Three Eight One by Aaliya

In January 2314, Rowena Savalas – a curator of the vast archive of the twenty-first century’s primitive internet – stumbles upon a story posted in the summer of 2024. She’s quickly drawn into the mystery of the text: Is it autobiography, fantasy or fraud? What’s the significance of the recurring number 381?

In the story, the protagonist Fairly walks the Horned Road – a quest undertaken by youngsters in her village when they come of age. She is followed by the “breathing man,” a looming presence, dogging her heels every step of the way. Everything she was taught about her world is overturned.

Following Fairly’s quest, Rowena comes to question her own choices, and a predictable life of curation becomes one of exploration, adventure and love. As both women’s stories draw to a close, she realises it doesn’t matter whether the story is true or not: as with the quest itself, it’s the journey that matters.

This is possibly one of the hardest to describe books I’ve ever read and I came away unsure whether I liked it or not. It did leave me in awe of a mind that can come up with concepts like this and actually turn it into a whole finished book. I take some interesting prescription medications and this felt like one of those dreams I wake up from and think ‘that’s a brilliant book idea I must write it in my notebook’. I then wake up the next morning, pick up the notebook and shake my head with bafflement at what I’ve written. Maybe I should use these as writing prompts and see where they take me! This is hard to place into a genre, described as speculative fiction I think I was expecting some sort of dystopia but this goes beyond. It felt like fantastical sci-fi with a sprinkling of magic realism and the best thing to do is just go with it, because this book will haunt you. We start the journey with Fairly who is travelling on the Horned Road, but she isn’t alone. She has a companion though - the Breathing Man really did creep me out: is he a shadow reflection of Fairly? Could it be a guardian angel? It’s hard to work out whether he’s a companion on this journey or a follower.
Her world is made up of the stockaded village where she has spent her childhood which feels ancient, but also shows great advances such as a spire where rockets launch into space. Fairly has to move a chain device, which takes her narrative from the third person to first person - meaning we see everything through eyes including the Cha creatures, a camper van and yet more devices.

Fairly’s story is known as The Dance of the Horned Road and it is being studied by Rowena Savalas who is seventeen years of age in body, and six hundred and sixty-three in streaming years. She lives on the Jurassic Coast in the Age of Curation, described as a calm period focused on the rational (what I wouldn’t give to wake up in that world at the moment) and she starts her project on 7th January 2314. Her project is on the Age of Riches which was a period of huge change caused by the sheer volume of digital information that was available. The document entitled The Dance of the Horned Road is dated July 2024 but as Rowena studies she comes to realise that it doesn’t describe the 2024 we know, could it be a work of fiction? I became fascinated by the ‘cha’ described by Fairly as reddish animals covered in fur, with pointy ears and long black legs - I have a thing about hares and this is what I had in my mind, just the colour of a fox instead of brown. They have different forms and uses, as currency, companions and guardians, in extreme circumstances they can be eaten. They are the focus of a cult who think they are ancient space creatures who will eventually be the salvation of all humans. Weirder still is the claim they are pigs, to be turned into sausage. I became consumed with wondering whether this was an allegory: a story of nature saving humans from extinction; a description of our weird relationship with animals, keeping some as pets and others as livestock; maybe a comment on how nature will outlive us, as climate change wreaks havoc and wipes out humans we will slowly grow back.

There’s so much ingenuity here and I think it will divide readers into those who like to be surprised and amused by their novels and those who find it too abstract or playful. It’s as if the author is playing with the traditional construction of a book and the post-modern way we now subvert and distort the medium. But the reader must be complicit in this, we are as important as the writer in this story. This is a coming of age story, so the only possible ending is when Fairly ceases to live. We have to accept and understand there is a further world, outside the limits of our story, the world will still turn even if we’re gone. To me it felt like we were looking at this journey called life and our use of creativity to explore it. Fairly looks down avenues she didn’t travel, things she walked away from or where she felt she’d gone wrong and the decisions that haunted her. Rowena and Fairly are both coming of age, a time of turmoil and trying different identities. A time when we start to shake off our parents influence and ideas to form our own, venturing into a world that’s equal parts terrifying and exciting. There is no ending or explanation here, maybe the journey is the point and meaning only comes together when our journeys end.

“I don't know why I was so obsessed with end points. I think I was still imagining that every story had one.”

Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

This was definitely too sci fi for me. I wasn't sure what was happening and it required too much removal of reality to follow along.

