The Revenant | |||||
Phoebe Reeves | |||||
Xlibris, 265 pages | |||||
A review by Lisa DuMond
Nenut Kite deserved a normal, reasonably happy childhood, just like every other
little girl. She didn't get it. Her life in Northern Africa came to a grinding,
shattering stop one day with the murder of her beloved mother.
That and the fact that her father and everyone else blamed her for the
murder. End of carefree youth and time to rot in juvenile jail for a decade.
This experience will be the centre-point of the rest of her life. She will
search for the answers everywhere, at the expense of her career, her
relationships, her health, and her happiness. This crusade will take her all
around the globe and into and out of the lives of a myriad of people.
If each person and place she encounters will give up even a small piece
of the mystery, she will be that much closer to discovering the truth about
her mother's grisly death.
Doesn't sound like the plan of a sane, stable person? Nenut is far from
that, but her very weaknesses may allow her to see more than a normal
person might. And the things she sees may come from the past, the present, the
never-was, and, just possibly, the future. There is no other way to find the
answers she seeks.
Now, she has only to stay alive long enough to put it all together.
Reeves has skillfully blended reality and fantasy to create a spellbinding journey
through this woman's life and her pain. Seen through Nenut's eyes, it is difficult,
if not impossible, to sort the pieces into neat little piles -- truth here,
phantasm there, confusion everywhere. Her life is a disaster and you cannot stop
watching the news coverage in all its living colour of assault on the nerves. And
you are powerless to help.
It's intense stuff. And it requires the reader's full attention. If you have time
to sit down and read it in one shot, you will be far more attuned to the subtle
meanings behind every seemingly innocuous word. If you have to wedge your reading
time in around your daily life -- like most of us do -- stay sharp; you will
still have all the answers at the end. All the answers Reeves decided to share with us.
Mesmerizing, heartbreaking, and beautifully done -- those are reasons enough to pick up
a copy as soon as possible. You can be the only one at the reading circle to
recognize The Revenant when it shows up on everyone's short list. Or
be the one to be appalled if it doesn't.
All that and a cast of characters unlike the whitebread fare most fantasy doles out. What a sweet, sweet surprise.
Lisa DuMond writes science fiction and humour. She co-authored the 45th anniversary issue cover of MAD Magazine. Previews of her latest, as yet unpublished, novel are available at Hades Online. |
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