This book is a masterpiece of language and ideas. It's filled to bursting with metaphor and thematic meaning without ever letting its plot buckle under the weight of them. It has so many ideas, so many things to say, and such beautiful prose to say them with. It's got the whimsy of The Night Circus and The Starless Sea but with the post-apocalyptic edge and opinions about the evils of capitalism of The Gone-Away World; it has the weirdness of The City & the City but with actual magic; it makes literal and magical what 1984 suggests about the power of language. It's thoughtful and action-filled and queer. It is wholly original and unique, and I adored it.

It may sound like damning with faint praise to talk first about the mechanistic stuff, the ways the ideas are expressed, but honestly the fact that it does those things so well is so very impressive. It's really hard to imbue a story with clear philosophical point of view without having that smack you in the face, and this does that. It is a difficult thing to seed the plot points you will use in the future without making it obvious you are doing so, and to give a story an ending that is properly satisfying. On a technical level, the prose is lyrical but never leaves me feeling adrift in an unfamiliar world: there's a lot of action and different locations, and they're all clear and fleshed-out. Despite the sheer volume of things that happen, the narrative feels continuous, not episodic.

That structural stuff is important because the ideas this book is conveying are nuanced and beautiful and weird and fun. It's a book about the ways that naming things gives them structure and boxes them in, how it limits as well as defines, and how it allows you to create an "us" and a "them" (and how delightful a send-up of fascist propaganda to have an enemy that is literally unnameable). It explores what Terry Pratchett called Narrative Causality, the ways in which the words we use to describe ourselves shape who we are. It's an extended metaphor for the process of self-exploration and the attempt to understand our thoughts by putting words to them, and it's a warning about the ways that doing so robs us of flexibility.

Lest it sound like this book is all just philosophical waffling, I note that there is so much plot. There's action and intrigue and mysteries and romantic tension, chasing and fighting, magic and whimsy. What's great is that it slides in between all those events a lot of strong ideas. I love a book with strong ideas, especially so when those ideas are anarchist and queer. This is a book that explicitly says that there was no difference between men and women until there were different names. It's hard not to read diviners and couriers arguing about which job is easier as an acknowledgement that self-exploration and coming out are equally difficult tasks. The literal burning of dreams for fuel is poignant, as is the exploitation of ancestral resources by making ghosts work in factories.

This is a book about metaphor, about how the language we use to describe ourselves shapes ourselves. Importantly, the ideas it has about that are all told in metaphor themselves. It tells a story about stories without beating you over the head with it. It is a masterpiece.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this novel about the power of words, the power of love, and how dreams can literally come true in many different ways.

My youngest nephew had two phrases that he mastered quite quickly once he started talking. "I'm ok," was something he said constantly as the boy could fall in an empty hallway with nothing around, a level of clumsiness that even his Uncle a bit of clod still finds astounding. His next was "What you got?". This came up constantly. He loved to know what things were. What was in your hand, what was on your pizza, what was on your shoe.He would ask these questions, and try his best to give them back. This interest, this need to name things is why I think he is so smart and loquacious today. And sarcastic, so sarcastic. Words made up his world, and he wanted to understand his world, hence the questions. The power of words are at the center of this post-apocalyptic fantasy novel The Naming Song, by Jedediah Berry. Set in a time of confusion, where great trains travel the landscape, bringing knowledge, entertainment, hope, and in some cases big trouble.

At some point the words just went away, and life changed for everyone in this new world of chaos and disorder. Ghosts began to walk the Earth, and monsters began to be formed from dreams, some hideous, some small and friendly. Some people began to form groups, committees to name objects, for to name something is to help people understand. These committees expanded, as government does, soon there were groups fighting dream monsters. Some groups began to control the ghosts, finding uses for ghosts as servants, or even as fuel for the machines they needed. Diviners pull the words from the ether, and give them to couriers, who travel to towns and share these new words with others. One courier was unique among the committees as she had no name. And was involved in an attack by forces from beyond the border, the nameless, that left many people dead. The Courier slowly comes to realize that something much bigger is going on. People are lying, and words are being corrupted. And the Courier has a fear that her long lost sister might be involved.

This is a big book with lots of ideas, and one that many probably would have made a 5-part series out of. As such it does take a bit to get into, but give it time, and one will get a very unique story about the power of word, live theater, and love in many ways. And death in many more ways. The world building unfurls like a parchment, slowly, with things becoming clearer as one goes in. This is a rich world, one ripe for exploring, and I hope there are more books planned to take place here. Berry is a very good writer, with great characters designs and little things that really make the story. The use of trains, the importance of Ghosts. I haven't even written about the theater troupe that travels around sharing stories of the past, and what happens there. A lot happens here. There is a strong atmosphere, where things can go wrong quick, and characters can be hurt, even killed. A poetic novel about communication, and the importance of sharing feelings, thoughts and ideas, between, friends, family, lovers, even co-workers.

A really big book perfect for cold night reading, or really anytime reading. Genre fans will love it and role players will get a lot of good ideas from it about using words in their stories. And trains. More role playing games need trains. This is the first book I have read by Jedediah Berry, and I can't wait to read more.

This book was really interesting and I liked it.

Conceptually, it was difficult for me, and therefore took me longer to read. The language is beautiful, though, and powerful, and sometimes quite moving.

There is a lot of imagery and descriptions in this book and they add to the richness of the story.

I think this book would appeal to fans of The Night Circus and Ten Thousand Doors of January.

This book made me feel some things and I really enjoyed it in the end.

The Naming Song is an unusual quiet fantasy, vast in imagination and heart, but with a whispered delivery well suited to the ghosts that drift through its pages. Berry has created strange, slightly familiar world I was only too glad to get lost in, a dreamy landscape of trains and monsters and shifting borders, rooted by threads of love and discovery. I've never read anything quite like it!

In a world where names have power, the named and the nameless are at war. The Naming Song is a magical read for those in love with words.

A compelling blend of sci-fi and fantasy. The author creates a gripping story with well-developed characters and a plot that keeps you hooked. Overall, a fantastic read!