I have been trying to summon the right words to write about Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley for a good few months now, and yet no matter what I write I don’t seem to be able to do it justice. The year is 2341, and Rowena Savalas is working as a curator on the archives of the twenty-first century’s primitive internet. She finds herself enraptured by a story written in the summer of 2024 – unable to decipher if it is fact or fiction, autobiographical or fantasy. The protagonist of the story, Fairly, is about to undergo her quest down the horned road. Fairly explains that this is a challenge undertaken by all young adults in her village once they come of age. The questers are all followed by ‘The Breathing Man’, a frightening presence looming over them, that they must never allow to catch up with them. Fairly’s quest is nothing straightforward, and forces her to accept some harsh realities as she learns that everything she was taught about the world is untrue. Reading Fairly’s story, Rowena starts to question her own choices that have led her to the uneventful life of archive curation, and learns to prioritise exploration, adventure, and love.
This book utterly consumed me, in a way that nothing remotely fantastical ever has before. I’m not sure that this can be considered ‘fantasy’. Maybe it is sci-fi, I’m not sure, but I do know that it’s definitely weird in the most wonderful way. Farly’s world is fantasy, although it is not hugely dissimilar to the one we live in. Probably the biggest difference is the presence of the Cha – small creatures who seem to act as guides or helpers (although by the end of the book it’s clear that their purpose is very much up to interpretation). The reader spends most of the time following Fairly on her quest, and then reading the footnotes (written by Rowena). It is not an action-packed book, rather it twists and turns and takes new paths almost at random, sometimes with very little explanation. I found it almost meditative. Fairly puts her faith in the quest to deliver her where she needs to go and to learn whatever it is she must learn – and the reader must similarly put their faith in the book. I loved Fairly as a character, but acknowledge that she can frequently be pretty unlikeable (as are typically my favourite characters!). She teeters on being almost bland and two-dimensional, very rarely explaining the thoughts or feelings behind her actions. She is even cruel at times (e.g. when the child died in the flood, and despite being aware of the situation she wasn’t emotional, nor did she try to save the child, explain anything to the parents, or help with the search efforts). But at the same time, Farly is also loving (albeit with some odd men), scared, lonely, and unimaginably brave. She is a young woman, figuring out a world that is determined to challenge her.
The book for me worked as something of an extended metaphor; there are a million different paths to take, all resulting in strange eventualities. You don’t know what is coming, so what is important is to simply keep moving, and not agonising over the direction you take. There are many mysteries that make this book fun: What are the Cha? What is the significance of 381? Who created the Horned Road? What does The Breathing Man want?

An interesting read in a topic I haven't read much about. Would definitely recommend to other friends who I know would enjoy and treasure this. Strange set of characters who were intriguing!

I might not be the target audience for this story. I admire the structure of the book, the play with narrating in different tenses and narrator POVs, but I didn't exactly enjoy the reading experience.

The frame narrative is from Rowena's POV, she's a curator who has discovered a nearly three hundred year old manuscript from 2024. The manuscript tells Fairly's story, a girl who left her home to walk the Horned Road to find meaning in her life. Her choices and musings are what make up each of her 381 word long entries in the manuscript. In the frame narrative Rowena builds a connection between her own life and Fairly's story by annotating the manuscript with many(!) footnotes.

An unusual read, but not bad.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

This dual POV sci fi created an interesting world told from two narrators who lived in different years: 2024 and 2314. In 2314, Rowena decides to annotate The Dance of the Horned Road as she yearns to understand this piece of literature from 2024. These annotations are depicted through the footnotes - don’t skip these or you will miss a large part of the themes explored. Like Rowena, the reader isn’t sure if this document is fictional or a true, historical experience of a 17 year old girl, Fairly, who is sent on a quest. At first, the reading experience was very odd and slightly confusing, but my interest grew as I had to find out what happened next. To me, this felt very The Giver mixed with Stargirl and oftentimes felt dreamlike. There are quite a few profound themes and quotes throughout the last half of this novel, which has me inclined to pick up a physical copy! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book is quite possibly the weirdest book I've ever read but it's compellingly weird.

Fairly’s quest, the 'Breathing Man', Rowena Savalas and her own adventure, strange creatures, space travel... this book has a lot going on. As the book definitely creates a lot of questions this would be a good one for book clubs to discuss.

This literary crossover novel masterfully explores the pressures of growing up and the nature of authorship. In 2314, Rowena Savalas, a curator of 21st-century internet archives, finds a mysterious story from 2024. The story, featuring Fairly on a coming-of-age quest shadowed by the "breathing man," captivates Rowena and leads her to question her own life.

As Rowena delves deeper, her predictable existence transforms into one of exploration, adventure, and love. The novel intertwines their journeys, highlighting that the value lies not in the truth of the story but in the journey itself. This captivating read beautifully examines growth and the power of storytelling.

