Take a photo of a barcode or cover
sterling8 's review for:
The Spear Cuts Through Water
by Simon Jimenez
Around the Year in 52 Books 2024: 15. A book whose author’s name includes one of the 4 least used letters in the alphabet (JQZX)
I was leery of this book for a while. When I read reviews, it seemed complicated and intimidating. And it did take a while to get into. The author uses second person POV and also has the reader descend into the story by way of an dream Inverted Theater: you go to this theater in a dream and then see the true story play out. There are also italicized interjections throughout the book that function as a way to remember that there are many people in the book that aren't focused on that nevertheless have their own lives, problems and fears.
All that said, the story at the heart of the book is a love story to its blade-dented bone. Two young warriors end up on the same road and learn to rely on each other. It's also an adventure story through a fabulous land with magical, terrifying princes, tortoises that can speak and function as a long-distance communication network, and a mythology that is very much still being created.
The story takes some time to get going. The pace slowly picks up as days go by in the book until the end becomes an explosion of action and peril. The book can be gruesome and horrifying in places too.
The wonder of the book for me is that despite the carnage, the author never loses sight of or compassion for all the inhabitants of the book. Nothing is really simple or black and white. It's about point of view and understanding that your point of view isn't the only one. It's about heritage. And it's about how we choose to see stories. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to read more by this author.
I was leery of this book for a while. When I read reviews, it seemed complicated and intimidating. And it did take a while to get into. The author uses second person POV and also has the reader descend into the story by way of an dream Inverted Theater: you go to this theater in a dream and then see the true story play out. There are also italicized interjections throughout the book that function as a way to remember that there are many people in the book that aren't focused on that nevertheless have their own lives, problems and fears.
All that said, the story at the heart of the book is a love story to its blade-dented bone. Two young warriors end up on the same road and learn to rely on each other. It's also an adventure story through a fabulous land with magical, terrifying princes, tortoises that can speak and function as a long-distance communication network, and a mythology that is very much still being created.
The story takes some time to get going. The pace slowly picks up as days go by in the book until the end becomes an explosion of action and peril. The book can be gruesome and horrifying in places too.
The wonder of the book for me is that despite the carnage, the author never loses sight of or compassion for all the inhabitants of the book. Nothing is really simple or black and white. It's about point of view and understanding that your point of view isn't the only one. It's about heritage. And it's about how we choose to see stories. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to read more by this author.