A review by whillsjournal
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

While I do truly appreciate the haunting added context from ghosts affected by the events, that was not intriguing enough to save this book. With the constant hopping of focus away from the “main characters” to gives pages of exposition on a side character, the journey they embark on has no care or motive behind it. The author also really has a thing for putting people in piles of feces (it’s weird it happened at all let alone multiple times) and ultimately, it felt like the author wanted to write a fluff of pages that included certain predetermined beats with as many pages between. The twist in the fourth section was intriguing, but not enough overall. Very brief moments of excitement filled with a deluge of uncaptivating page filler. The side/parallel narratives were fine, but at times distracting. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings