Review: The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

 5⭐

Probably my favorite read of the year. Beautiful writing combined with gorgeous world-building and a stunningly original storyline.

I was captivated before I even started this book. What do you mean you're running across a country with a goddess? From the get go, this book impressed me with how stylistically unique it is with the inverted theater, and the folktale-esque narration. The writing is smooth and accessible but still manages to be lyrical.

'This is a love story to its blade-dented bone'.

What a glorious promise to make. And the book lives up to it. To the discerning eye, there is something about love and humanity that bleeds through each page. The characters are written with finesse and a deep appreciation of the beauty in our inevitable mortality. Each conversation is like looking into a well and seeing yourself anew. The pervasive sense of aching desperation and wistfulness in the book gives it a strange touch of personal familiarity.

I was quite annoyed when I found out the author had deliberately avoided creating a map to refer with the journey through the book. There is an elegant artistic rendering of the land with various motifs which is rather vague in the sense of distance and location. It managed to both irk me and fascinate me as I went back to it over and over. But the imagery is honestly brilliant. Fine dining for the imagination.

'If one listened, one could hear it in their voices. One can tell a lot, even in such a state, by the way someone speaks another's name.'

I am a sucker for character arcs and boy did this book deliver! Every person you meet has something profound to add. There is revenge, there is growth, there is acceptance, there is forgiveness. There is always love. Be it hero or villain, the book makes it worthwhile to know them. There is something in the writing that made me invested in all their stories. I couldn't have asked for more.

'The body holds the body. The arms hold the spear. And the spear cuts through water.'

It's a tender reminder of all that people are capable of: cruelty, art, love. And once in a while, it's good to remember.