History Literature / Middlegame

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Dodger is GoodWithNumbers. Numbers are her passion, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Her window to the world.

Roger, her twin, is skilled with words and languages. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of the story. He thrives in the world.

Roger and Dodger aren’t quite human, though they're unaware of it. They have the chance to be gods, if they can stomach the consequences.

Reed is skilled in the alchemical arts just like his maker made him. He’s had a hand in Roger and his sister the same way and got a plan for them to achieve their entelechy divine, one that will let him come along for the ride.

Through him, the pair have their road to godhood. They shouldn't take it.

* {{Immortality}}: Asphodel Baker created and proliferated the elixir of life, the holy grail of alchemy but that was just an opening act for her. There are quite a few in the Alchemical Congress that are alive because of her but that pack of misogynists sill tried to stop her.

* Literature/JurassicPark' Ian Malcom is a role model for Dodger and the only man real or fictional that catches her interest.

Meet Dodger. Numbers are her passion, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Her window to the world.

Meet Roger, her twin. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of the story. He thrives in the world.

Roger and Dodger aren’t quite human, though they don't quite it. They have the chance to be gods, if they can stomach the consequences.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts just like his maker made him. He’s had a hand in Roger and his sister the same way and got a plan for them to achieve their entelechy divine, one that will let him come along for the ride.

First in the ''Alchemical Journeys'' series by Creator/SeananMcGuire. The non-narrative sequel ''Literature/SeasonalFears'' was published in 2022.

First in a new series by Creator/SeananMcGuire. Literature/SeasonalFears, non-narrative sequel, was published in 2022.

* DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: Dodger has terrible spatial reasoning, but being GoodWithNumbers means she can measure out the distances and adapt from there. It lets her bike around campus easily and sinks shots to her office bin [[ImprobableAimingSkills without looking]].

* FamousFamousFictionalL: Pythagoras, Paracelsus and Baker. The last refined alchemy through science, able to create the philosphers stone, the panacea and alkahest.

* {{Golem}}: Not used by any of the premier alchemists but one of Leigh's assistants definetly uses one. Literally MadeOfIron Leigh considers it acceptable.

* HumanResources: A major part of only non-alchemy magic seen. Quite a few people end up on the butcher's block, [[spoiler: not only methe twins friend Smita, but also Dodgers parents and numerous innocents who just happen to be in Leigh's way. Quite a few get turned into a]] HandOfGlory
* HollywoodAcid: The {{alchem|yIsMagic}}ical "universal solvent" [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkahest alkahest]] quickly dissolves effectively anything it touches, other than a specially prepared receptacle, including even ''abstract concepts''. [[spoiler:It melts a {{Super Tough|ness}} {{Golem}} in seconds.]]
** It's also an important medical tool for creating frankenstiens like Leigh and Reed.

* OurHomunculiAreDifferent: An important part of the plot. [[spoiler: Leigh and Reed probably count we even see the latter [[BornAsAnAdult manifest fully grown]] their successive creations however are closer to {{Artificial Human}}s as even if their DNA is slightly different they still were born and had childhoods]].

* PerceptionFilter: An interesting variation where the Hand of Glory makes an alternate reality that keeps people outside of the effect from noticing. Further fires lighted by the candles of a hand go unnoticed too.

* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: By design, Baker made James Reed to accomplish her goals. In part to make sure she didn't have to bloody her own hands. He is far more ruthless than she was.

* RealityWarper: What the embodied Ethos is supposed to be able to do, an early misfire causes a devastating Earthquake.

* ShiningCity: The Impossible City is this in the book, though it gets like description beyond things like diamond towers, every character is involved in some way. The cuckoo twins can visit it while Reed and Leah want to reach it for themselves. The narration describes it as only the latest unreachable peak; others include things like Olympus or Albion.

* VillainBall: Reed and Leigh grab it from the start and don't let go. Given they're used to treating sapient creatures as raw materials this isn't that surprising.

* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: For alchemy reasons, the incarnations' names have to rhyme. Sometimes you get Kim and Tim. Sometimes you get Roger and Dodger. Actually enforced in Dodger's case; there's a clause in her adoption paperwork that prevented her parents from changing her name.
** It's later pointed out that these were unenforceable but by the time they could have gotten around to it, everyone had gotten used to it.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Creator/LFrankBaum was an alchemist and rival to Asphodel Baker who wrote his Oz books to drown out her Up-and-Under series. Other personages mentioned - by surname - are Creator/MarkTwain, Creator/HPLovecraft and Creator/EdgarAllanPoe.

%%DoubleMeaningTitle: Middlegame is a chess reference perhaps the title means what you need to do to get the results from the beginning point and the endpoint?

* MistakenForRomance: Since most people don't know that Roger and Dodger are actually siblings (or that Dodger is completely uninterested in dating to begin with), the first assumption is often that such a strong connection between a boy and a girl must be romantic. Having to debunk this skeeves both of them out to no end.

* OrderVersusChaos: Defied and played straight, Erin and Darren both embody opposing forces but they have a deep love for each other. But because they embody opposing forces they're able to exist without the other, which is why Reed is willing to risk Darren's life when it's useful to him.

%% PrescienceByAnalysis: Part of Dodger being good with numbers, she is able to weld game theory onto behavioural analysis to predict the villains actions. abut are the examples in the story good enough to count?

* RenaissanceWoman: Asphodel Baker, Author Alchemist Scientist the woman could do it all. She reached the pinnacle of Alchemy early in her career and she just kept going.

** It's later pointed out that these were unenforceable but by the time they could have gotten around to it everyone had gotten used to it.

First in a new series by Creator/SeananMcGuire. A non-narrative sequel is scheduled to be published in 2022.

* AlchemyIsMagic: A foundational trope to the setting. Such things as {{Golem}}s, {{Philosophers Stone}}s and [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent homunculi]] show up but that's just the tip of the iceberg for the setting. As with much alchemy depicted in fiction it is about the purification of substances both material and immaterial. Disturbingly some of the best work requires HumanResources, especially for the BigBad's plans. Interestingly it isn't the only magical system around.

* DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: Dodger has terrible spatial reasoning, but being GoodWithNumbers means she can measure out the distances and adapt from there. It lets her bike around campus easily and sink shots to her office bin [[ImprobableAimingSkills without looking]].

%%DoubleMeaningTitle: don't get the reference to middlegame, need to look it up
* EquivalentExchange: Haruspicy only provides genuine prophetic results if the entrails come from something the augur truly cares about. [[BigBad Reed]] wants to be ''very'' certain about his information, so he sacrifices one of his own ArtificialHuman "children". Interestingly it's a magic not tied to Alchemy.

* ParadoxPerson: Dodger turns herself into this to spend nearly a decade away from Roger in safety. She calls a version of herself in the future which substantiates her in that future safe healthy and free of Reed's influence, it also kept Leigh from being able to find her.

%% PrescienceByAnalysis: Part of Dodger being good with numbers, but are the examples in the story good enough to count?

%% HumanResources: a major part of the magic seen even 8f it's not directly linked to alchemy. Quite a few characters end up on the butcher's block. [[spoiler: including Dodgers parents and the twins college friend Seti.]]

* OrderVersusChaos: Defied and played straight, Erin and Darren both embody opposing forces but they have a deep love for each other. But because they embody imposing forces they're able to exist without the other, which is why Reed is willing to risk Darren's life when it's useful to him.

* BigBad: Reed is this for the novel and a traditional one at that, all the organizations that seem like they're set up to be a BiggerBad just fold and combust when they stand in his way.

* OrderVersusChaos: Defied and played straight, Erin and Darren both embody opposing forces but they have a deep love for each other. But because they embody imposing forces they're able to exist without the other, which is why Reed orders Darren killed.

* ColorblindConfusion: Roger has this, as he's able to see through Dodger's eyes he always thought that things were just more colorful in New England. When they start to reach their apotheosis the problem goes away.

