I've seen a few mixed and negative reviews of this book and I can understand why those reviews exist, despite wholeheartedly disagreeing with them. The book is certainly an acquired taste and I definitely don't consider it to be a quick and easy-to-read novel. When I began it and realised how post-modern and psychological the concept was, I even had doubts myself; however, the book was so incredible that, by halfway through, all of those doubts were gone. Despite not being a genre I would generally choose, this book is one of the most poignant novels I have read to date.
The plot of this book is difficult to explain, but the general concept is that people from ordinary cities in 1990 travel through a geographical zone that they will completely forget upon exiting, into a mostly undiscovered new part of the world. In this world, there's a whole separate civilisation of people with their own religions, traditions and morality. There are also mysterious human-like creatures that live in the forest and are frequently killed for tormenting the villagers.
Although the main character is the policeman who is assigned the task of preventing these killings, the novel has multiple perspectives and explores in great depth the lives of almost every character mentioned. Personally, the character that grew to be the most fascinating in my opinion was Rico, whom I paid little attention to at the beginning but who was developed wonderfully throughout the story. All of the other characters underwent similarly fascinating progressions in the novel, and I found it intriguing to see how each developed as the new environment drew out their innermost thoughts.
This book is beautiful and terrifying in the way that it delves into the deepest, darkest parts of the human mind, and I found myself unsettled multiple times by the idea that all people have consequential dark thoughts. Compared to the few other books that I've read of a similar genre, this book is by far the most poetic, beautiful and thought-provoking one, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a challenging read that does not simply tell a story, but makes you question and consider the world around you.
The plot of this book is difficult to explain, but the general concept is that people from ordinary cities in 1990 travel through a geographical zone that they will completely forget upon exiting, into a mostly undiscovered new part of the world. In this world, there's a whole separate civilisation of people with their own religions, traditions and morality. There are also mysterious human-like creatures that live in the forest and are frequently killed for tormenting the villagers.
Although the main character is the policeman who is assigned the task of preventing these killings, the novel has multiple perspectives and explores in great depth the lives of almost every character mentioned. Personally, the character that grew to be the most fascinating in my opinion was Rico, whom I paid little attention to at the beginning but who was developed wonderfully throughout the story. All of the other characters underwent similarly fascinating progressions in the novel, and I found it intriguing to see how each developed as the new environment drew out their innermost thoughts.
This book is beautiful and terrifying in the way that it delves into the deepest, darkest parts of the human mind, and I found myself unsettled multiple times by the idea that all people have consequential dark thoughts. Compared to the few other books that I've read of a similar genre, this book is by far the most poetic, beautiful and thought-provoking one, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a challenging read that does not simply tell a story, but makes you question and consider the world around you.