A couple of years back, this author appeared seemingly out of nowhere and dropped one of that year's best SF books (The Vanished Birds) in our lap, so I was delighted to hear his next book was going to be fantasy. Delighted and a little bit uncertain about whether he could pull off the same level of bravura performance twice in a row - I'm very pleased to say that he does just that and in a style that's even a little more complex than his previous book. I can't wait to see what he does next!

The basic premise behind The Spear Cuts Through Water is very simple, a story that's been told and re-told many times in the genre - a cruel empire, two young men on the run because they're defying it, we know how it goes. This time around it's an empire founded on powers stolen from a god they imprisoned and our two protagonists, one of whom was her guard for a while, set her free and support her quest to destroy that empire forever.

I can see why some people would really struggle with this book because it's peppered with little asides, forcing you to take a detour into their perspectives and then back again. Personally, it (and the changing points of view that turn up every so often) really worked for me and supported the story-within-a-story like feel of it all. The only reason it didn't get that elusive 5th star from me was that it's not necessarily a book I could see myself going back to, but I could be wrong about that...

All in all, definitely one of the best fantasy books I've read in recent years and I'd recommend it highly, even though I know it's definitely not going to be some peoples' cup of tea.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.

One of the most wildly inventive and clever books I’ve ever had the experience of reading. This book is one of the ones where you have to dive in blind, take the author’s hand in your own, and trust that they’ll lead you on the right path. The character work alone is phenomenal, and the way the layers of the story intertwine is nothing short of breath taking. This book reminded me exactly why I love epic fantasy so much, and it’ll stay with me for a long, long while

The Spear Cuts Through Water came to me highly recommended by friends and I was excited to read it. I will say that I think the prose is absolutely beautiful and the concept is utterly fascinating and I think at another time I would definitely love this book however for me and the amount of brain power I have available at the moment I couldn't dedicate enough time to get into the book in one go so everything felt very disconnected and disjointed and I never felt fully captured by the story. I would say that I think this book is worth reading but I would save it for a time when you can give it a lot of attention and dedication as opposed to trying to read it when starting a new job. I hope to be able to reread it in the future as I believe there is something wonderful there.
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Solaris in exchange for a free and honest review.

Wow, I really enjoyed this book. It had a slow start but soon picked up. The story follows two time lines on in the present and another in the past (Old Country). In the present, the protagonist goes to the inverted theatre where there is a play that charts the history of the old country over 5 days set aside to celebrate the emperor (who was to go on a long pilgrimage on the end of the 5th day). In the past, various protagonists were followed, each with an important role in the outcome of the 5th day. It's been a while since I read a good adult fantasy and this book revived my love of the genre.

I would highly recommend.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
Paperback release: 14 March 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars
Thank you to Solaris and NetGalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Two warriors shepherd an ancient god across a broken land to end the tyrannical reign of a royal family.

This is a tale, within a tale, within a tale and the narrative style is like nothing I've ever read before. I really appreciated the focus on oral storytelling as a way of sharing and preserving history, myth and folklore; the scope of the story is epic, and yet so much boils down to smaller and simpler interpersonal relationships, love and family. The inclusion of a multitude of POVs, sometimes for no longer than one sentence, was quite unique. The writing is gorgeous and lyrical, and reads like a fable. The action does get graphically violent and gory, so beware if you need to.
I really liked Jun and Keema - our two main characters - but I felt somehow always held at arm's length and I could never truly engage with them, their emotions and quest. I think this is why - even though this book was beautiful - I didn't experience the impact that could have made this a 5-star read.

