SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Unraveling by Karen Lord

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Unraveling by Karen Lord: https://t.co/aJdIo9hyOF Short Review: 7 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) July 12, 2019

Short Review (cont): Unraveling is a fantasy mystery advertised as being inspired by Caribbean storytelling which is sometimes frustratingly cryptic and confusing, but tells a solid story overall with issues of class and the choices of those oppressed. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) July 12, 2019

Unraveling is a stand-alone short novel by author Karen Lord which is advertised as being based on Caribbean storytelling (Lord is from Barbados).  The book is set in the same modern-esque world with fantasy elements as her earlier novel, Redemption in Indigo (which i have not read), and is sort of a whodunit in which a human woman is tasked by Angels to work with a few immortals to try and discover the person truly behind a scheme of killings.

But that description of Unraveling really only touches the surface of this book, and the book is less interested in the question of who is behind the killings in question than in the motives and actions of all the characters involved, and the circumstances of this world - a world in which different classes of residents/citizens of the City have different rights - that creates such motivations.  The result is certainly interesting, but the book is often very cryptic, sometimes downright confusing, and rereading old passages to try and figure out what's happening only helps somewhat.  I liked the end results, but others may find this work a bit too cryptic and all over the place for their tastes, with the non-linear storytelling being more than a little tricky to decipher.


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In The City, where those with Freeman status and ownership have more rights and privileges than residents without, a serial killer has just been caught, with at least seven known victims to his name - many of whom have died in seemingly ritualistic ways.  But Dr. Miranda Ecouvo, the forensic therapist of the City, isn't satisfied with the case's conclusion, a concern that seems proven right when several supernatural events occur to her in a row: first she sees a duplicate of herself walk suicidally into traffic, and then she finds herself whisked away to another realm and tasked by the Angel Uriel to find the killer before he finishes the path to "immortality."

To guide Miranda, there is the Undying known as Chance, who is somehow both human and undying at the same time.  Chance has his own connections to the case and seeks to work with Miranda to find the supernatural force guiding the real killer.  And as Chance guides Miranda through the labyrinths of Memory and Nightmare, through the paths of the Past and Future, both Chance and Miranda will be forced to come to realizations about their lives and the way humans live in the world below them.  Aided by Chance's brother The Trickster and his mother, the incredibly powerful Patience, Miranda and Chance will find themselves both changed dramatically by the outcome of their investigation, and those changes will change the world.
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Unraveling is often an incredibly frustrating book, because it's not interested in telling the story in ways that are either linear or even ordinarily straightforward at any given time.  Whether events are actually happening or just a psychic projection in one character's head is often unclear, whether such projections are based upon reality or are wholly being made up for the purpose of manipulation isn't quite obvious, and the motives of even the most neutral of characters is often murky.  Characters who are merely referenced come back to prominence after long absences, with such characters often turning out to be major individuals, and the leaps of logic that the book takes in terms of how those characters return is sometimes baffling.  If you were expecting this book to read like a satisfying whodunit, which you could follow along with the characters, you will be sadly disappointed.

As a circuitous fantasy journey of realizations for several characters on the other hand, namely Chance and Miranda, the book does actually work.  It may not be clear from the above plot summary, but both Chance and Miranda are basically equal protagonists, and both have journeys and realizations they need to take in order for their part in this story to be complete.  Chance, who sees things as possibilities by his nature and places prime importance on the ability of people to choose, has to learn through this story of the fact that not everyone truly DOES have a choice, and that there are other things worth valuing in the world, such as love.  Miranda similarly has to learn from the killings and the memories and visions she sees that the City she has come to live in, the one whose privileges she has inherited, is one that excludes many others and forces rough choices and lives upon them.

Neither of these emotional journeys is unique to this book, but the circuitous way the story gets about developing both Chance and Miranda, from beginning to end, is quite different from nearly anything I can think of reading previously.  It may have taken me rereading passages a few time to figure out how everything really worked together, and what was really happening, but I do think the book is rewarding and worthwhile if you take the effort - and the book is rather short.  Perhaps expanding the book could've made it less cryptic and make things make more sense - perhaps even the mystery which kind of jumps steps out of nowhere in the middle - but overall I do think Unraveling works.  Worth a try for those looking for something not told in an ordinary fashion.