4.5 stars - Whiteley basically can do no wrong

Having already read and loved Whiteley's Skyward Inn I was really looking forward to reading her newest novel Three Eight One.

The format is that of a story within a story - Rowena Savalas from the Earth of the Year 2314 finds a document with a story, that of the girl Fairly who goes on a "quest". Is this story pure fiction? Are there autobiographical elements to it? Rowena becomes obsessed and this story never quite lets go of her for the rest of her life, even changes it for her.

Through footnotes we follow Rowena on her own quest of making sense of Fairly's story, of drawing her own conclusions and of her changing perspective on the world she lives in and how this reflects in her footnotes.

The heart and soul of the novel then is of course Fairly's story - and if ever magical realism was an apt description for a story then it's for this one! It's a coming of age narrative that is presented as a "quest" young people are being sent to by a village. They travel "the road" and their objective is to push the buttons of certain devices, and to find all of them before returning. All of it is written in this dreamy, evocative and deeply metaphorical way that I have come to associate with Whiteley's writing. I don't think the idea is to actually make sense of everything that happens but just to let the images and moods speak for themselves.

All of the themes of coming of age and adulthood are there: Fairly acts selfishly, makes some bad decisions, refuses to see uncomfortable truths and abuses power. Sometimes she cannot make up her mind about what she actually wants or who she is.
But she also experiences friendship and human kindness, finds love, assumes responsibility and ultimately comes into her own.

The great star of the show is Whiteley's writing! It is just SO good! Not only is her way with words a marvel, but also the way the themes of the novel are presented, how they play off of each other and how the two narrative levels of Fairly's and Rowena's story create layers upon layers. This is just a whole different league. I didn't even mind that most of the time I had no idea what was going on which normally would make me lose interest very quickly. I just could not stop turning the pages.

The only reason this is not 5 stars is because I liked Skyward Inn just a little more. Still, if you like your Sci Fi or Magical Realism with a literary flavour this is for you!

I have received an advance review copy from Rebellion Publishing via NetGalley and voluntarily provide my honest opinion. Thank you very much!

Aliya Whiteley writes such original and different novels, I can't help loving them even if I don't quite know what's going on! "Three Eight One" is a very surreal story set in the far future and contains two stories, one about a part-AI curator reading an "old" quest story, and then that story itself. The quest story is like a very strange dream. I find readers either love this kind of thing or hate it. Happily I am in the first camp and I adored this!

This is a tough book to review. It's hard to hang one's thoughts on what actually happens in the story, because the events are designedly fantastical, contradictory and, well, suspect. And their nature is in any caseanalysed in the book itself by one of the narrators, who makes her points much more clearly than I can.

To try to clear this up, the main narrative is about a young woman called Fairly, who decides to leave her village on a Quest, following the "horned road". Her part of the narrative, set in 2024, is therefore called "The Dance of the Horned Road". It's suggested (from the one concrete geographical clue) that Fairly's village is in Southern England, though with a sea voyage, the story may decamp across the sea (so - to France? But there is no idea of a different language being spoken?) However, while familiar in details - a campervan features, as do pubs, hotels, a jukebox - the atmosphere, motivations and assumptions of Fairly and everyone she meets are odd, definitely placing this in a different world, I think, a point driven home by the presence of a Spire from which rockets are launched.

The other narrative is a commentary, by way of footnotes in Fairly's account by Rowena Savalas in 2314. Rowena inhabits a future where the boundaries between human and machine are blurred, and the conservation and interpretation of data from the past has become a subject of philosophical and practical interest. Rowena's interpretation of Fairly's journey is in some respects her life's work, the footnotes yielding new and startling information both about Fairly and her world and about Rowena's own far future. As the footnotes grow longer, the two women almost seem in dialogue, Fairly's "quest" and Rowena's task of interpretation paralleling one another.

There is a lot to interpret - or perhaps wonder over - including the "Cha", animals that feature heavily in Fairly's world though whether they are real (and if so, what they are) and the roles they play (variously, saviours, currency, food and teachers) are both mysterious. The Cha are deeply embedded in the story (and in the mythology that underlies Fairly's society) but they are ambiguous, subject to contradictory narratives and often only known in a frustratingly oblique way - though you may find traces of them where you don't expect!

