The Spear Cuts Through Water

OK, this was a pretty great and engaging read but it's also really complex that I can't even think of how to write a review. Like even writing a review requires some mental bandwidth that I don't feel like I have at the moment.

So I'll just summarize my experience: I enjoyed it. This was fun and satisfying. It wasn't always the most pleasant read because some graphic, horrible things do happen in it (nothing too triggering for me thankfully), but overall it all seems to serve a purpose and comes together in a pretty cohesive whole. I'm due to read The Vanished Birds some time early next year and I look forward to it.

What. A. Novel. Simon Jimenez is operating on another level with The Spear Cuts Through Water. This is an evocative tale that beautifully blends fantasy, reality, and fable into a perfect package. To summarize the plot here would deprive you of the wonderful journey that awaits you once you crack open the first page. Jimenez simultaneously (and effectively) tells multiple nested stories, while exploring the nature of identity, love, and intergenerational trauma. The book is unwavering in its commitment to its characters, its story, and its structure. And it's told with such fierce confidence and love that I was totally mesmerized from start to finish.If [b:The Vanished Birds 45422268 The Vanished Birds Simon Jimenez https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562699959l/45422268.SY75.jpg 70173100] (also excellent) didn't put Jimenez on the map, The Spear Cuts Through Water definitely will. This is a special book.See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful, lyrical prose. Fascinating structure: story-within-story-within story (which comes together in the end), use of all persons (i.e. first, second, third), and stage-like asides for minor and major characters alike. Very interesting world (e.g. psychic turtles!). Compelling characters. The atmosphere is part epic folk tale, part dream. Somehow also a love story.

I listened to the audiobook. The narrator was great and gave the story so much life, but I found myself having to rewind periodically, especially in the beginning while I acclimated to the POV switching. In hindsight, I would have preferred reading it.

This is a remarkable book.

It's not often that I start a book and think, “I've never read anything like this before.” I love that feeling. It's not so much that the story is crazy original - don't get me wrong, it's excellent - but it's HOW it's written that stunned me.

This book switches constantly between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person perspectives. It jumps from one time to another, to another, and back. It wraps a story inside a story inside one or three other stories, and bounces freely between them all.

That sounds confusing, yeah? I'll admit it does take some getting used to, but once you do, it flows smooth as silk, and you begin to realise that Jiminez is juggling 20 very sharp knives, he never once cuts himself, and it's pure joy to watch him do it. I'm floored that this is only his 2nd book.

If you're looking for a comfy, typical fantasy story structure, keep looking. But if you're keen on a unique storytelling experience, look no further. I'll be surprised if this doesn't end up as my Book of the Year for 2023.

Yeah, as expected:
https://youtu.be/cwfEYt0egKw

“Blame is an endless circle.”

I waited fervently for this ARC to be available, because I loved The Vanished Birds so damn much I couldn't stop talking about it to all my book friends. When I started reading this book, though, it struck me immediately how different it felt from my first love. I believe in honesty, and will say that I almost bounced off this one from the beginning because of how different it is. I've never been a very literary reader despite reading literary fiction, so when confronted with a clearly very literary book I immediately get discouraged and think most of it will go over my head and I'll never understand what's going on. I stuck with it, though, because it's an ARC and I felt obligated to finish what I start, and noticed that after I let the book begin and got used to the different way it tells its story, I was completely sucked in. It's a bit of a dense book, but if you just give it space to tell its story (and the beginning was a bit slow), it's not a hard read. I loved this book.

I'm going to be brief with the summary because it's a hard book to summarize. A country is led by a tyrannical family, and a quest to rescue a dying god out from under these rulers brings two warriors together to bring an end to their rule. There's lots of magical twists and turns along the way, but your lola wasn't kidding when she said that this was a love story at its core.

