Is Our Writers Learning? Quintessence

Continuing my efforts to read something current and see what I can learn from it—
QUINTESSENCE by David Walton is a historical fantasy set in the Elizabethan era. Except technically it’s the Edwardian era as Edward VI is on the throne and dying. His doctor, Stephen Parris, sees a power struggle ahead between Edward’s favorites and his Catholic sister Queen Mary (Henry VIII had dispossessed the Catholic Church to create the Church of England and Mary intends to change that back).
Oh, and the world is flat and magic (primarily although not purely alchemical) works. This is established in the opening, as an expedition from the far western isles returns with no wealth and the crew petrified. Its backer plots another; when he discovers Parris engages in dissection (something forbidden at the time) he blackmails him into coming along with his family. Parris’ wife, a devout Catholic, unfortunately has her own ideas …
It strikes me as primarily a setting story. It has a solid plot, and some good characters, but it’s more about exploring and understanding this strange new land than anything else (Quintessence starts with a failed expedition to the West, then ends with success). While I think this review has some valid points about the flaws, the fact that the setting is the key makes it easy to get past the weak spots (if it were a character-centric novel, less so).
What I Learned: As I like writing historical fantasy, it’s encouraging to see there’s a market for historical tales that aren’t just steampunk (I had the same reaction with Gideon’s Angel).
•Gobs of description in historical fantasy aren’t mandatory. Walton doesn’t take a lot of space describing the historical setting, except when something unusual happens (Parris’ POV singles out his wife taking up the new custom of knitting for instance). As someone whose writing isn’t massive on description, it’s encouraging to see that’s not a dealbreaker. It probably helps that the Elizabethan era is one so many of us have a mental image of, as opposed to say, ancient Maya or the Beaker People.
•Discussion of the rules for magic can work better than I expect. I generally dislike authors who build up elaborate magical systems (or super-science for that matter) and then have characters spend lengthy stretches debating the minutia or trying to figure out why the made-up rules have developed a made-up problem. Walton has some of his characters debate their theories of magic, but it never bogged down so much in abstractions that I lost interest.
Of course, none of this proves that anything I wrote along the same lines would work. But I’m still cheered.
(Cover art belongs to copyright holder. Sorry I don’t know the artist).