This really sounded, in theory, like something I'd be into. Plus, the title is top notch. So, I requested it from NetGalley when I saw it on there awhile ago. And then, I was just never in the mood for it. I tried once, but couldn't find the flow of it. And then, thankfully, I got access to the audiobook through my library, to help move me along, and I have finally read it. Overall vibes remain the same though: solid story, but one that perhaps was not the right fit and/or writing style for me. 

 

I am not sure I could really sum this book up in a blurb if I tried... Looking at the one on Goodreads makes me think I am not alone in that, since I can't say that it really accurately describes the book either. At best, it captures the satirical humor feel, but even then, the blurb is written in a much lighter (way less enigmatic) style. But - *sigh* - it's the best I've got. So, here it is: "Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. This gave him plenty to talk about in therapy. He walked among invisible devils and anti-gods that mock the mortal form. He learned a lethal catechism, lost his shadow, and gained a habit for secrecy. After a blood-soaked childhood, Fetter escaped his rural hometown for the big city, and fell into a broader world where divine destinies are a dime a dozen. Everything in Luriat is more than it seems. Group therapy is recruitment for a revolutionary cadre. Junk email hints at the arrival of a god. Every door is laden with potential, and once closed may never open again. The city is scattered with Bright Doors, looming portals through which a cold wind blows. In this unknowable metropolis, Fetter will discover what kind of man he is, and his discovery will rewrite the world." 

 

Alright, as indicated, I think this book was, for me, a miss. However, I can respect the class of the writing and the incredible metaphorical work the story did. And so, I'm giving it a medium rating and I'm going to talk about the things that impressed me or that I admired, so readers who are like "oh, I love esoteric writing and high brow allegorical stuff" can see if this would be a better fit for them. First, the was satirical AF. It was an incredibly specifically placed (in regards to the setting and world-building of the novel), yet somehow still generic in form (as far as being potentially applicable to multiple belief systems), social commentary on all religions that dictate to followers that nonbelievers must be shunned/punished/converted (in parallel with colonialism), following into the way that religions dictate government/laws, and further the discrimination and violence against other sects and refugee crises that we see often IRL. Similarly there was insightful commentary on how religions/sects begin, the stories that found them, and then ebb and flow in people’s memories until they can be manipulated in the most convenient ways for power grabs because the “truth” is so diminished and/or forever lost to time. Across the board, there were so many figurative and emblematic aspects, for different beliefs and lifestyles and idealism, that I am just sure I didn't catch them all. (Though I must say, Fetter’s ability to float - or not - and the effort to stay grounded, landed pretty obviously and heavily for me. I also really caught the metaphor of being killed by/dying because of the aspects of self that one refuses to see/acknowledge or treats with shame and disgust. It maybe wasn't worth the length of journey once we finally got there, for me, but it was great poetic “justice.”) And it was all situated within a very real, sarcastically humorous, contemporary world with social media and mass marketing and cell phones as cornerstones of image creation despite the ephemeral magics that we also part of reality. In that way, if not in pacing and storytelling style, I felt that it was mildly reminiscent of the messages and vibes of Alif the Unseen. 

 

The narrative voice was an interesting choice, in my opinion. It felt quite slowly paced, despite how much actually happened (travel and world events and death and violence and illness and discoveries and conspiracies and magic, etc.). And the cerebral writing and style made it feel as though things were happening at a great and strange remove. Like there are quite a few dramatic and traumatic events that unfold in these pages, and yet, there is an emotional detachment that I felt, as a reader, because of that narrative voice. I almost didn't care about any of those events, and that is so surprising considering their intensity. I wonder if, perhaps, that is some kind of commentary on disassociation as a survival technique. One other word on the narration (which did also partially explain the remove of the storytelling style)...the "reveal" of the actual voice was a real surprise to me. And I enjoyed that little twist immensely. Finally, I am always here for a portal fantasy situation, and the idea of gods and devils is one I can generally get behind (shoutout to younger Paige's love for the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series), but here too, those concepts felt too esoteric and too separated from me as the reader, for me to feel invested in them as they unfolded on page. 

 

Overall, to recap: this was a very interesting, intellectual and monumental-in-scope style book. It was not quite the right fit for me, but I do really respect what it tried to do and what it managed to accomplish. 

 

“The only way to change the world is through intentional, directed violence.” 

 

“Fame, she says, is how a ruling class conditions artists to docility and incorporates their work to lesser ends. Sedition, unrest, and even revolution are useful to political actors currently out of power.” 

 

“None of the others understand that the law might do anything, at any time, to anyone, and justify itself any way it likes – it is feral, like the invisible laws and powers of the world of which it is a pale imitation.” 

 

“They hide behind unfortunate incident or tense situation or welfare camp for internally displaced persons or a trick of the light.” 

 

“This feeling belongs to the surface of things, but there is no world without its surfaces.” 

 

“Status is a rainbow on a proud soap bubble, inflated to its uttermost.” 

 

“Lessons learned in childhood leave deep roots and are not easily plucked out by adult reasoning.” 

 

“Luck is only someone else’s labour.” 

 

“Kin is greater than the stranger. It is a simple, circular logic, and one that hews close to the natural prejudices of the human animal: we care more for the ones we love than we do for those we hate, and as for those we don’t know, their lives and deaths mean nothing to us.” 

 

“Rulers love to submit, and the Path has always paid too much attention to thrones and not enough to people. […] Power is in people.” 

 

“Every lost past is a world.” 

 

“…it’s not surprising they’re so hungry to haunt us – the histories we forgot, the crimes we buried.”