* CunningLinguist: As an embodiment of the Word, Roger picks up languages easily and is the group's main strategist too.

* HumansAreWhite: {{Exploited|Trope}} by James Reed, who makes his artificial "children" white to match most of his investors.

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Both Leigh Barrow and James Reed identify themselves as doctors. They may well have such doctorates in truth if not in fact given the amount of expertise alchemy historically needed.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Important part of the climax, [[spoiler:Roger realizes to his horror that although he and Dodger can change the timeline, there are some awful things they ‘‘must’’ leave intact in order to have any chance of preventing the BigBad from remaking the world in his image. This includes tragedies from the death of Darren, their strongest ally Erin's brother (if the bad guys hadn’t callously used him as cannon fodder, she would’ve never had her HeelFaceTurn; she knows he has to stay dead for the greater good and is incredibly bitter about it), to an earthquake that kills thousands.]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Sati takes every possible option to save her own life but when given a choice between her own and innocent bystanders she decides to go without fuss.

* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Important part of the climax, [[spoiler: Roger realizes to his horror that although he and Dodger can change the timeline, there are some awful things they ‘‘must’’ leave intact in order to have any chance of preventing the BigBad from remaking the world in his image. This includes tragedies from the death of Darren
their strongest ally Erin's brother (if the bad guys hadn’t callously used him as cannon fodder, she would’ve never had her HeelFaceTurn; she knows he has to stay dead for the greater good and is incredibly bitter about it) to an earthquake that kills thousands.]]

* SacrificialLion: Sati is a real friend to the twins and an excellent scientist which gets her targeted for death. Her drive and links to the wider academic community would have led to Reed's century-long plan being discovered once the anomalies in Dodger and Roger's Autosomal DNA were investigated.

* NeurodiversityIsSupernatural: Quite a few of the container children fit this trope. One for example can speak in chemical code that equates to game-changing pharmaceuticals. In fact, the previous version of the Doctrine of Ethos was essentially a low functioning autistic. Dodger has a host of issues interacting with others and severe trouble sleeping. Roger is able to mask much more effectively but even he has issues like his hearing difficulties. Thus they are equivalent to high-functioning autistics.

* RhymingNames: All of the project children have this to some extent it is apparently part of what makes the magic work.
* RippleEffectProofMemory: Erin as the embodiment of Order can detect all changes made by Dodger's uncountable presses of the ResetButton. It's not perfect but she is able to remember important information.

Meet Dodger. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Her window to the world.

* AlchemyIsMagic: A foundational trope to the setting. Such things as {{Golem}}s, {{Philosophers Stone}}s and homunculi show up but that's just the tip of the iceberg for the setting. As with much alchemy depicted in fiction it is about the purification of substances both material and immaterial. Disturbingly some of the best work requires HumanResources, especially for the BigBad's plans. Interestingly it isn't the only magical system around.

* HandOfGlory: Hands of Glory are a recurring motif, used both by the villains and one AntiHero to veil their actions. They need to be made from the victims of deliberate, premeditated murder -- the gorier the better -- and generate a PerceptionFilter around the wielder and the people they're engaged with that negates even powerful {{Tracking Spell}}s.

* ParadoxPerson: Dodger turns herself into this to spend half a decade away from Roger in safety. She calls a version of herself in the future which substantiates her in that future safe healthy and free of Reed's influence, it also kept Leigh from being able to find her.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of the story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don't realize it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

* AlchemyIsMagic: A foundational trope to the setting. Such things as Golems, philosopher's stones and homunculi show up but that's just the tip of the iceberg for the setting. As with much alchemy depicted in fiction it is about the purification of substances both material and immaterial. Disturbingly some of the best work requires HumanResources, especially for the BigBad's plans. Interestingly it isn't the only magical system around.

* EquivalentExchange: Haruspicy only provides genuine prophetic results if the entrails come from something the augur truly cares about. [[BigBad Reed]] wants to be ''very'' certain about his information, so he sacrifices one of his own ArtificialHuman "children".

