This is one of those exceptionally strange books that almost defies description. It isn’t popular, isn’t new, doesn’t have a cover made by whoever is “in” right now and hasn’t (to my knowledge) ever been recommended by anyone who is famous. If you’ve found it, it’s because you hit some magical combination of keywords in Amazon that made it appear. In effect, it’s like a door hidden behind a bookcase only discovered after living in a house for several years and passing by the hidden door every day all unawares.
I read it a couple of years ago for the first time and I’ve read it again since then. Part of the allure is that the author has almost no information about him out on the interwebs, which makes me think this is a single-use pen name, and that adds even more to the mystery. But because this has stuck with me like it has, I’ve decided to include it in my Read and Loved* posts.
What is inside this magical book of mystery? Well, that also defies description. Our main character, Hubresh, is joined by a host of figures in his adventures including our keystone character, Vladesh, who unlocks the secrets of Chemagic.
Break for a word of caution: Chemagic is the use of chemicals in unprescribed ways to unlock the ability to travel to alternate universes. Stuff like acetone, old school magic markers and other stuff that is dangerous to inhale is mixed up. DON’T DO THIS. It will just kill you.
Hubresh lives in 8007 AM, which is the far future as imagined if the world doesn’t destroy itself but rather comes to some sort of compromise. The three major religions all join up to create a mish-mash called Jislam which is as ludicrous as it is capricious and cruel and the world is divided into soul-crushing classes. Hubresh and Vladesh escape to alternate worlds between jobs and in the end, Hubresh–who is so emotionally damaged that he doesn’t even refer to himself as a true human–shows us that he is the best sort of human.
I really loved this book because of it’s absolute uniqueness, strange writing, interesting vocabulary and mind-blowing breadth. It is, in my view, an undiscovered speculative fiction masterpiece much like Clockwork Orange, Brave New World and any number of others you might recognize.
I’ll be the first to admit it isn’t for everyone, so if you click over to it, be sure to use the Look Inside feature to read the first 10%. Also, it is pricey for an indie work at $6.99, so if you have Prime, I’d use my one book lending on it or, if you’re a Kindle Unlimited member, I’d use that.
*Read and Loved rules: I’ll only include books by authors I don’t know, don’t have any association with and works that I have no association with. Only books that I discover purely as a reader can be included. Recommendations by other readers are welcome, but please, no author submissions of their books. This is purely reader-to-reader.