Scan barcode
jesshaleth's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Cursing, Violence, Murder, Ableism, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, and Vomit
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Rape, Torture, Child abuse, Sexual assault, War, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Physical abuse
mothie_girlie's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: War, Genocide, Cannibalism, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Alcoholism
iszys's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Sexual content, War, and Child abuse
Minor: Alcoholism, Ableism, and Rape
romance_reader_lisa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: War, Alcoholism, Murder, Gore, Death, Animal death, Cannibalism, Violence, and Blood
immovabletype's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, War, Death of parent, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Classism, Death, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, and Excrement
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Trafficking
cadence99's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Vomit, War, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, Grief, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Addiction, and Alcohol
rhi_'s review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, War, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Child death, and Torture
Minor: Alcoholism, Classism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Homophobia, and Confinement
sunjaybooks's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Excrement, War, Ableism, Alcoholism, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Classism, Self harm, Suicide, and Genocide
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
- THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER is one of those books that I simply have no idea how to review because it's so special. I've never read anything like it, and even at 500+ pages, I did not want it to end.
- The storytelling style took me a minute to get a handle on, as the narration drifts through many viewpoints and realities. The only way I can describe it is that the story felt liquid, and I was carried along the currents.
- The world Jimenez has created is vast and detailed, filled with so many characters with whom I would gladly spend whole separate novels. His writing is gorgeous and delicate. Even though this story is often harsh and violent, it is filled with tenderness for its characters.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Grief, Murder, Vomit, Excrement, Abandonment, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Gore, Sexual content, Confinement, Death of parent, Blood, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Violence
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Suicide
deedireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Spear Cuts Through Water is a sweeping, imaginative, gorgeously and uniquely told story that completely knocked my socks off. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook as you read along in print.
For you if: You like books with experimental storytelling styles and epic prose.
FULL REVIEW:
“Once, the Moon and the Water were in love. … And though they occupied different spheres, they were able to visit one another through less direct means, for there is no barrier in this life that love cannot overcome. The Water would send up to the skies plump storm clouds, swollen with its essence, its cool mist and salty breath kissing the Moon’s dry and cracked surface. And the Moon, when it wished to visit the Water, would cast its reflection into the Water’s surface, and in the Inverted World that lies suspended below our own, in glass and still water, they would meet, and dance, and make love. … It was in that world of reflection where they built the theater that is the locus of our tale.”
You know that feeling when you read the first few pages of a new book and you’re just like…wow? The Spear Cuts Through Water did that for me, and then some. I started the audiobook in the car and was so hypnotized by the opening chapter I felt like I was driving through a dream. And it just kept getting better from there.
This book’s cover blurb says it’s like nothing you’ve ever read before, but that’s not just a gimmicky marketing line. On one level, we have the book’s narrator, who speaks to us in the second person and remembers the old stories about the Old Country (unnamed, but Jimenez is Filipino-American) that his lola used to tell him as a boy — she’s the one speaking in the quote above. But he is also sitting in a magical theater, watching a play that tells an epic tale of ancestry, battle, a god, a throne, and yes — love. And even as the narration melts into the recounting of that story, we get (sometimes single-sentence) interjections from the characters, adding their voices to what becomes a chorus.
It’s this experimentation with form and narration — combined with breathtaking but slower-moving prose — that makes me say that this book will be perfect for those who like to read both literary fiction and fantasy; the book requires a bit of a close read, a bit more engagement. But it’s very much worth the effort.
I listened to the audiobook as I read along in print, which I do often. But with this book, I can’t imagine NOT experiencing it in both formats. The way the text is laid out on the page adds so much to the storytelling style (and could be a bit confusing if you’re listening only), and Joel de la Fuente’s audio performance is just so rich and beautiful. (You may recognize his voice from Interior Chinatown or How Much of These Hills Is Gold.) Please take my advice and do this one both ways.
I loved this reading experience. I loved the story. I loved the characters. I loved the queer elements. I loved its homage to ancestry and myth. I loved how hypnotized I felt. I just loved it. You bet your bottom I’m going to go back and read Jimenez’s The Vanished Birds now. And literally anything he writes in the future.
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Violence, and Cannibalism
Minor: Alcoholism and Sexual content