The Society of Unknowable Objects - Moé for Solarpunk Books

English language

Published Aug. 7, 2025 by Transworld Publishers Ltd.

(1 review)

The world of unknowable objects – those seemingly ordinary items that most people have no idea possess magical powers – has been quiet for years . . .

But just in case, there exists a secret society whose sole purpose is to gather these artefacts together, and keep them safe from the outside world. And the outside world safe from them.

Called the Society of Unknowable Objects, it meets every six months in the basement of a London bookshop, and it’s at one of these meetings that Frank Simpson, the society’s longest-standing member, reveals that a previously unknown item has surfaced in Hong Kong. And he asks the newest member, author Magda Sparks, to investigate.

Within hours of her arrival in the city, Magda is confronted by a killer who seems to know all about these unknowable objects. She manages to escape, but only by using a magical artefact of …

The world of unknowable objects – those seemingly ordinary items that most people have no idea possess magical powers – has been quiet for years . . .

But just in case, there exists a secret society whose sole purpose is to gather these artefacts together, and keep them safe from the outside world. And the outside world safe from them.

Called the Society of Unknowable Objects, it meets every six months in the basement of a London bookshop, and it’s at one of these meetings that Frank Simpson, the society’s longest-standing member, reveals that a previously unknown item has surfaced in Hong Kong. And he asks the newest member, author Magda Sparks, to investigate.

Within hours of her arrival in the city, Magda is confronted by a killer who seems to know all about these unknowable objects. She manages to escape, but only by using a magical artefact of her own that the society knows nothing about.

Safely back in London, Magda learns that hers is not the only secret that’s been kept from the other members. And that the most pernicious secret of all seems to concern the very nature of the society itself.

The enormity of what Magda discovers takes her on a perilous journey – across the Atlantic to the deep south of the United States – in pursuit of an unknowable object and a seemingly unknowable individual; in pursuit of answers about her legacy and the society she serves.

Magic may be too powerful to be allowed out into the world, but there is something even more potent: the Truth . . .

1 edition

Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown

On a society that protects magical objects, and the race to save the world from magic.

4 stars

A fascinating book involving a Society set up to hide away magical Unknowable Objects to prevent them from being misused. They meet every six months, but it has been years since a magical object has been found: until now. Magda Sparks goes to get it, but she encounters a professional killer who has his own reasons for hunting magical objects. The result is a race between Magda (and her friends) and the killer for the objects.

And then, an unusual person with an affinity for magical objects steps into the story, a twist that reveals that the Society of Unknowable Objects that Magda knows is not what it seems. It also reveals the truth behind the magical objects and the unusual person: and Magda may be the only one who can prevent the world from being destroyed by magic, even if the solution is one that she does not like. …

A fascinating book involving a Society set up to hide away magical Unknowable Objects to prevent them from being misused. They meet every six months, but it has been years since a magical object has been found: until now. Magda Sparks goes to get it, but she encounters a professional killer who has his own reasons for hunting magical objects. The result is a race between Magda (and her friends) and the killer for the objects.

And then, an unusual person with an affinity for magical objects steps into the story, a twist that reveals that the Society of Unknowable Objects that Magda knows is not what it seems. It also reveals the truth behind the magical objects and the unusual person: and Magda may be the only one who can prevent the world from being destroyed by magic, even if the solution is one that she does not like.

There is a link between this book and the author's previous one, "The Book of Doors", but it is hinted at when the source of the magical objects is revealed.