In Michael R. Fletcher’s Beyond Redemption, dreams, desires, and imagination manifest as reality and the unhinged are the most powerful, affecting the world most profoundly. Others can affect it in a more personal manner. For example, the character of Wichtig deems himself the Greatest Swordsman in the World. The more he says this, the more he believes it and gets others to believe it, the more true it becomes to the point an opponent refuses to fight Wichtig because of how Wichtig’s belief in himself has affected other people. At the apex of this world is the Konig Furimmer, high priest of the Geborene Damonen, a mad ruler who argues with his Doppels (magically created doubles) about his sanity and rule. Konig has one mad plan above all, to create a new God as all other gods have fallen out of favor. The key to Konig’s plan is that this boy – Morgen – must generate enough belief in his power and die purely so he can Ascend to god-hood.
Fletcher has a few threads running through the novel, but all of them are tied back to the power of belief and how that power, as it increases, corrupts the mind of the wielder, beings known as Geisteskranken. There is a classification system for these Geisteskranken. Some have a specialty with fire, others can create doubles (Doppels) of themselves, others find their powers in mirrors and reflections. The Konig is a Geisteskranken who manifests multiple powers, and as such, is more delusional and prone to lapses of sanity. This is the man who wants to create a new God he can control.
The above-mentioned Wichtig, and his fellow rogues, Bedeckt the large, aged axe-wielding warrior and Stehlen the thief (one of the few female characters in the novel) are looking to cause mischief and get rich in the process. Once they learn of the Konig’s plan to create a god, they do the only logical thing. They enact a plan to kidnap the boy who would be god. Meanwhile, the Konig’s sanity continues to crack and one of his followers slips away and finds herself ensorcelled by a slaver with enormous girth and equally enormous charismatic powers.
Fletcher’s world has a very heavy Germanic influence, each of the titles and many of the proper names are evocative of the German language if not outright German worlds. There’s a thick layer of grime on Fletcher’s world that permeates everything, there is nothing nice or pretty about it. Even the young godling, initially idealistic, becomes a dark reflection of the world he inhabits. This evoked images of a world where, perhaps, Nazi Germany reigned over a continent it nearly destroyed, especially with the Konig’s far reaching plan of dominance. The plan to create a new God immediately drew comparisons to Dune in my mind. Except in Dune, not every other character was a certifiable psychopath and the sandy barrenness of Arrakis was swapped out for a land barren of life and light.
Grimdark is a label that has been floating around for a couple of years to describe novels devoid (mostly) of heroes, brightness, good ideals in a world without hope. Novels like R. Scott Bakker’s The Darkness that Comes Before might be a precursor to the movement, Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire might be the trope codifier, but here with Beyond Redemption, Fletcher takes ownership of that label to a new level, giving readers a novel which has some of the story tropes of Epic Fantasy wearing a dark, horror overcoat.
Beyond Redemption may not be Michael R. Fletcher’s first published novel, but it his first major work with one of the Big Publishers. It is a compelling novel that has a power to draw you in, despite the dark nature of the world and the unsavory characters who populate it. This appears to be the first of a series and I am equally horrified and fascinated to find out where Fletcher will next take the story. I would also like to see a bit more balance in the characters, in terms of gender. There were only two female characters in the relatively small cast and only one of them is really an active character.
I picked up the book at New York Comic Con because Fletcher was on a panel entitled “Masters of Unreality: Heavy Metal and SFF” (along with Myke Cole and panel “instigator” Peter Orullian). Like the other members of the panel, Fletcher was in a heavy metal band and much of the same imagery evoked by Death and Doom Metal bands like Amon Amarth, very early Black Sabbath, Cannibal Corpse, or Arch Enemy. I’m a metal fan as much as I am a SFF fan, so yeah, I liked Beyond Redemption, though being a metal fan is by no means a pre-requisite to enjoying the book.
Beyond Redemption might be the grimdarkiest grimdark novel to ever grimdark. If you enjoy the aforementioned authors (Lawrence, Bakker), there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Fletcher’s Beyond Redemption.
Recommended
© 2015 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback, June 2015, 512 Pages
ISBN 978-0-062-38703-5
http://michaelrfletcher.com
Wiki: http://michaelrfletcher.com/beyondwiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
Review copy purchased (and signed) at New York Comic Con