The other central theme is the "Breathing Man", a person whom Fairly suspects of following her and whom she sees as a threat although we're never actually told what this might be. More than a mere bogeyman, the Breathing Man also seems to have a place in the mythology of Fairly's people, but given that Quests such as hers are an assumed part of a young person's life the threat of an encounter with him seems oddly binary - very threatening but, surely, inevitable - and also unclear: Fairly doesn't tell us what other Questers experienced of him (but, nor does she tell us the purpose of her quest, a lot is unsaid).

These, and other elements, of the story could provoke lengthy speculation which would I think be to miss the point of the book, which must be about experience - the Quest, again, has an obscure and ill-defined purpose, necessary but with no clear object or end. In Fairly's case it perhaps catalyses changes in her society which must be a focus of Rowena's interest as she lives in a society that presumably developed form Fairly's - yet Rowena absents herself from commentary as this story nears its end, so that is only speculation.

A complex, involving story, at once simple on the surface but fiendishly complex inside, Three Eight One was like nothing I'd read lately, calling to mind for me puzzle filled, treacherous narratives such as Charles Palliser's The Quincunx or John Fowles' The Magus.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Often at times some book stay with me and it just clicks with me. Unfortunately this books didn't. I'm not able to pinpoint either. Maybe it was due to my erratic reading time or busy life..I couldn't find myself engaged as much as I expected.

An interesting work of speculative fiction. At it's heart is a fantasy novella of someone taking a journey to find meaning, purpose, meeting characters and situations along the way with an unspecificied 'threat' in the background from their follower. A well-constructed story though with some elements that defy a little logic or 'humanity' in the protaganists actions, from the casual casting off of the life of another onwards, Nonetheless a strong and interesting novella.

It has mixed in, an intro/conclusion and footnotes from a far future reader from a time of uniformity, seeking to understand and comment on the narrative. I didn't find this distracting but equally could easily have read the story without this.

This is a weird and wonderful novel! It's really two stories in one: one told in the main text, and then a second one told only in the footnotes. The main story is a hero's quest much in the style of "The Phantom Tollbooth"-- often whimsical, with bizarre twists and turns as the protagonist makes her way through strange lands. This story has a timeless and unplaceable quality. There are some details that make it seem as though the story takes place a long time ago (old-fashioned devices and machines, social organization of some places, etc), but other details point to the future (commercial rocketships and colonization of other planets). The second story takes place in the footnotes, as an archivist is reading the main story and notating it. The archivist's annotations make clear that she is just as puzzled about the main story as the reader-- and that she lives in the far future, where humanity and life are very different.

It's pretty experimental, so I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you like inventive storytelling, speculative fiction, or just being challenged as a reader, I'd recommend it. I'm happy that I came across the opportunity to read this ARC, as I had never heard of this author. I will absolutely read her other novels.

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Having read Whiteley’s Skyward Inn I knew I was in for an absolutely baffling read that will give me much to think on when picking up Three Eight One.

This little novel is written in the from of an essay where a curator of the future is analysing a 3 centuries old text telling the story of a young woman going on a coming of age quest. The majority of the book is this tale that feels like an Alice in Wonderland-esque, acid trip type of adventure. Then there are added footnotes where the curator questions the authorship and meaning of the text, whether it is factual or pure fiction as well as adding in their own reactions and personal introspection.

I will admit that I didn’t find I could really connect to either of the protagonists plus the curator’s notes often went on a lengthy tangent that took me out of the story a little but Whiteley’s writing was still compelling. Both the bizarre circumstances of Fairly’s quest down the Horned Road and all the tension of being followed by the Breathing Man meant I was pulled back in to see what would happen next. There is also the mystery of the significance of the number 381 woven into it all which though by the end was a little underwhelming, I thought it was still clever.

I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone but there are plenty of thought provoking quotes to stumble upon and it is truly a unique reading experience if you have the patience for irregular narrative styles and storylines that don’t entirely make sense.
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars

<i>First off...<b>DISCLAIMER:</b> I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Rebellion Publishing for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.</i>

I'm often drawn to books that bring something new on the table in terms of style and format, but alas, they don't always work for me. Three Eight One is maybe a step too far in terms of experimental storytelling for my tastes (not to mention that the back-and-forth between the quester's narrative and the archivist's notes is a bit challenging, especially when performed on a digital copy). Both the quest and the commentary have a strange quaint flavour, which of course is a precise stylistic choice and can be intriguing in the hands of the right reader, but it's not really my thing. Looking back at the digital age as we know it via a story set almost 300 years in the past (which would be our present) is a neat idea and makes for some interesting observations, but I struggled to retain their meaning and ended up feeling like I was studying for a test, while the story itself didn't hold my interest. So this one was a DNF for me (a first when it comes to titles provided by Rebellion/Solaris), but I can see it work for more patient/philosophical readers and fans of audacious writing styles.

