The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jiminez was terrific !
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This was a masterpiece (an imperfect one) and as breathtaking as the cover page of that paperback was. Very unusual and atypical in its structure and storytelling-The book immediately shines by means of its multiple planes of storytelling, unique narrative voice that keeps changing abruptly and moonlit prose.
The first plane is where the story of ‘the girl’ unfolds (I’m using this term for her name was not revealed). She learns about the ‘old country’ from her Lola and sometimes from her father and throughout the book, her life is revealed in pieces. The narration in this plane is carried out in second person though I don’t understand why. I was expecting a ‘The Broken Earth’ kind of justification for the usage of second person but it never came and left me mildly disappointed. I’m not clear as to how to interpret it.
The second plane of storytelling happens in the ‘inverted theatre’ to which the girl is transported. She witnesses a play being performed in the amphitheatre. The narration here happens from the same point of view as the first plane and the second person voice continues. The girl finds herself with a spear that had been displayed on the mantle in her home. The description of the inverted theatre and the lore surrounding it is whimsical and very fairytale like in nature.
The play in the inverted theatre is zoomed in and forms the third and most significant plane of storytelling. The Point of View changes to the main characters Keema and Jun and a regular third person voice is used here. This forms the bulk of the book and tells the story of how they helped the empress in escaping from her three sons, the Three terrors. There is no distinct boundary between the planes and they slide into each other to occupy the main frame.
The story in its entirety is spread across a journey of five days with an additional before and after sections. It starts with the escape of the old empress from the wolf door to her bones being returned to her eternal love, water at the summer city shore. The entire story, especially in the second and third planes reads more like a myth and less like your traditional fantasy novel. This mythical nature is well complemented by Jimenez’s sophisticated prose and evocative imagery. The worldbuilding is great and the characterization good. An agency was given to almost every character that appears on paper where they just give a statement in first person in the middle of the narration, which is very random but also very interesting.
There are many things this book does that are unseen in fiction. Some of them are perfectly done and the others are merely gimmicks. Like the highlighted statements. They were pointless and do not hold any reasoning or context. It feels like the writer randomly chooses a line and paraphrases it to make the narration look cool. Most of the time, those lines don’t have any weight to them and fails to hit you like they were probably intended to.
At times eerie and absurd and at times whimsy and charming, this book does it all. It makes you smile, weep , gasp in horror and there are so many shocking moments that leaves you with your jaw on floor. That mind fucking part on day four where Keema and Jun actually enter the inverted theatre and regain the spear from the girl (plot hole?) comes to my mind. It was such a fresh, unique and postmodern work that is wildly enjoyable and is an ultimate page turner. I loved this book to its blade dented bone and consider it one of the best fantasy standalones of all time.