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A review by damalireads
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
At a high level, SPEAR follows the journey of two warriors as they escort a goddess across a kingdom in order to end the reign of an oppressive family. At it’s core, it’s a love story. Jimenez goes to extreme lengths in storytelling format, prose, and stylistic choices to weave together multiple storylines that connect these two ideas together.
I have never read a book like this in my life. It’s a truly singular reading experience with an intricate format of storytelling that is deeply immersive. SPEAR is really a myth, within a play, within a story. The speaker (referred to as “You”, some parts are told in 2nd person) visits a theater that exists outside of time and space in a dream, and watches a play on the warrior’s journey, which includes the myths told by the speaker’s family through the years. It took me about 50-60 pages to really get into the swing of things, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Effortful reading that pays off is a difficult balance to strike and Jimenez did a great job.
The prose in this book is BEAUTIFUL and lyrical. There’s a very clear rhythm to the writing that makes it easy to flow through 50 pages. There are also some intentional choices that add to the emotional depth of the story. Amidst the face paced and violent journey the warriors embark on, italicized thoughts/commentary/backstory are offered in the text to give life to unnamed characters that are in the background. Also mixed in are the perspectives and commentary of the speaker’s life, their relatives, and side stories tied to them as well. It mimics the slightly wandering nature of oral storytelling, that initially takes a lot of effort to follow, but ultimately pays off by keeping the reader engaged.
I really enjoyed all the characters, even if I didn’t form a deep emotional connection to all of them. The main antagonists, the Three Terrors, absolutely lived up their names. The warriors, Keema and Jun, are initially strangers that grow to trust one another with their lives in a beautiful way. One critique I will say is that much of the characterization is more telling rather than showing, which sometimes made certain character decisions or reactions sudden to me. At the same time, I still loved how the characters developed over the course of the story.
The core critique I have for this book is with the world building. The world of Spear is sprawling with magic, political strife, majestic creatures, all spanning a large geography. There are times through the book where we get more context on why this world exists as it does, and some backstory to make sense of what’s seen, but I did struggle to really grasp the why behind a lot of these choices. Part of me wonders if this is just an element of the oral storytelling style, where myths are not necessarily explained in detail, even though you wish they were. It did cause multiple moments of confusion for me where the twists in conflict felt almost random, albeit exciting. The final 20% of the book had most of these instances for me, but the thrilling ending made me look past these confusing elements. I do wish more time was taken for some deeper world building, but I also think the story was amazing anyway.
All that being said, I’m so glad I read this book. I truly don’t know if I’d recommend it widely because it’s so unique, but if anything peaked your interest, I say you should give it a shot. I would 100% check the trigger warnings for this book before diving in. Ritualistic cannibalism is a theme, so yeah! So are pretty gory scenes. As someone who is very squeamish, I definitely had to skim through some parts.
4.75 stars
<i>Initial Thoughts: One of the most confusing, insane, electric, and moving books I've ever read. Probably the best experience I had reading a book? I'm still a little in shock so I'm sure there's more pointed critiques I could outline but until then! I had the time of my life.</i>
I have never read a book like this in my life. It’s a truly singular reading experience with an intricate format of storytelling that is deeply immersive. SPEAR is really a myth, within a play, within a story. The speaker (referred to as “You”, some parts are told in 2nd person) visits a theater that exists outside of time and space in a dream, and watches a play on the warrior’s journey, which includes the myths told by the speaker’s family through the years. It took me about 50-60 pages to really get into the swing of things, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Effortful reading that pays off is a difficult balance to strike and Jimenez did a great job.
The prose in this book is BEAUTIFUL and lyrical. There’s a very clear rhythm to the writing that makes it easy to flow through 50 pages. There are also some intentional choices that add to the emotional depth of the story. Amidst the face paced and violent journey the warriors embark on, italicized thoughts/commentary/backstory are offered in the text to give life to unnamed characters that are in the background. Also mixed in are the perspectives and commentary of the speaker’s life, their relatives, and side stories tied to them as well. It mimics the slightly wandering nature of oral storytelling, that initially takes a lot of effort to follow, but ultimately pays off by keeping the reader engaged.
I really enjoyed all the characters, even if I didn’t form a deep emotional connection to all of them. The main antagonists, the Three Terrors, absolutely lived up their names. The warriors, Keema and Jun, are initially strangers that grow to trust one another with their lives in a beautiful way. One critique I will say is that much of the characterization is more telling rather than showing, which sometimes made certain character decisions or reactions sudden to me. At the same time, I still loved how the characters developed over the course of the story.
The core critique I have for this book is with the world building. The world of Spear is sprawling with magic, political strife, majestic creatures, all spanning a large geography. There are times through the book where we get more context on why this world exists as it does, and some backstory to make sense of what’s seen, but I did struggle to really grasp the why behind a lot of these choices. Part of me wonders if this is just an element of the oral storytelling style, where myths are not necessarily explained in detail, even though you wish they were. It did cause multiple moments of confusion for me where the twists in conflict felt almost random, albeit exciting. The final 20% of the book had most of these instances for me, but the thrilling ending made me look past these confusing elements. I do wish more time was taken for some deeper world building, but I also think the story was amazing anyway.
All that being said, I’m so glad I read this book. I truly don’t know if I’d recommend it widely because it’s so unique, but if anything peaked your interest, I say you should give it a shot. I would 100% check the trigger warnings for this book before diving in. Ritualistic cannibalism is a theme, so yeah! So are pretty gory scenes. As someone who is very squeamish, I definitely had to skim through some parts.
4.75 stars
<i>Initial Thoughts: One of the most confusing, insane, electric, and moving books I've ever read. Probably the best experience I had reading a book? I'm still a little in shock so I'm sure there's more pointed critiques I could outline but until then! I had the time of my life.</i>
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Gore, and Cannibalism