Reviews with content warning for Death - The Spear Cuts Through Water

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

174 reviews

msrobynsonreads's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

Content Warnings

stormbringer52's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Okay, so this is one of the best books I've ever read. Granted, I just finished it, so I'm sure I'll come up with criticisms at some point. However, anything I expected to have a problem with while I was reading ended up getting wrapped up by the end.

The book even calls the reader out at one point. Early on in the story, the frame character's lola says that the book is a love story. Then, at the end, Keema and Jun supposedly die. I was really disappointed! It just went into geneology of how the spear got into the frame narrator's hands. I spend the whole time skimming and mourning the supposed love story. But then the moonlit body literally says that "you" are unsatisfied. And it shows what happened to Keema and Jun, that they didn't die, and I was like wtf! I *was* unsatisfied and no longer am; it's true!

I can't think of something I didn't love about this book. The way that it's written is so interesting. The worldbuilding felt so complete. I felt less like I was reading a story and more like I was reading a history book from another world. In the best possible way. I love how the author took the time to explain little details, stuff that might not have mattered narratively but really helped the reader understand the nature of the world we stepped into. One of my favorite stylistic decisions was

how we would randomly hear the thoughts of people the characters encountered. When they received the Moon's power and were able to hear everyone's inner monologues, it didn't come out of nowhere because we had been able to do that the whole time!

That was so freaking cool to me.

The way things were described were just beautiful. Even the grisly parts were in their own way. It was such vivid imagery, and I ate it up truly. God, and the relationship between Keema and Jun was written so well. It evolved so naturally considering who they were and how they came together. Absolutely masterful work

Content Warnings

beetrootbulbs's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

I am at a loss of words to describe this book. I haven't read a book this good since...I don't even know.
I feel something moved inside me.

I will absolutely check out the author's other book(s)

Wow.
Just wow.

Content Warnings

ranas_books's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-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

this was both brutal and beautiful. it was unlike anything I've read before, and I loved it. the structure and writing style are creative, with a mix of poetic language and a unique narrative that captivates you. I loved Jun and Keema, their relationship and personal growth throughout the story.

Content Warnings

engineeredediting's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Unlike any fantasy I’ve ever read. The worldbuilding is phenomenal, though it takes a bit (~15%) to get into and really grasp.

Content Warnings

sarahmore_books's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This is a very confusing book, so you need to be ready for that. If you're overwhelmed, check out my video on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahmore.books/video/7497192155472022806) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/DI3amNFoNLY/) for some basic, spoiler-free background to hopefully avoid some of the frustration and confusion before reading this book.

Themes: love, power, duty, guilt, pride, intergenerational, interconnected past and present, time, stories, divinity, meaning/purpose

Style (1): I could tell from the very first paragraph that it was beautifully written in a very literary style. Strangely, it was written in second-, third-, and even first-person, changing mid-sentence. It was confusing at first, but you get used to it once you figure out how to expect the changes (usually signaled by italics and new section headings). Overall, I enjoyed the style of writing very much (once I figured it out), although I remain unconvinced of what is gained (other than fun) by switching perspectives mid-sentence (e.g., "a boy... looked at his commander and I realized that I was standing beside the bravest pesron..." vs. "a boy... looked at his commander and he realized that he was standing beside the bravest person...").

Plot (0.5): It was mostly original though at least one theme was taken from popular mythology (

the minotaur

), which felt cheap as it was not cited as a retelling). It did not always feel coherent as new fantastical elements would continuously shock the reader in ways that felt jarring instead of immersive, at least to me

(e.g., Jun and Keema fall into a dream of the Sleeping Sea; suddenly the Third Terror transformed into a giant??)

. I simply wasn't always convinced by all the fantasy elements. I'm not sure how to describe it other than to say that it wasn't "realistic" or "authentic" enough for me. I'd love to know myself how a writer could "convince" a reader of the veracity of such fantasy elements.

Atmosphere/Setting (0.5): The setting was so descriptive that it was easy to imagine the details of the scenes, but it was a serious struggle at times, especially in the first 130 pages, to understand which of the 3 main settings was being described and what the connection between them was. (I've posted a video on TikTok and Instagram describing the settings to help new readers, linked above). Moreover, it was not always immersive, such as when the setting would change very suddenly and not always to a setting we were already familiar with. While I like the writing style in general, this aspect could have used some work so that the reader would have felt a bit more guided, the change would have felt less drastic, and it wouldn't have kicked the reader out of the fantasy immersion.

Characters (1): I love characters who are a little mad or who grapple with internal dissonances, so Jun was a favourite. The Daware man was also lovingly stubborn. Even the tortoise that they unfortunately called The Defect was adorable. The main characters were believeable and each had their own hidden motivations which were revealed as the story went on. There were also many other snippets of thoughts or happenings from random or tangential characters throughout which was fun (again, once you got used to the style). There were selfish, ambitious, loyal, and love-struck characters, a little bit of everything. Also, the main romance subplot was a frustratingly nice slow burn.

Enjoyment (0.25): I must admit that I was extremely frustrated with this book for a long time, especially the first 130 pages. I seriously considered DNF-ing it, but I persevered because everyone seems to love it. I think I would have liked it more if not for the hype that raised my expectations and I think part of me enjoys the fact that I simply figured out wtf is going on in this book now that I've finally finished it. Putting that aside, I enjoyed the overall story and message, but there were parts that were very frustratingly confusing or uncomfortable to read about (such as cannibalism and some gore).

Content Warnings

crossbelladonna's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Content Warnings

isi__1's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Because of its peculiar writing style, it was a bit difficult to get into at first. After the first few dozen pages, I was hooked, though.
Unfortunately, my interest started decreasing after a while and towards the end, I had a difficult time finishing it.
This isn‘t really the book‘s fault, but more likely my own, because I was reading it at a very busy time during my uni semester, when it would be way more enjoyable to sit down with an easier-to-read book before going to bed.
All in all, this is an extremely unique book but I wouldn‘t recommend it to just anybody, because it doesn‘t quite have the mass-appeal that certain other books have.

Content Warnings

natterbee's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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: Yes

Amazing epic with a unique storytelling approach. We observe most of the adventure through the reenactment of events on a stage set in a dreamscape. I loved the play between narrative perspectives and almost meta aspect of telling a story within a story. Queer (m/m) representation and truly the only reason it wasn’t a 5 is that I think some of the descriptions were too intense for me. Otherwise 5 star book, highly recommend for a new epic adventure.

Content Warnings

welfin's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark tense 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: Yes

It was a very unique Story which was written in a gripping way by the author. I really liked his way of story telling. His characters had depth and even though the story was mystical and fantastical they all had relatable aspects to their personality and motivs.
The only thing that put me off a little was the level of violence, torture and their graphic description, but that I think is more something that is not personally for me and not the fault of the book.

Content Warnings

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