The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez weaves a spellbinding journey about a god who is seeking to overthrow a tyrannical ruler and his cruel sons.

Now, this is a sort of book that might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Content-wise, it’s utterly fantastical and bizarre. I mean, it’s got a talking tortoise.

Stylistically even it feels like a surreal fever dream to the point that the story felt very confusing to me. It bounces between tenses and timelines and from second to third person to first person. These switches felt jarring at times and took me away from the story every time I had to reorient myself so that I could try and piece together what the was going on.

All in all, I have to give major props to the author’s creativity and ambition, but be forewarned that is the sort of book that requires rereading over passages and a lot of brain juice.

Thank you, NetGalley and Del Rey, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book! I am at a loss for words but so full of feeling. This is a very special book.

The Spear Cuts Through Water is an epic in the ancient and most grand sense of that word. It uses first, second, and third person narration to tell a story that is all at once about our connections to family and homeland, the nature of love, and the fall of a tyrannical dynasty. The style takes some getting used to but is well worth sticking with because it is part of what lets this story be so intricate and intimate.

It is a long book and it felt long but every bit of that length also felt warranted. The world building spirals outward and is clear and creative- the tortoises alone are enough to make it fascinating. The writing is lyrical and beautiful but avoids feeling overwrought. The characters are clearly defined and I felt connection with even some who made only brief appearances. This book!!

Please read this book. It’s really special. Ambitious, creative, and powerful. It’s a myth, a performance, and- most importantly- a love story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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I loved this book so much!

I have already posted reviews to Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Amazon.
I am also planning to post to my bookstagram about the book.

Finally, finally, after nearly two weeks of struggling, I am done with this book. I don’t think I’ve ever had such complicated feelings before, or struggled as much with a book I couldn’t help but see as excellent in many ways. I wonder if perhaps I might have loved it in another mood and another time, if it’s me or the book, but in the end, it’s no use.

This is a story with many layers. It’s a story of a goddess fallen from the sky trying to right the wrongs she caused. It is the mythical story of two young men and their quests. It is the story of the person invited to the Inverted Theater to witness and then forget it. It is ambitious and experimental and beautifully told, masterfully intertwining first, second, and third person POV. It attempts to touch on themes of of redemption and identity and imperialism and family. It should have been just up my alley.

And I hated almost every second of it.

The beginning was unengaging, but then, beginnings often are, especially when I’m in no particular mood. I thought it’ll get easier and hook me eventually, but it never did. I was never particularly confused by what was going on, I’m used to confusing literary fantasy and going with the flow, but the main plot was incredibly boring until about 70% in and mediocre from there on, and the opaqueness of the style got in the way of even remotely connecting to the characters. The almost-grimdark level of graphic violence (though the book is, ultimately, in no way nihilistic) didn’t help my enjoyment either.

The story may have been enough for a standalone volume but it still collapsed a little under the weight of its ambition. It was such a slog I nearly DNF’d about three times. The last of those, at 60% or so, I finally caved and skipped forwards to catch a glimpse of the ending. Satisfied and curious to see that, I went back to where I left off and read on. A drastic measure for me – but I finished it. The ending was quite good (though again, not without hiccups) and a far smoother ride, but it did not make up for the resentment of having had to drag myself though the rest, fighting every step of the way. Perhaps I should have DNF’d after all.

Ultimately, this is a book I respect more than liked, or enjoyed.

I may be an idiot but I don’t understand this book. It’s thick with symbolism that makes it such a chore to read.

Impressed as I was by Simon Jimenez‘ beautiful and moving first novel, The Vanished Birds, I have to say I’m just staggered by his second, The Spear Cuts Through Water. Using the second person, the narrator lures “you” with intensely lyrical but dramatically apt prose into a world between worlds. One of several story tellers within the story, “your lola”, an often short tempered elder talking to a young man of a recent era, envelopes her listener in a cloud of smoke, as she urges him to “let the dreaming body go.” He does so and steps out of a cloud into the world of the Inverted Theater.
The Spear Cuts Through Water

This is a timeless nether world where the dreaming shades of people from many times and places mingle as the story comes to life on the stage. An attendant “unfurls the parchment of your people’s history” and locates him in an age of trains and steamships, where there is a war, so it is also a time of posters and propaganda. The listener does not understand why he has been called here but focuses on a spear he finds in his hands, an intricately carved heirloom that no one in his family was allowed to touch. This spear is a focus of the story he is about to hear, one that places him in a long lineage that slowly reveals itself in the performance of the Inverted Theater.