The story's told using basically all points of view at one point or another. As the story with the main characters is being told, you're also being given little snippets of what people around the main characters are thinking at the same time in a weirdly non-disruptive way. It's also told as if you're in a theater watching the story unfold as a play at times too, the Inverted Theater your lola told you stories about. It can be disorienting in the beginning, but it really grew on me. Things get incredibly wild towards the end, so if you're looking for a straight fantasy tale, this probably won't be for you. It's fantasy, but surreal fantasy. It's also an incredibly dark story, so if gore bothers you, maybe pass on this.

I never thought literary fantasy would be a thing I'd enjoy so much, but here we are. This was a gorgeous, compelling read that I highly recommend.

3.5
A unique fantasy book that makes use of intergenerational oral traditions, an interesting framed narrative, and mythology. There were times I wanted different things out of the tale, and the resolution was a bit clunky. That being said the authorial voice of this story is very unique, how different local POV's are woven throughout. I have not read anything quite like it.

Fucking incredible.

This book took me on such an emotional rollercoaster I don't think I'll ever recover from.
It will forever be a book that I'll constantly be thinking about.

Not told in the typical way, with 1st 2nd and 3rd POV on the same page leaping back and forth so smoothly— this book won't be for everyone. It was dense. I found listening to the audio and reading at the same time helped.

One of those books that will stick with me. I'm baffled at the writing ability of Jimenez. Incredible. Amazing. Has to be one of my top favourites of this year.

I cried. I cringed. I laughed. It was everything I didn't expect and more.

not really sure how to feel about this one! it is well written and the characters and their relationships are compelling, but also: it's confusing due to the switching POVs, and more graphic than I was expecting.

though the POV switching was often confusing, I did like how personal the short one-or-two sentence ones were. I just wish there was a better way to differentiate between Her thoughts, the others' thoughts, shared thoughts, etc.--they're all italicized! it might have worked better with small caps and/or bolding.

This book was the August read for the Sword and Laser podcast. Set in what feels like ancient/mythical China, the bulk of the story follows two warriors who must free and return the Empress (who is also the moon) to her home. It is a story of battles and intrigue and the relationships between our warriors and the Empress. What makes this novel different is the story structure. While you are following the main story, you are also following the story of a magical theater which is showing a play of this story, and you are also in the personal life of one of the members of the audience in the play.

You know how some books are really easy and just fly by? Popcorn/beach reads? Yeah, this was not that. Which is not to say that the book was not good. It's just....thick. It took me a while to really get into the book, although once I was in I was invested. The prose is very pretty, and the unusual structure is a nice departure (although again requires a bit of concentration). I'm glad I read it, totally recommend it, just don't expect to fly through this one in a few days.

Look, I'd been thinking of leaving my book club because we'd just had a run of duds, and I hadn't really attached to anything they picked this year. But this? This is a book that I might have passed up that has become definitely in my top three books this year.

Someone in the club referred to it as a dream within a play within a myth, and that's the best I can describe it. The writing is fantastic, the mythology raw, and the romance subtle and beautiful. I love the chorus elements. I love the weave of the different narratives. I loved this book. It took me a long while to get through because it really required my whole attention to read which is a hard for me to do these days, but boy is it worth it.

If you're in need to trigger warnings, I'd take the ones on this book with a grain of salt. While they are all definitely true, the book is rarely graphic and only one scene actually disturbed me (looking at you, Second Terror).

This story is absolutely an experience that I would highly suggest to anyone who enjoys Myths and old stories. The best way I could describe this book is an old lesser known myth come to life in one of the most tremendous formats I've ever seen in a book. The POV being told as a play to the main character watching the story take place in front of your eyes is SUCH an interesting component to the story. I wish that I had read the book and not listened to it (To no fault of the voice actor he does a phenomenal job with all voices and perspectives, I was rarely confused the time). In any case I would highly recommend this book to anyone, it was truly unique and an outstanding story, although it did have its slow points the last half of the book and the POV / format was well worth the experience.