A review by gloriaexcelsis
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

adventurous reflective medium-paced

5.0

I can confidently say that this writing style in The Spear Cuts Through Water is a literary masterpiece. I felt like I was in a dream reading this and although it took me about 100 pages to catch on to what is happening (hard to follow at first), once it clicked the rest of the book just flew by and I never wanted it to end. 

It’s difficult to find a book with writing this poetic. The personification of everything, anaphoras in the prose, the juxtaposition of the characters, imagery so immersive that at one point I got to see the POV of a bird, and it was all so fascinating. 

This onion of a book was like opening a present, within a present, within a present. There were layers to this story and Jimenez incorporated heavy lore on the culture cultivated by lola who started this book by retelling this story to you as the reader then later as you watch a play unfold. 

Not only was the writing masterful but the plot and characters did not disappoint either. While the plot seems simple and follows 2 of the typical archetypes of The Quest and Rebirth where two young men are tasked to escort a goddess that will inevitably end a tryannical empire, Jimenez did a good job of problem stacking with each character–having both internal and external challenges they had to face and differing degrees of morality making them multi-layered. The main characters Jun and Keema reveal themes of true identity vs. destiny, duty and sacrifice for the greater good, and resilience while the side characters gave themes around grief and love. 

The author also did a good job of showing, not telling. For example: the second terror who obviously is not a good person, forces a dancer to dance for hours even if he was bored to make her suffer. That’s showing me that he care more about his reputation as a terror and willingly enjoys making other people suffer for his own enjoyment. 

There are flaws that are so minor that I’m not even considering them flaws but they may have an effect on your reading experience. The author focused on character traits rather than description early on in the book. What they look like does get revealed later on and was strategic to keep you thoroughly engaged, but for the purposes of imagery I would have personally liked this a bit earlier. 

The only reason I can’t recommend this for everyone is because it is simply not easy to follow, specially in the first hundred pages. If you’re confused at that point, it’s a rite of passage to the rest of the story. It’s not going to hold your hand and walk you through the concept, you get thrown into the deep end immediately. If you’re seasoned in fantasy and literary fiction, then I can’t recommend this enough