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A review by twocents
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
What an abrasive story.
There are three things that I think people should know going into it:
1. The story is three layers: you (literally) as a child being told stories by your lola and your father, you watching a dream theater, and the dream theater playing the story that is the description on the back of the book. It's interesting the outer two stories are not mentioned at all in the book's description given that it is literally the setup for the book and is what closes out the story.
2. The story alternates between second, third, and first person, sometimes changing even sentence to sentence in a single paragraph. It takes some getting used to. Read the Amazon preview. If you don't like that bit, you won't like the way this story is told.
3. Although it's not technically grimdark, I have read intentional grimdark that salivates less over its violence and that is less violent. You will read things likethe perspective of a person being eaten alive in ritual cannibalism. It seems to revel in its grossness at times.
So I don't know who I would recommend this book to. The first two lend itself toward someone who likes a slow paced story (and by god do you get that in the last half of the book), but the last point lends itself to someone who likes a brisk paced story, as grimdark tends to work best when it cuts sharply.
I liked that the world seemed to be doing its thing, regardless of what the heroes were up to. I was interested in seeing Jun succeed. (Keema increasingly felt improbable to me.)
I didn't like the sheer bloat of the story. I thought it was done, and there was another 30+ minutes on my 1.25x speed audiobook. I don't really understand the things that it chose to beat you over the head with to make sure you understood vs. the things that were legitimately interesting that weren't touched on AT ALL.
So I'm left feeling like it was one of the most interesting style of books I read this year, but god is it abrasive.
There are three things that I think people should know going into it:
1. The story is three layers: you (literally) as a child being told stories by your lola and your father, you watching a dream theater, and the dream theater playing the story that is the description on the back of the book. It's interesting the outer two stories are not mentioned at all in the book's description given that it is literally the setup for the book and is what closes out the story.
2. The story alternates between second, third, and first person, sometimes changing even sentence to sentence in a single paragraph. It takes some getting used to. Read the Amazon preview. If you don't like that bit, you won't like the way this story is told.
3. Although it's not technically grimdark, I have read intentional grimdark that salivates less over its violence and that is less violent. You will read things like
So I don't know who I would recommend this book to. The first two lend itself toward someone who likes a slow paced story (and by god do you get that in the last half of the book), but the last point lends itself to someone who likes a brisk paced story, as grimdark tends to work best when it cuts sharply.
I liked that the world seemed to be doing its thing, regardless of what the heroes were up to. I was interested in seeing Jun succeed. (Keema increasingly felt improbable to me.)
I didn't like the sheer bloat of the story. I thought it was done, and there was another 30+ minutes on my 1.25x speed audiobook. I don't really understand the things that it chose to beat you over the head with to make sure you understood vs. the things that were legitimately interesting that weren't touched on AT ALL.
So I'm left feeling like it was one of the most interesting style of books I read this year, but god is it abrasive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Cannibalism, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror