This book is hyped - and it earns every bit of it. The story is compelling, the language is poetic and precise. I read it in a single sitting - it's not really built for that, but I couldn't put it down. I was sure early on that a key thing Cyrus believed about his life would be false, and it was, but seeing it coming didn't diminish the experience at all. I'd recommend this to pretty much anyone looking for an absorbing, through-provoking, well-written book; in fact, I have been, and we can't keep it on our shelves. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Martyr is a lyrical tour-de-force, evocative prose swinging the reader along line to line. It missed the mark for me personally, but this was perhaps a case of mismatched audience. Akbar's talent stands starkly out in his poetry, that is evident here, and reading this story as a collection of scenes made this work better for me than relying on the plot for a cohesive storyline. I came into Martyr expecting to love it, and was disappointed when it fell short, but enjoyed Cyrus' existential musings nonetheless.

ARC from Netgalley

There are parts of this novel that really are astonishing. Certainly, you can detect a poet at work. A love for the sound of language is obvious, especially in the opening pages. Whenever Orkhideh and Zee are present, the pages felt real and full of life. Unfortunately. my reading experience was uneven, and I really struggled with the lack of authorial decision making. After the first 20% of the book, there is a lack of narrative focus, full of meandering and exploratory storylines and dream-sequences and characters sketches. This could have been a profound novel, but it succeeds only partly.

Martyr! is in part an ode to our embarkation throughout our lives to curate an archive of art by others that touches us, that we in turn use as motivation for our own creation, while also serving as a beautiful, important, and layered testament to the story of a young Iranian man struggling with addiction, grief, loss, and a sense of meaninglessness.

The novel is comprised of multiple storytelling styles, mainly our protagonist’s personal narrative, but also rotating historic flashbacks from family members and such’s points of view, and excerpts and journalistic thoughts on uncovered research on largely known martyred figures. We experience our protagonist Cyrus’ current life and relative history in a rounded multitude of ways, perspectives and points that slowly form a larger picture in and between themselves.

Cyrus, overwrought from a life rife with addiction (“—booze flashing its different lenses in front of your face and sometimes, for a second, it’d be the right prescription— beyond your grief, beyond your doom. That was the clarity alcohol, and nothing else, gave.”) and the loss of both of his parents, wants to die; more accurately, he wants to die for something so meaningful as to give his personally opined “small scale life” meaning. “‘I want my life — my death — to matter more than that.’ ‘You want to be a martyr?’ ‘I guess. Yeah, actually. Something like that.’” Cyrus, like so many of us, belittles his meaning and importance in others lives, as well as belittling his career as a poet and artist; between intermittent forays into his own past, traveling to see a real life terminally ill aspiring martyr, and spending time with his best friend he takes for granted, Cyrus slowly builds a frame made from his history to eventually encase the masterpiece of his enlightened future.

“In Isfahan, the old capital, soldiers showed up unannounced at the doors of old women, saying, ‘Congratulations, your sons have been martyred.’ — They were the lucky ones. Inside Tehran’s Revolution Square, the sons of other mothers hung from cranes.”

In regards to what kept this book from a rating of 5 stars, for me, was due to an insignificant but still present collection of slights. I found a handful of the analogies to be almost non-sensical, occasionally evoking comparisons not accurate or apt, or unfit to the situation they were likened to. As well as this, I found a bit of small-scale repetition in certain details that I was apprehensive to label as purposeful or redundant. Despite these faults, I still found Martyr! a deeply entertaining and enlightening read, especially for anyone interested in furthering their knowledge on any of the topics presented, as this novel was definitely a compelling way to explore them.

In “Martyr!”, A man who has experienced so much loss seeks to shed his addictive tendencies, encompassing grief, and lost identity, initiating an emotional and physical journey of intense depth to gain meaning and understanding in his work and in himself. Gathering the essences and motivations of famous martyrs, documenting their legacies, Cyrus weaves a tapestry of martyrdom that will document deaths but inspire him in life: he will document lives lost for different poignant and personal reasons in order to find something to passionately live for.

“A martyr wears simple footwear, he thought to himself.”

