Book Review: Spear Cuts Through Water

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez is an inventive fantasy book with the feel of a folktale. I found getting into it slow, but once in, I found myself swept into three worlds folded as one. Jimez took the hardest part of fantasy, building a believable world, and tripled it: the present war-torn world, the world of the Inverted Theatre, and the world play being performed on the stage. While the Theatre dominates the narrative, the play only makes sense when embedded in the other two worlds. In the play, which took place in the distant past, the Moon Goddess is dying. She has been trapped for centuries by the tyrannical ruling family of the Old Country. Her sons, the Three Terrors, strike fear into the hearts of all. The Moon Goddess frees herself with the help of her grandson, Jun. The Moon Goddess and Jun meet Keema, whose own fate and oaths get tied to theirs. The person watching the play is trying to find answers about himself, his family, and how his family came into possession of the titular spear in the play. The author involves the reader by using second person for the first two worlds. Thus the reader is constantly being addressed. He makes the third world more immediate by the use of showing the thoughts of passing characters. These thoughts show up in italics. They may be people in a crowd or soldiers who do not wish to die, but they become real for just a sentence or two. This book is certainly not for the squeamish as it contains pretty graphic violence. It is a fantasy world of war and conflict. It’s the story of a boy trying to understand his place in his world. It’s a story of heroes and goddesses. It’s a love story. “But you don’t have to take my word for it”, as LeVar Burton always says. Read The Spear Cuts through Water and let us know what you think.

Just like all our other reviews, if you’d like to pick up a copy locally, check out Artefaktual, right across the street from our own theatre in Philippi, WV.