So begins The Spear Cuts Through Water, an epic fantasy of the last days of the Moon Emperor and his sons, the three Terrors, over a period of five days. Events of mythic proportions break through all conventions of place and time as the Moon God, embodied in the withered form of a woman who appears almost dead, empowers two young men to fight on her behalf and ultimately restore her to her lover, the vast Sea. These two are Keema, a one-armed warrior of Daware, who is entrusted with the spear that he must deliver to a soldier named Shan, and Jun, one of the sons of the First Terror, who betrays his imperial family and all its cruelties to escort the Moon God on her journey to fulfill her destiny.

...........
The Spear Cuts Through Water is an amazing achievement that works on many levels. It’s a story that richly repays re-reading to linger over its beautiful details, as one would pause over the tapestry of life that is one of its key metaphors. In a year crowded with remarkable SFF novels, this stands out as one of the best.

The writing was so hard to follow, that I almost gave up about 5% into it. But after it got passed the 2nd person part, it got more interesting and easier for me to understand. There were still confusing parts, but that's my problem not the book's. I liked the writing for the most part and the parts of it that I could understand. If you like grimdark fantasy and want a different writing style, then I would recommend this book. I definitely understand why people would love it.

This was a dnf for me. I gave it about 100 pages, but it was not for me. I think it's the writing style that I didn't care for. It just wasn't for me.

First, a big thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouseBallantine for the free book #TheSpearCutsThroughWater - the opinions are my own.

I don't quite know where to begin. I have no words to adequately describe the creative format of this story. As the blurb says, I've never read anything like it. And to be honest, it took me a bit to get into the flow and get past thinking "this is weird". Because after a few pages, weird became brilliant. Told in 1st/2nd/3rd person at various times, some might find that off-putting. Don't let it stop you from trying this book. It's handled so deftly and is so intrinsic to the story, I can't imagine another way to tell it.

In the most simplistic terms it's the epic story of five days in the life of 2 young men as they take an ancient god across the country to try to end the rule of the tyrannical royal family. The main plot is of the two warriors and their trek and is told in 3rd person; the secondary plot is told in 2nd person and pulls you out of that story a bit as the narrator relates bits of his life in the 'current' time; then the genius part is the random 1st person comments dropped into the narrative as exclamation points from a unspecified character about the current events. Hmmmm. I think if I read what I just wrote in a review, I would take a pass on the book. Please don't. The characters are wonderfully drawn, and following the relationship between Keema and Jun is a pleasure.

The plot is not particularly complex. The storytelling is. It's complex, and beautiful, and thought provoking. Part myth/legend/folklore, this is not a book to breeze through, but one to relish and savor. I wouldn't say it's a particularly quick read, not because of the page count, but because of the depth of the story. A treasure of a book. Be sure to read it.

What a startlingly original story. Breathtaking, other worldly and exceptionally written. This is the most unique writing style and story I've read this year and in a very long time.

I feel so honored to have read this book! If you like high fantasy's that need your full attention to truly appreciate the message, this is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Simon Jiminez for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a uniquely told story that caught me off guard. The telling bounces from first person, to second, to third, as well as telling a story within a story. It took me a bit to understand what was going on and the chapters are very long, with the 'Before' chapter the length of a novella. At times I still didn't quite understand the flow of things, most of the book takes place over five days but there would be references to things happening over several days that didn't line up. Maybe I just misunderstood? I'll definitely have to reread this at some point and see if it makes more sense.

The main characters are Jun and Keema, who are tasked with getting the god to freedom and stopping her horrible sons for good. I liked both characters and seeing their relationship evolve over the journey. There's not really enough romance for me to tag it, but there's something there and I hoped the guys would get their happy ending.

For a longer book, this was quick paced and felt a lot shorter. I really enjoyed this one and will be looking into the author's other works.