Simon Jiminez’s standalone fantasy novel The Spear Cuts Through Water defies categorisation. It is definitely a fantasy novel – there are gods, and mythical tales and dreams and battles. The story is epic but it is not epic fantasy, it is by its own admission a love story but an extremely slow burn one, and it has the feel of a folk tale but one that impinges on the present and has an almost eternal feel to it.
The Spear Cuts Through Water opens with the first narrator’s jola (grandmother?) telling him the story of the dream theatre. Soon he is there, taking his seat to watch a performance of the ancient tale that his jola has told him and that he transmits on to his brothers, a tale that involves the spear that hangs on their wall. This tale, set in a country across the sea, involves the fall of an Emperor and his three powerful sons, of the journey of the fallen moon goddess and the two characters upon whom the fate of the world falls.
The narrative swirls around the story, the performance of the story in the theatre and the narrator’s memories of telling the story to his brothers. Often blocks of text will be interrupted by the thoughts of minor characters or bystanders or the main characters themselves giving the narrative a depth and richness beyond the central pair. And the text itself is divided by headings which sometime form part of the tale, sometimes introduce a particular section or indicate a change of scene. The story itself is action packed, violent, and often bloody full of cliffhangers and slowly unfolding mysteries.
The Spear Cuts Through Water has been shortlisted for a number of awards and won the Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel at the 2023 British Fantasy Awards. The Spear Cuts Through Water draws its inspirations for folk tales and the way those tales are transmitted through time. But it is also thoroughly modern and sets itself apart through its narrative style, a unique cosmology and a mind bending lead-in to its final act. In doing so Jimenez draws readers in and envelope them in the world that he has created. But it is also, at its heart, a love story ‘down to it’s blade-dented bone’ and an affective and effective one at that.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Solaris for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: violence, gore, grief, body horror, torture, cannibalism, death

In a world where the moon was torn from the sky and made into the wife of an emperor and mother of tyrants who have kept her locked away for decades, her triplet sons- the Three Terrors- storm the countryside with incredible violence and oppression all in the name of the Moon Emperor. The Moon is trapped underneath the palace, her magic claimed by her children and grandchildren (who brand themselves the Peacocks), under guard by one soul trapped with her for six months at a time. Refusing to be held any longer, the dying goddess breaks free from her cage with the aid of a tormented guard named Jun, fleeing from the palace from her sons in the form of an ancient corpse. On the five-day journey pilgrimage to a place that might guarantee the Moon's freedom, they are joined by Keema- a one-armed warrior of an unknown tribe who has sworn to deliver a spear across the land, even if it means his death. Together the Moon, Jun, Keema and a tortoise used as a telepathic system travel through the depths of the Emperor’s kingdoms, trying to avoid the Terrors and their Peacocks long enough to find some semblance of safety. The entire story is told by a grandmother to her grandson, who soon finds himself within the Inverted Theatre of her tales while dreaming, and his experiences passing it all on after watching it take place on stage- while holding a mysterious spear.

I can honestly say that I’ve never read a book like “The Spear Cuts Through Water” and that’s a huge compliment, especially because it’s so unique and different to anything I’ve read this year. This is genre-spanning, combining fantasy, drama, family conflict and queer love in a slowly building epic with an incredible conclusion. I loved how every single character, even when we only meet them for moments, gets a brief perspective on events as the voice shifts between first, second and third with ease. At the centre of everything “The Spear Cuts Through Water” is about love, and all the forms it can take- that of a mother fleeing her husband and sons, between two men as they run for their lives and from secrets they would never want to go back to. I found myself hugely attached to Keema and Jun from early on, their stories are so engrossing and their journey with the Moon goddess is unlike anything I’ve ever read. The Three Terrors are brilliant villains, written as complex and detestable princes who genuinely think they’ve done nothing wrong, while the thirty-plus children of the First Terror (the Peacocks) can’t imagine life without their domineering father (who loved their presumed dead brother more than them). In a lot of ways this is a difficult book, handling themes that typically aren’t explored in great depths, but at its heart it’s a gorgeous narrative that explores the importance of storytelling as a theme in itself.

What a fantastic book, easily among top ten I read in the last twelve months — I can tell it will stay with me for long.

There were so many radical choices, so many leaps of faith, but i jumped head first and i don’t regret a second of it!

Simon Jimenez made a very interesting choice to narrate his book: alternating between first, second and third person – and it worked!
The writing in general is an homage to oral history, with raw, musical, visceral sentences. It sucks you in to the old country with its magic and its horrors. At the end of the journey, i feel like i’ve spent a lifetime alongside the characters, and can’t help but have fallen in love with all of them, no matter how terrifying and alien some (all) of them are.

The old tale atmosphere is enhanced even more by the fact that some of the story is acted out in a theater – literally. As the story progresses, i became deeply lulled into this adventure, and was part of that audience.

