull in interest from those of us who like a little more from our fantasy worlds we did all find ourselves wanting to continue, if only to answer the questions each new plot point raised. Carmen, on the other hand, found it a very enjoyable first foray into the world of fantasy novels and felt like it kept her attention throughout.
Overall, The Society of Unknowable Objects has a solid plot that never quite did what we wanted it to do. Imelda’s resurrection and subsequent death left all of us feeling deflated. For some of us who love fantasy, it almost felt as though the story punished any use of magic, never allowing it to result in anything positive, with the overall message leaning firmly towards “magic is a bad thing”.
In the end The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown was a bit of a mixed bag but an overall positive read. Whilst some of us would have pushed our ratings higher with a few plot changes and deeper character development, we do think this story would make an interesting series - especially if given more room to explore its characters and ideas.
Rob 6.6 - Jess 6.0 - Carmen 8.6 - Jess F 6.2
💡 Do you buy books beacuse the cover looks nice? Check out Jess B's The Power of a Book Cover as she looks into the way book covers shape our opinions.
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