Beyond Redemption

Starred review from April 6, 2015
In this disturbing and original fantasy, set in a dark world run by the Theocrats, perception is reality, and altered perceptions can alter reality. The most insane, labeled with Germanic diagnoses, are also the most powerful. Three adventurers—
a scary, lethal Kleptic thief; a preening Gefahrgeist (sociopathic) duellist; and a scarred warrior forced to violate his few remaining scruples—stumble onto a Gefahrgeist Theocrat’s plot to raise the first designed god, and they decide to kidnap Morgen, the boy who’s intended as the initial sacrifice. Before the Theocrat’s delusions can do him in, he unleashes his Hassebrand (a pyromaniac) and his assassin squads (including shape-shifters and walking dead) to kill the conspirators and ensure Morgen’s ascension. Fletcher (88) populates the landscape with an array of mental disorders, turning a well-thumbed psychiatric manual into a dramatis personae. His protagonists worry about their fate in the Afterdeath as they commit their crimes, but they always keep their slim hopes for redemption. The dystopia and its victims never quite collapse under the weight of the horror, and their perseverance encourages the reader to endure the grimness until the thought-provoking conclusion. Agent: Cameron McClure, Donald Maass Literary Agency.

April 15, 2015

Morgan is a young boy being groomed for godhood by Konig Furimmer, the high priest of the Geborene religion. Konig is a powerful Gefahrgeist, able to impose his own delusion upon the populace of the city state of Selbsthass. He intends to force Morgan to ascend by killing him, thereby manipulating the new god to serve him. Aufschlag, a sympathetic member of Konig's retinue, helps Morgan escape, but his choice of protectors was perhaps a bit hasty. The three murderous adventurers who break into the palace to kidnap Morgan are unable to hold him for long, and they are only one of the many groups vying for control of a possible god. VERDICT Incredibly brutal, this unusual fantasy world from Fletcher (88) is populated by delusional sociopaths--literally. Mental disorders such as megalomania and kleptomania provide the sufferers power over those around them, giving the whole world an off-kilter manic edge. If you like your fantasy uberdark, this might be an intriguing Freudian excursion.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2015
A general guideline in high fantasy is the need for a sympathetic and ignorant main charactersomeone readers can follow close behind and from whom they can learn about this new world, just as the protagonist does. Practically every character in this author's new novel is insane, deplorable, or both, but in some dark corner of themselves, readers will admire all of them and thus be compelled to follow their grippingly fascinating story through to its terrifying climax. Living in a world where the lines between sane reality and the fantasies of madness are blurred, Konig, the high priest of a powerful cult, has tried for 10 years to create a new child-god, given power by the delusions of the faithful and controlled by Konig himself. But a trio of nearly as ambitious bandits has plans to capitalize on this growing cult at exactly the right time. The journey is dark and emotionally taxing, but there aren't many fantasy novels as smart, ambitious, and excellently written as this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)