There is another interesting choice that i loved in the writing itself that gave much depth to the characters. I’ll spoiler it below because i think some people would rather go into it blind (as opposed to the first point which is immediately obvious to the reader). [hidden behind a spoiler tag on all platforms]

“That is you. A merchant’s child. But one of many. How old you are outside this dream is irrelevant; in this theater you are as you feel—a youth, deep in your adolescence, and, like all youths, lonely in your own unnameable way.“

This book reminded me intimately of Ghibli movies. Not in the superficial way many stories are marketed, pending on the presence East Asian creatures and creepy but serene bath-houses. No, The Spear Cuts Through Water embodies the heart of a Ghibli movie.

You get the chaotic but benevolent rage of a deity on a war path to try and restore their land, with all the shortcomings of it – like in Princess Mononoke.

You get a hodgepodge crew of characters, with varying degrees of morality, hardened by life, and struggling along the way with feelings of family, grief and love; all while trying to undo the powers that be – Castle in the Sky (my absolute favorite btw).

You get a war story, underneath which is hidden a cyclical love story – i was reminded of Turniphead from Howl’s Moving Castle, and also of the many pairings of children who find each other through adversity (but gay).

All of this, accompanied with a deep sense of wonder, this lighter than air feeling, the serenity, i associate with the animes.

“this is indeed a love story. down to the blade-dented bone.”

I think this may be the best book I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The sheer mastery and skill in weaving together first, second and third person narration so seamlessly - way the story flows like an uninterrupted stream when the changes could be so jarring. And the way the story feels so rich, like old bones unearthed and seen for the first time in millennia. The setting of the story, the way Jun & Keema's tale is told to you in the Inverted Theatre, the way it is history being played out in an otherworldly realm just feels so real, it feels like the only authentic way for this story to exist. This story speaks of dance as a connection to the rhythm of magic, gods and nature - and it is written as it it were such a dance, with so many aspects working seamlessly together, every part moving in perfect time.

I love the way the read is pulled into the story and how you is a fully fleshed out character yet also one with the reader in moments. Especially at the end because I, too, thought this was a love story. Yet it felt like it may finish without such an aspect, that is may be soured in the final moments. Yet, knowing the reader so well, you point it out and the rest of take is told - Keema & Jun get the end they deserve.

I'm just in utter, complete awe of Simon Jimenez for writing this because it feels like it shouldn't work but he's created a masterpiece.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of 'The Spear Cuts Through Water' in exchange for an honest review.

It might be too early in the year to say this, but this book will likely stay in my top ten reads. I sincerely love unique books that try something new, and The Spear Cuts Through Water did precisely that and more. Simon Jimenez writes a deeply layered tale about identity, family, and belonging with two brothers and the dying goddess, who they attempt to lay to rest in her rightful home.

The prose is lush and sprawling, luring the reader into this peaceful headspace where the story washes over them, much like water. It coincides perfectly with the narrative as the story is told by a grandmother who recites this tale within a tale to her grandchild, which in itself was a perfect choice. The grandmother is simultaneously so incredibly real and tangible but so far beyond this realm that I could not help but hold onto her every word with an air of disbelief, much like her grandson.

Imagine a Greek myth being told to you as if it were family history - that is what The Spear Cuts Through Water reads like. Jimenez is a brilliant storyteller, a poet, and a visionary. I cannot wait to read whatever he releases next.

This might well end up being the best book I read this year! The Spear Cuts Through Water feels like a book that took a lot of risks in its storytelling structure and plot progression, and in my opinion it has paid off spectacularly. This novel has achieved a far more complex and interesting narrative by deviating away from many fantasy tropes, and I really respect Simon Jiminez for taking the more daring route - the book will stick in my head for a long time to come as a result.

I’ll confess to not really understanding what was happening in the first 20 pages at first; the narrative launches into the setting of the ‘Inverted Theatre’ with characters that aren’t referenced in the blurb. I’d urge any readers in the same position to push through this confusion, as all becomes clear by the end of the story. This is an example of one of the risks that Simon Jiminez takes in structuring the novel; instead of sticking with a conventional storytelling method, the theatre setting introduces a more dynamic approach that adds in additional voices to the story (I think the lines shown in italics in the text are spoken by actors in the play), and also proves quite a natural way to explore folklore retellings in the world. The drip feeding of information to connect the story to the ‘present day’ setting was fantastic, and really kept me engaged throughout the novel.