%% NeurodiversityIsSupernatural: NEEDS A BETTER WRITEUP previous version of the ethos was essentially low functioning autistics. Dodger has a host of issues interacting with others and severe trouble sleeping. As does Roger with his sight and hearing difficulties but he is able to mask much more effectively, Thus they are high-functioning autistics.

* AlchemyIsMagic: A fundational trope to the setting. Such things as Golems, philophers stones and homunculi show up but that's just the tip of the iceberg for the setting. As with much alchemy depicted in fiction it is about the purification of substances both material and immaterial. Disturbingly some of the best work requires HumanResources, especially for the BigBads plans. Interestingly it isn't the only magical system around.

--->''"When he gives an order I don't want to follow, it's like spiders in my brain, and ''I can't say no.'' No matter how much I want to not do it, I have to, because he told me to, and it's like spiders running their spider legs all over the inside of my brain. ''[...]'' You made him use me like a puppet."''
* ColorblindConfusion: Rodger has this, as he's able to see through Dodger's eyes he always thought that things were just more colorful in New England. When they start to reach their apotheosis the problem goes away.
* CunningLinguist: Rodger as an embodiment of the Word picks up languages easily and he's the groups main strategist too.
* CustomBuiltHost: The container children combine this with AnthropomorphicPersonification, they are embodiments of primordial forces of the universe but they are not the forces themselves only the most perfect containers for them, with the added caveat that they can ''express'' their power instead of just staring at a wall for their whole lives. This is in fact what the original embodiment of the Ethos did and Dodger and Rodger were just one set of three pairs that had the chance to embody the Ethos, [[spoiler: their erstwhile successors are dangerous precisely because they have the chance to be even better containers and leach the Ethos from them]].
* DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: Dodger has terrible spatial reasoning however her being GoodWithNumbers means she can measure out the distances and adapt from there. It lets her bike around campus easily and sinks shots to her office bin [[ImprobableAimingSkills without looking]].

* EquivalentExchange: Haruspicy only provides genuine prophetic results if the entrails come from something the augur truly cares about. [[BigBad Reed]] wants to be ''very'' certain about his information, so he sacrifices one of his own ArtificialHuman "children". It isn't alchemy
* FictionalDocument: Over the Woodward Wall was written in-universe as a means for Asphodel Baker (as A. Deborah Baker) to distribute her ideas to the general public. To change the [[MentalWorld collective unconsciousness]], Macquire later [[{{Defictionalization}} published that book]] in 2020, a year after ''Middlegame'' under that exact title.

* GlorifiedSpermDonor: Reed contributed his [[ArtificialHuman constructed genetics]] to the Dodger and Roger's conception, he reveals this to try and get an emotional hold over Dodger in the finale but she plays this trope straight and rejects him.

--->''"[[LampshadeHanging It keeps people from looking at us too hard]]. No one with anything to lose would be sitting in Denny's after midnight, eating pancakes."''

* HumansAreWhite: {{Exploited}} James Reed given that many of his investors are caucasian as well so too are all his created children.

* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler:Dodger put a lot of thought into her suicide attempt but Rodger was able to intuit where she was and get her help in time.]]

%% NeurodiversityIsSupernatural: NEEDS A BETTER WRITEUP previous version of the ethos was essentially low functioning autistics. Dodger has a host of issues interacting with others and severe trouble sleeping. As does Rodger with his sight and hearing difficulties but he is able to mask much more effectively, Thus they are high-functioning autistics.

* ParadoxPerson: Dodger turns herself into this to spend half a decade away from Rodger in safety. She calls a version of herself in the future which substantiates her in that future safe healthy and free of Reed's influence, it also kept Leigh from being able to find her.

--->''His words are put before the universe, and after a moment, the universe agrees with him.''

* RippleEffectProofMemory: Erin as the embodiment of Order can detect all changes made by Dodger uncountable presses of the ResetButton. It's not perfect but she is able to remember important information.
* SacrificialLion: Sati is a real friend to the twins and an excellent scientist which gets her targeted for death. Her drive and links to the wider academic community would have led to Reed's century-long plan being discovered once the anomalies in Dodger and Rodger's Autosomal DNA were explicated.