Aside from the Classics, your Austens, Brontës, and Tolkiens, there aren't a whole lot of authors whose name immediately has me pulling out my wallet, or Kindle. Aliya Whiteley became one for me over the last decade or so, however, as each new novel, novella, or short story from her would open up new worlds and new ways of storytelling for me. So naturally, I was excited to see what she had in store for me next, after the Sci-Fi/Speculative wonder that was Skyward Inn. I was not prepared for Three Eight One, however. Thanks to Rebellion and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a Medievalist, which means that when I'm not getting lost in the maze of admin, I'm exploring the intricacies of texts that are centuries old. Some are even a millennium old. While I immensely enjoy this activity, it also poses a whole variety of problems. Often medieval texts are artifacts without context. They usually don't have a title, we give one to them so we can talk about them. They don't have a named author, they don't have dates attached, they are collected alongside other texts which may or may not relate to them. They are often in formats, rhyme schemes, etc. which we cannot entirely define or explain. They tell stories, but not in a way that we're used to in the twenty-first century. Reading Three Eight One reminded me of reading medieval texts, pouring over them for meaning, attaching little footnotes or post-it notes to random pages and phrases with questions, exclamations, personal connections. Medieval characterisation, without going into an entire essay, often feels flat to first-time readers. We don't get the same deep-dive into the internal lives of the characters, their motivations remain opaque, their actions seem to follow a prepared path that they do not resist or chase. This is what 'The Dance of the Horned Road' represents to our main character as well, I think. A text that somehow connects and which yet is so drastically different from what she knows. This story must have meant something then, so surely it can mean something now? Even if the answer to that question is yes, we still wonder what it could mean. If you enjoy these puzzles, if you enjoy encountering narration which shifts and changes without giving you an explanation, you'll adore Three Eight One.

Rowena, from the distance of hundreds of years, combs through the vast remains of the twenty-first century, known as the 'Age of Riches', looking for meaning. In her present, life works differently, humanity works differently. There is less danger, violence, and war, sure, but is there also less... well, life? Is she as free as humans of the past were in choosing her future? As she mulls over these questions, needing to make a choice about where to take her life, she decides to annotate a story from the twenty-first century, 'The Dance of the Horned Road', which tells the story of Fairly and her quest. In Fairly's village, every teenager who feels called can set out on a quest, following the Horned Road. They are given three "cha" and must press specific button they come across on their journey. By the end, she will be different, or so Fairly is told. But what is the Horned Road, who are the Cha, and who is the Breathing Man following her? Is there a point to her journey, or to Rowena's? What is 'The Dance of the Horned Road'?

Like I said above, Aliya Whiteley has been a favourite author of mine for quite a number of years now. Each time I pick up a new book by her, I am surprised at the directions she takes me in, the questions she poses, the themes she plays with. What I enjoy about her writing and the worlds she creates is that they usually require the reader to dig a little deeper into themselves as well, into their own response to the story. It creates a quite layered reading experience, in many ways, which is brought to the surface in Three Eight One. It is, perhaps, her least penetrable work, in the sense that the search for meaning is so elemental to the story that you will truly have to find it for yourself. Neither Whiteley, nor Rowena and Fairly, will fully make sense of what occurs in the novel. There is no clear answer as to why all of 'The Dance of the Horned Road' is written in chapters of 381 words. It can all mean something, however, and putting that together is something each reader will have to do for themselves. It's a puzzle without a previously-defined picture to aim for, if that makes sense. In this way Three Eight One might not be for everyone, which is absolutely fine. But I can only say that it does reward to time and effort. Unlike other reviewers, I had no issue with the footnotes, but then I do adore a good footnote. I liked the way in which these interruptions of Fairly's narrative both engaged directly with it and did not. Rowena's life takes its own turns, which can only partially be mapped onto the organised Hero's Journey Fairly is undertaking. And yet, together, the two stories tell a tale of humanity, of questioning, of losing, of finding, and of journeying.

Three Eight One is a fascinatingly complex novel about storytelling, growing up, finding meaning, and then losing it again. It is a novel that will reward rereading, I am sure, and is another impressive piece of work from Aliya Whiteley.

I really like Aliya Whiteley's stories and I'm always curious with what she comes up next. Her mind must be fascinating. I'm usually not a huge sci-fi reader, but for Whiteley I will read anything.
This is a very ambitious story, but the reader is in good hands with this author. I really liked the journey Fairly goes on and the coming-of-age aspects. It took me to some unexpected places and makes one question the meaning of life. Really fascinating