Spear Cuts Through Water also takes time to develop a great cast of flawed characters, particularly the two lead characters Jun and Keema. Both felt like well-rounded personalities that actually feel part of the world they inhabit, and I loved the way both characters progressed in their attitudes and worldviews over the story. A special shout out to the Terrors too - the creation of three antagonistic brothers with distinct identities is no mean feat, and their ruthless, callous nature throughout the book makes you genuinely fear for the protagonists. It feels like a world with consequences, where victory for the good guys is by no means guaranteed.

I don’t really have anything negative to add to this review, other than to acknowledge that this book isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. It was a challenging, mind-bending read, and I feel you have to commit to this book and trust in the author to pull it off successfully. This is an easy recommendation to readers from the more literary side of Sci-Fi/Fantasy, as well as fans of the genre looking for a book that breaks the mould of typical fantasy tales.

This is a very complex book and unlike anything else I’ve read before. A beautifully written and highly imaginative novel with a very unique narrative structure.

The writing is just stunning. The lyrical and fable style prose is delightful to read and I love how the author plays with the narration, placing us as spectators of the Inverted Theatre. The story alternates between the 2nd and 3rd point of view only to be switch to 1st person. It made a reading an interesting experience.

Unfortunately, the book didn’t grab my attention as fully as I wanted. I feel like it started much stronger for me than how it finished. Despite the fantastic character work, I couldn’t connect with the Jun and Keema on emotional level, which no doubt impacted me reading enjoyment.

I'd heard lots about this book and was excited to read it, but unfortunately, for some reason I found it hard to get into. I will try again to read it at some point in the future, but at the moment it's not for me. I will not be sharing my review anywhere else.

Many thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the chance to read this book.

Okay, I finally read The Spear Cuts Through Water . And what do I even say? By the time I came to the last few pages of this book, I was speechless. This easily is one of the best fantasy books I've read, in terms of the world building, the themes. Reading this was an incredible experience, and one in which I took my time. I savoured each and every word of this book and the way Simon Jiminez painted the picture of this story and the story within a story.

I don't think I've read any books in second-person, at least not before this one and honestly? it's amazing. Reading from the second person perspective really immerses you in the story and this world and Jiminez's amazing words. Honestly, I could talk for hours upon hours at what Jiminez has done with this book; it is a lesson in craft and in writing and in taking risks and watching them pay off.

The Spear Cuts Through Water is a true masterpiece and honestly, one of my favourite books that I've read recently. I know I will not be forgetting about this any time soon. (

The story of Keema and Jun was told in such an wonderfully unique way. A stunning tale with multifaceted characters, at it’s heart The Spear Cuts through Water is an impressive exploration of identity, duty, and family legacy.

The Spear Cuts through Water is definitely an impressive book. It gets rave reviews all over the bookish internet and everyone talks about how meaningful this book is.

Unfortunately, I found it hard to follow bnecause of the switching between third, second person. I can chalk part of it up to needing to dual read the book and listen to the audiobook to try and get into the flow of the writing, but I decided that since I've struggled to sink into the book I would mention it in my review.

Other than prose, I loved the plot! It was excellent, and I felt drawn to keep reading constantly. I did complete the book in one long train ride, and honestly, it was lovely to love and come to know the characters and plot that I enjoyed so much after such a struggle getting started.

I would really recomend this book, but if you are potentially going to struggle with point of view changes definitely try the audiobook if you can. It helped me get immersed into the story in half the time just reading did.

The Spear Cuts Through Water is in some ways a fairly standard fantasy tale with two characters thrown together on a quest with a limit timeframe. But that sells short the uniqueness and quality of the storytelling.
This is written in layers- a child being told stories, that as an adult they experience in a dream realm being performed on stage - which it turns out also exists in the story that's being told.
It very much feels like oral history and storytelling in written form along with a touch of classical theatre with brief interruptions and asides from the characters that appear briefly on the main characters' journey.
The main characters of the story being told (within the theatre) are Jun and Keema, tasked with taking the dying Moon god on a pilgrimage so that she can end the rule of the Moon throne. On the journey they meet main people and creatures and learn more about themselves and each other.
Although it is a fantastical story, it also feels lived in, gritty and harsh, and explores belonging and identity.
A standout fantasy story that is well worth reading

Really enjoyed this multivoiced and imaginative fairytale. The execution is hugely original, the character work is believable, the action scene are gripping, and overall it’s one of the best fantasy novels in years

(If you’ve played Skyrim you’re going to recognise a major plot element though…)

An epic oral poem in book form. The writing in this was like waking dream, totally transportive and epic. Loved it!