* {{Synchronization}}: What Dodger and Rodger have, [[spoiler:her suicide attempt almost costs Rodger his life.]] Not all project twins have this though, Erin is able to exist without Darren even if she doesn't want to.
* ThanatosGambit: Asphodel Baker’s was making James Reed. She knew he'd betray her but she wanted an ambitious student that would carry out her plans without being hindered by her morals or the sexism she had to deal with all her life. She got everything she asked for.

* TwinTelepathy: Dodger and Rodger entangle much earlier than Reed planned. They can share attributes between them and is essential for them to be able to express the Ethos. It's also great for getting [[MundaneUtility help with homework]].
* VillainBall: Reed and Leigh grab it from the start and don't let go. Given they're used to treating sapient creatures as raw materials this isn't that surprising.

First in a new series by Creator/SeananMcGuire. A non narrative sequel is scheduled to be published in 2021

* AlchemyIsMagic:
* ArtificialHuman: Most of the characters are this to some extent either being purpose-built successors to their respective creators or CustomBuiltHost for primal forces of the universe. {{Discussed}} as they don't feel that different from "normal people" and have empathy and real connections with them but they're diffrences are real and acknowledged at least by the heroes.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Creator/LFrankBaum was an alchemist and rival to Asphodel Baker who wrote his Oz books to drown out her Up-and-Under series. Other persoanges mentioned - by surname - are Creator/MarkTwain, Creator/HPLovecraft and Creator/EdgarAllanPoe.

* CompellingVoice: A command to language makes this an easy trick for Roger.

* DisabilityNegatingSuperpower: Dodger has terrible spatial reasoning however her being GoodWithNumbers means she can measure out the distances and adapt from there. It lets her bike around campus easily and sink shots to her office bin [[ImprobableAimingSkills without looking]].

* EquivalentExchange: Haruspicy only provides genuine prophetic results if the entrails come from something the augur truly cares about. [[BigBad Reed]] wants to be ''very'' certain about his information, so he sacrifices one of his own ArtificialHuman "children".
* FictionalDocument: Over the Woodward Wall was written in-universe as a means for Asphodel Baker (as A. Deborah Baker) to distribute her ideas to the general public. To change the [[MentalWorld collective unconciousness]], Macquire later [[{{Defictionalization}} published that book]] in 2020, a year after ''Middlegame'' under that exact title.

* HumanTraffickers: Part of what Leigh brings to what she sees as her partnership with Reed. Since the pair don't have a UterineReplicator lying around they need to go the traditional route.

* MoneyIsNotPower: Reed only deals with corporate investors because they provide easy access to resources. Once he doesn't need them anymore he lets Leigh of the leash and lets her kill them and their families.
%% NeurodiversityIsSupernatural: NEEDS A BETTER VERSION previous version of the ethos was essentially low functioning autistics. Dodger has a host of issues interacting with others and severe trouble sleeping. As does Rodger with his sight and hearing dificulties but he is able to mask much more effectivly

* PhilosophersStone: Asphodel would have secured her place in the Alchemical Congress were she a man given her easy method of Stone production. Alas she had a vagina so it was not to be.
%% PrescienceByAnalysis: Part of Dodger being good with numbers, but are the examples in story good enough to count?

%% ResetButtonSuicideMission: What many timelines arguably become.

** To ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'' which popularized the idea of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_narrans story telling ape]] around the campfire.

* {{Synchronization}}: What Dodger and Rodger have, [[spoiler:her suicide attempt almost costs Rodger his life.]] Not all of the project pairs have this though, Erin is able to exist without Darren even if she doesn't want ot.

* TimeyWimeyBall: A wonderfully confused mess of one too! Each press of the ResetButton is a full universal reset but some people like Erin are still able to tell that a change occurred, so her ability to [[RippleEffectProofMemory partially retain]] information is crucial. Dodger and Roger ave next to no memories however which might be for the best, [[spoiler:given that they've been resetting timelines for something like three million years]].