Akbar is a poetic genius. The character of Cyrus is trying to find his place in the world and peace with himself. He has struggled with addiction and at times, is ready to give up. But he wants his death to be meaningful.
Even though the subject matter can be intense, Akbar inflicts poetic humor to divert the reader. There are chapters narrated by his mother and father as well as dreams.
I loved every page and can't wait to see what comes next for this amazing writer.
Highly recommend.
Thanks to Net Galley and Knopf for an advance read.

I have been a long time fan of Kaveh Akbar's poetry, so I was incredibly excited for his first novel. He is an incredibly talented writer and I think he will go down as one of the greatest writers of this generation. I really enjoyed his novel. As I expected, he wrote such full, complex characters and really made me feel like they were real people with real struggles and hardships. I can't wait to see what else he does next and I highly recommend his poetry for those who haven't read any yet.

Stunning debut novel dealing with many topics including forgiveness, family, loss, addiction, love. It is so beautifully written, so poetic, so complex, convoluted, taking me on a journey, giving me glimpses of Iranian culture, history, life. There was so much more to this read than I expected.

Reading "Martyr!" was an unexpected delight in every sense. Despite its heavy themes of death, addiction, and mental health, the book surprised me with moments of genuine laughter and joy. While it certainly made me reflect deeply on its weighty topics, it also explored themes of friendship, love, art, culture, and identity, infusing the narrative with a sense of upliftment and optimism.

This was my first experience reading Kaveh Akbar's work, and I can already say I'm officially a fan. Thank you to the publisher for my advanced copy of this book...I know this will be the title I'm recommending to people the rest of the year!

MARTYR! is one of the most unique books I’ve read in a while, but it falls victim to some common pitfalls. Its protagonist, Cyrus Shams, wants to die. He can’t stop thinking about his own death. Yes, he’s suicidal, but more than that, he wants his death to mean something: Martyrdom is on his mind. His parents both died in ways that he felt lacked meaning, providing kindling for his fixation on death. Cyrus is a poet, so he decides to channel his questions about death into a piece of art, exploring Iranian cultural traditions, famous martyrs, and performance art along the way.

When have you read a summary like that before!? I’ve read a lot of book summaries but never one like that. A lot of the book delivers on the premise. Early chapters are witty and snappy, not at all flowery like you might expect from a book by a poet. Characters find themselves in memorable scenarios and have frank conversations. There’s exploration of identity and addiction that feels novel and layered.

Enter the subplots. And the flashbacks. And the dream sequences. And the chapters where Cyrus has the same conversation over and over. And the overly convenient plot developments that strain credulity. All of this extra stuff is an attempt to put the reader in Cyrus’s mind and explicate the book’s themes, and while I appreciate that, it’s not well-executed. These extraneous chapters interrupt what’s working about the plot. They’re repetitive, too, making their inclusion feel even less necessary. They steal focus from the heart of the story when they should be bolstering and explaining it.

There’s a fantastic novel in here to go along with the fantastic cover… I just wish it wasn’t obscured by a whole lot of clutter.

An interesting, engaging look at love, loss, and acceptance. Both funny and touching, this book was so much more than I expected.

This is deeply moving and engaging; I can see Kaveh Akbar's poetic impulses at work here in the different POVs and descriptions. Admittedly, I found Orkideh's chapters the most intriguing, but the way Akbar interweaves them with Cyrus' personal journey is masterful.

A moving and poetic novel, really contemplative and well woven. I liked the shift in narration perspective and the snippets of Cyrus's book. Overall unique and memorable.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for early access!


What a fantastic debut novel. I loved the writing so much! You can tell that Akbar is a poet, the sentences are beautiful and I could have picked each one apart. Martyr! covers a lot of big stuff: addiction, love, death, grief but it doesn’t totally bum you out. Cyrus was so voicey and gets into a lot of messes but discovers himself in the end. Worth the read!

