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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While the interweaving of first, second, and third person narration a la the Greek chorus took some getting used to, this is the best speculative fiction I have read in years. The unique storytelling, the rapturous prose. Not a word or a moment was wasted, all building to a glorious tale of legacy, identity, sacrifice, and what we owe to each other.
Switching between 3rd omniscient and 2nd person, Jimenez weaves varying loves through past and present.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content, War
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Grief
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
All great stories begin with a storyteller and a tale from the past. I am both proud and ashamed to admit I am a theater kid, and two of my favorite shows of all time begin with a storyteller ready to share a story: “Hadestown” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” And like these two masterpieces of musical theater, this book is a love letter to theater and the art of generational storytelling.
There is something about “The Spear Cuts Through Water” that is almost too difficult to describe in simple terms. Because it is a love story, but it’s also about a revolution, and a fantastical odyssey, and an anti-war narrative, and a bildungsroman, of sorts, and a hopeful message disguised as a tragedy. The past, of which the nameless young boy watches from the dream-like Inverted Theater, is vast and complicated in its world-building, yet also familiar in its battle between the mythical and the real: the Moon goddess and psychic tortoises vs. the dictatorship and war crimes done by the Three Terrors and the Red Peacock Brigade. (Kind of like Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth.”) And in the midst of it all, we have Keema, a one-armed man, and his unlikely companion, Jun, the son of the First Terror and wanted criminal for the assisted assassination of the Emperor by the Moon Goddess, his imprisoned wife. Initially, each boy has their own separate intentions in journeying to the Divine City; yet, over time, Keema and Jun discover they both seek similar things: an identity. An identity they can claim as legitimate and their own. After defeating the 1st and 2nd Terror, consuming the Moon goddess, and besting the 3rd Terror, Keema and Jun save the world and the future in which the nameless boy exists through a dance that parts the Water and a final embrace. Like the nameless boy, after witnessing this tale for so long and seeing how the spear reached his hands now, I questioned how this story could be considered a love story. But thankfully, Jimenez is a kind writer; he (the Water) grants Keema and Jun the happily ever after they deserve. And no longer as characters in a play, but now their own people with a future ahead of them offstage.
“It’s an old song, it’s a sad song, and we’re gonna sing it again.” - Hadestown
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes