A review by jayisreading
Toward Eternity by Anton Hur

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

I am quite familiar with the name Anton Hur, having read many of his translations of contemporary South Korean literature. So, it came as a pleasant surprise when he announced that he was publishing a science fiction novel. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect in his prose, but reading Toward Eternity was very similar to admiring a pretty piece of abstract art. It was so clear in the frequency of their appearances that Hur absolutely loved the relationship between language, music, and poetry, as they interlocked throughout this novel. With a novel professing love for languages, then, it shouldn’t come as a total surprise that Hur also writes in an incredibly floral fashion. The purple prose will definitely not be for everyone (and may even frustrate some), and I’ll admit that it sometimes felt as though Hur got lost in the language itself and forgot to attend to the plot.

On that note, I think the weakest aspects of this novel were the plot and worldbuilding. There was just enough that it kept the story going, but in science fiction, I feel that these two components are quite crucial in developing a compelling story, and this wasn’t quite present in Toward Eternity. In other words, this is not a novel for those who are looking for something plot-driven with extensive worldbuilding. Instead, I think it’s safe to say that Hur was far more interested in philosophical meditations on the arts and their importance to humanness. I didn’t mind this at all, especially since I’m rather fond of such topics. However, I would be lying if I said that I wanted a bit more development on other fronts for this novel to really come together (and I think it could have afforded more pages, considering how short it was).

Ultimately, Hur offered a lot for the reader to think about in his first novel, which I truly appreciate, and I do think there’s genuine promise in his original works, should he choose to publish more. I just hope that, should he choose to write more fiction, there will be more engagement with the story itself.
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