There are a few gruesome scenes, particularly cannibalism, that readers may want to be aware of. There's also death, dismemberment, and overall violence. Check content warnings on the book's page if you have any concerns.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Del Rey Books and NetGalley for the copy

The Spear Cuts Through Water was my first introduction to author Simon Jimenez. I could immediately see why he is so celebrated. However, his style of writing is simply not what I prefer to read. If you like literary fiction and surreal non-linear chapters, then you will probably love it! His voice is unique and and his writing is fresh, but it just wasn't for me.

Wow, 4.5⭐️ that may get rounded up to 5 depending on how this sits with me. What an amazing undertaking, a nice thick book that a review cannot possibly explain. The structure of the book and the writing were truly next level, incredibly skillful and unique. Bravo Jimenez! I Loved the characters, so fleshed out and real, even those we saw only snapshots of, I felt I knew them well with just a few short sentences of explanation.

Then the plot - I was confused for the first 10% then had the "oh that's what you are doing, ok, yaaa I like that!" moment around that point and really loved it up until maybe 50%. It felt like the intermission was slowing the plot down a bit too much, but it did build my anticipation so ok, successfully done on the authors part. And then at the 70% mark up until the end I just couldn't stop, and was thinking about what would happen while I wasn't reading.

The book is long but worth it, and so unique, a great ride. Excited to read more from Jimenez.

This was an exceptional read in every way. The style, the voice, the story - all exceptions to all rules. This is not a read that everyone will appreciate, but if you give yourself a chance to get comfortable in Jimenez's storytelling, it is so easy to fall in love with the characters. The cadence of the style becomes easier as you read and you stop losing track of who is talking and where you are in time. I won't say you have to "suffer" through the first few sections, because it's not that intense; but if you aren't open to Jimenez's rhythm, I can imagine this story would be painful to get through. That being said, if you are open and able, this story will stay with you for a long time after you finish it. It's beautifully and completely told, with fully developed lore and so many voices that every detail is clear. As you follow the warriors through their quest, paired with "your" journey watching the story unfold, you can't help but become invested in how it all ends. It truly is a love story in the deepest way. I cannot recommend highly enough that readers take on this challenge - it's worth the reward.

**Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC**

I genuinely don’t know where to start or how to review this book. The Spear Cuts Through Water is a book unmatched in storytelling and delivery and definitely my favourite book of the year. Despite it being told in a way I’m not accustomed to or done in other books, I’m in awe of how everything blended together to form a gripping story after a couple of pages.

This book releases today and I’m hoping my review urges you to pick up this book and be immersed into this fresh world. Albeit it will not be everyone’s cup of tea but I do ask you to be patient with the story and let it guide you with the flow.

“For you are the Moon who cursed us with this gift.”

story within a story
I’m honestly a huge fan of this form of storytelling done right. It sets up the right stakes and there’s so much to explore, like peeling off layers of the story. Conveying multiple nested stories until it all clicks together is an art, one Simon Jimenez has mastered. There are several perspectives involved along with the use of 1st, 2nd and 3rd person to provide for all the twists and emotional impacts in the story. The summary doesn’t do this book justice, because as you’re introduced to the Inverted Theater, it’s as if you as a reader are witnessing the story unfold in that theater along with the unnamed narrator who is being told these stories about the Old World. And even though we hear from the minor characters, it doesn’t seem unnecessary, just something to help solidify the gravity of events.

an epic fantasy at it’s core
Through the unnamed narrator we witness the main storyline, about two warriors Jun, the grandson of the emperor and Keema, the disabled guard, who are roped into a quest to rescue a god from The Moon Throne, the tyrannical rulers of their land. With folklore woven effortlessly into the magic, action and setting of the story, The Spear Cuts Through Water has all elements of a fantasy world but the kind that’s surreal and unhinged in all those aspects. And a violent kind too, as the book definitely has gory themes but they perfectly fit into the characterization and world of the novel.

Speaking of characters, I was immediately invested in Jun and Keema’s dynamic and the pure yearning they develop for each other. I loved being opened up to their complicated personalities, from reluctant travel companions to their love for each other.