Martyr was an absolutely phenomenal novel. This story was beautiful and heart wrenching all at the same time. It was full of culture, identity, recovery and art all intertwined beautifully as the main character comes to terms with his own identity and sobriety after being orphaned in his 20s. An excellent read

It took me a long time to get through the book, not due to the quality of writing (which was excellent from start to finish), but due to its meandering, nonlinear nature and its skipping back and forth between several characters. I did find the main character to be compelling and sympathetic and someone to root for from start to finish, but this book may not be for everyone due to its nonlinear structure.

I did not enjoy this novel as much as I hoped. It is story of a flawed man struggling with and self-examining himself. The prose is beautiful. However, the writing is choppy and does not flow. I found this difficult to read – not the subject, but the writing itself. I suspect that this choppiness is part of the story of self-discovery, forgiveness – it is not straight path. Nonetheless, it took me 3 weeks to read a book a I would usually finish in a few days.

The book is excellent – just not my cup of tea. I am hugely appreciative of reading different genres. Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for an early read in exchange for a fair review.

I was excited to read a novel written by a poet and was not disappointed. Thank you again to Netgally and the publisher for the early access.

Martyr! is a big story with a big heart, with sweeping prose and a protagonist in Cyrus Shams that we can't help but root for.

Cyrus is kind of obsessed with death and dying, with loss. His mother died when he was young and his father moved them from Iran to the United States. We meet Cyrus at rock bottom, in Indiana, contemplating the combination of pills and booze that will keep him in oblivion, looking for a miracle. Fast forward a few years and Cyrus is in recovery, wanting to make a difference, wanting to make art that matters.

Told with chapters interweaving Cyrus' linear story, official government bulletins for the shot down Iranian passenger plane in which his mother died, Cyrus' poems, conversations he uses to fall asleep, excerpts from the Book of Martyrs that Cyrus is writing (yep, a book within the book), Martyr! draws you in. I loved this book, pulling for Cyrus on every page. It's not an easy read - he's an addict in recovery - yet the richness and depth of the story transcends.

As research for his book, a friend suggests that Cyrus go to New York to an exhibit of performance art where the artist is...dying. Museum visitors "will be invited to speak with the artist during the final weeks and days of her life, which she will spend onsite at the museum". This arc is the heart of the story, a story that already has a lot of heart.

Martyr! is the debut novel from Kaveh Akbar, an award-winning poet. The beauty of his words is a gift. This novel is gut-wrenching, funny, anguished, and hopeful. It defies genre. I didn't want it to end. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC.

"It seems very American to expect grief to change something. Like a token you cash in. A formula. Grieve x amount, receive y amount of comfort. Work a day in the grief mines and get paid in tickets to the company store."

MARTYR! by kaveh akbar is a poetic masterpiece and an existential tour de force. akbar abandons the traditional linear plot in favor of cerebral character studies that explore the complicated connections we form within ourselves, between each other, and with the universe itself. the best advice i can give you for this book is to go in without expectation -- don't hype it up, don't get discouraged by its unconventional nature. just let it exist as something you experience -- that's where you'll really feel it's immense power take hold.

this is the story of a conflicted 20-something iranian-born and american-raised recovering addict named cyrus shams. cryus is determined to make his life matter, or die trying. as you move through his thought processes and coping mechanisms, you can't help but see this novel as a collection of some of the most beautiful, evocative, charming, and heartbreaking writing on the subjects of identity, liminal spaces, and the search for meaning.

i love when poets write prose. like ocean vuong before him, kaveh akbar's writing stopped me in my tracks. this book covers a ton of big topics, but akbar's devotion to the economy of language manages the unmanageable like only a poet can. i've been a devoted fan of his poetry for years, but his foray into fiction was genuinely stunning. i took so many notes and highlighted so much of this book that it almost felt interactive. i also gave myself the gift of listening to the audiobook -- arian moayed's narration skills really added a beautiful texture and level of immersion that made this novel an instant five star read.

5/5 genre-defying stars ✨

I am a big fan of this author's poetry so I was excited to read his first novel! Unfortunately, this read like a Poet writing a fiction book, instead of a fiction book in its own right. The middle third was slow, until Cyrus went to New York. The final third was beautiful and a great fulfillment of the seeds planted in the first part of the book.