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Book Review
Jan. 6th, 2026 09:36 pmThe Spear Cuts Through Water
by Simon Jimenez
This fantasy novel was just gorgeous. It's a very simple story at it's core. Keema and Jun, two young warriors with a lot of violence and death weighing on them, escort a dying goddess to the eastern shore in order to end the brutal rule of a tyrannical dynasty. It's how Jimenez does it that is so magical and lovely. He uses a double narrative frame to contain the story and place it in both the mythic past and the world of dreams. He briefly interjects the inner thoughts of various characters, from our protagonists down to random passers-by, creating both a set of up close and distant perspectives on the action and a kind of Greek chorus commenting on it. And yet none of this obfuscates the narrative or overly complicates it. He neatly weaves together many themes around family, redemption, liberation, and, of course, love. It's just beautiful.
by Simon Jimenez
This fantasy novel was just gorgeous. It's a very simple story at it's core. Keema and Jun, two young warriors with a lot of violence and death weighing on them, escort a dying goddess to the eastern shore in order to end the brutal rule of a tyrannical dynasty. It's how Jimenez does it that is so magical and lovely. He uses a double narrative frame to contain the story and place it in both the mythic past and the world of dreams. He briefly interjects the inner thoughts of various characters, from our protagonists down to random passers-by, creating both a set of up close and distant perspectives on the action and a kind of Greek chorus commenting on it. And yet none of this obfuscates the narrative or overly complicates it. He neatly weaves together many themes around family, redemption, liberation, and, of course, love. It's just beautiful.