In fact most of the characters are very clearly imagined with necessary contributions to the plot, Simon Jimenez definitely has a knack for rooting characters into the reader’s brain within a short time.

observes the manifestation of love
We’re hit with the quote above at a point in the story where the narrator’s grandmother tells it to him and it accurately pierces the core of the story. We not only have a compelling and violent love story between the two protagonists but also see how love drives people’s actions, good and bad, and serves as a ray of hope. It’s brilliant how most of the characters are motivated by their want or scorn for love and Jimenez’s mind portrays the consequences for both in a fabulous way.

brilliantly imagined
As a huge lover of mythology and folklore in novels, I found the narrative of The Spear Cuts Through Water so engaging. It has an incredible and expressive prose, and with all the plot twists incoming reading this book was nothing short of a cinematic experience. Even though there was a lot to absorb, at times I was just left stunned by the writing and the emotion behind the sentences. Stunning imageries littered here and there left me in awe.

I was so intrigued by the history of the world and the glimpses we get of it through Jun and Keema’s five day journey — and it’s not just a couple of perspectives but we get insights from the most insignificant characters in first person. I would normally be put off by it but I realised how well this structure worked for the novel as I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I loved Simon Jimenez’s previous work, The Vanished Birds, and I’m happy to say that this too is a masterpiece and I hope he keeps serving. The Spear Cuts Through Water is an exhilarating and glorious tale, that if you’re hooked onto, will have you at the edge of your seat. It’s an ambitious and unconventional fantasy novel with heavy themes (check CWs) and a strange exploration of perspectives that might challenge readers, but I truly hope it finds its way to the ones who would appreciate the substance of the story!

An Epic Fantasy Folktale

In this story within a story, two young warriors are tasked with taking an ancient god across a land ruled by a tyrannical emperor, the Smiling Sun, and his three sons. Each of the sons is hungry for power and worse than the last. The quest takes five days, each described in a section. These sections are not like regular chapters and are very long.

The first section of the book sets up the scene. It’s a story telling session where the Lola tells stories of the past. This is the part that gives the feeling of an elder telling folktales. It sets the scene well, but is a bit slow, and it’s long.

This is an intricately plotted book. The author has done an excellent job introducing the reader to not only the main characters, but many minor characters as well. He has given each character a unique voice which I found excellent. Although the world Jimenez creates is brutal, he pulls you into it. All the brutality makes sense in the world he has created.

If you enjoy fantasy this is a book you may like. It isn’t for everyone, however. It’s long and detailed, and the author switches voices. This can by hard to follow, but it also adds a depth to the story that is quite remarkable.

The Vanished Birds, Jiminez’s earlier novel, is quite different, but if you enjoyed that one, this one is worth trying.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Real Rating: 4.75* of five, rounded up for ambition and talent rewarding purposes

How do you read your books? Tree book, ebook, ear reading? Where are you when you experience the stories you consume...bed, chair, front seat of the car, public transportation? All of these factors will come into play while experiencing this read.

I myownself am an obligate librocubicularist. It was a little challenging at first, reading this magisterially paced polyphony while within easy reach of the off switches on all my lighting devices. I was lights-out far more than once in the first quarter, maybe because I wasn't sure this story was going somewhere I entirely wanted to go. Especially as there's a hefty salting of second-person narration to endure as the price for learning how love animates and exculpates both lover and belovèd. What one receives for this benison bestowed on the narrative is a story of the impossibility of eternal power, unending dominance, unchallenged imperium. In the end, glory is fleeting because humans are ephemeral.

The roles we accept, and even eagerly seek, aren't unique to us. I think Jung was by far the closest to grasping the eternal truth when he posited archetypes, those massively misunderstood and mischaracterized patterns of being. But each of us seems to seek a pattern, a focus of individuation, and that seems or feels to us and to others as an inevitable end-point of a life-long search. Is it? It is for Jun and for Keema, whose story this (ultimately) is.

Echoes from a distant past? This story is. Explicitly. Designs for a present? This story is, not so explicitly though. It's decolonization writ personal; it's the massive machinery of culture caught in the tsunami of rage arising from inequality. It's deep, and very dark, and shot through with the awful truth of violence. It's just like, in other words, the real world around you.

Jun and Keema, the men whose love animates the story from beginning to end, aren't going to do the wild thing for your amusement. They are going to manifest for you the eternal story of accepting the love patiently offered you, in spite of believing you're not worthy of it. If you believe you're not worthy, you aren't; because the offering is not to you, but to the one you will become with the gift accepted.

That's not a truth I expected to see made so plain in a fantasy novel. A lot gets heaped on all the players in this astoundingly violent tale. It's shocking what hatred, spurned love, multivalent deprivation will drive a person to enact on the world. It's far and away the hardest of life's lessons to see that without one's own rage obscuring the real source of the problem. Othering and disempowering might be the means to gaining temporary, temporal acquiescence. They do nothing to improve the long-term odds of success for those who Other, who disempower, who use their own weapons against those they need to succeed. Those who use the weapon forget the other edge, the power of the spirit.

And that is the ultimate truth of the spear, the artifact and symbol of the disempowered, the metaphor for power as it is transferred in the world of rank and division. It is, in its very nature, a symbol of what enables leaders to become dictators. It is supremely easy to pass the spear on through family lines. It is always the case that the spear is turned against its user.

Never forget that. Who lives by the sword, dies by it as readily.

But Jun? His Keema keeps him safe from the spear. In spite of everything they've seen, they've been to and for and against each other, Keema is the one whose patient offering of love never wavers even when it morphs. That's how you know it's the love Jun needs, and that's how Jun finally knows he is not Jun, but Keema's Jun.

No one who has the patience, the fortitude not to check out of its reality back into ours, to read this uniquely told story will leave it the same person as they entered it. That's the best thing I can thnk of to say about a story.

Sprawling and orginal. This book is epic. I’ve never read this author before, but getting this ARC has added yet another author on my list to watch for. It reminded me of the fantasy stories I grew up reading.

I’ll admit that I came to this story expecting something like The Vanished Birds, and that expectation failed almost immediately. That isn't a bad thing.

If you are looking for a fantasy quest, The Spear has got your back. Our main plot follows Jun and Keema, on a mission to protect the Moon Goddess as she destroys the reign of her murderous sons, the Three Terrors. Under their rule the land has become a desperate and starving country, unsafe to travel alone, even for a goddess. We’ve got a broken turtle who can smell feelings, a purple bird whose love language is violence, and spliff smoking Apes for all your fantasy creature needs. There are sword fights and a battle with a giant, really a one-stop shop for fantasy fare.

But Spear isn’t just a run-of-the-mill fantasy. This is a story about identity in the face of obligation, an homage to the immigrant family, and, above all, a demand to be seen. Jimenez takes real risks to deliver a vulnerable and honest look into his mind, indulging his creativity for maximum reward. Although the narrative style takes some getting used too, it lends the story a sense of intimacy and depth that could not have been achieved with a more traditional structure.

Overall, I enjoyed this story immensely. Jimenez has a talent for making fantastical situations relatable and injecting humor in the most unexpected ways. (If you don’t laugh during the bear scene, I have to ask why you are so opposed to joy.) My only real issue was the climax being drawn out for far too long, certain aspects felt redundant, which lessened my enjoyment. Even so, this is a tale meant to be read again, if only for the prose, and I look forward to that experience in the near future.

This book will not be for everybody, it is challenging in ways that will turn off some readers. I recommend this book for seasoned fantasy readers, seeking an ambitious story that is heavily influenced by oral story telling traditions.

This book is pure storytelling! I loved this book. You might need patience to get going but the creativity and beauty of this book are so worth it!

This is one of the most interesting and original books I’ve read this year! When I first sat down to read this book I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was such a nice surprise to learn that the author is Filipino-American like myself! Additionally, the unique narration made it feel like it truly was my lola recounting the myths of our family’s past. The tale Jimenez weaves is intricate and emotional, consisting of stories within stories and overlapping perspectives. Does this style make it hard to follow if you’re not invested? Perhaps. But I think that it emphasizes the point that everyone’s story is important and worth hearing, from our heroes to characters that appear once. The Spear Cuts Through Water is everything I want in a fantasy book and more; It’s a love story, a mythic quest, and the writing is challenging yet thoughtful. It is a refreshing and much-needed step in the right direction for fantasy literature.