3.0
The Island
ByPublisher Description
From the multiple best-selling author team that brought you Pattern Black and Burnout comes a brand new transcendent mindfuck of a fantasy novel.
Two powerful and fierce immortal gods are trapped on an island, endlessly pursuing a Sisyphean task that must be completed each day and is renewed each night.
Enemies forced to work together, they sabotage each other, play tricks on each other, and murder each other, only to be resurrected the following day. Yet, despite the daily friction and violence, ultimately, they live in an uneasy balance.
Until the day the stranger arrives. Then the balance tips, the pit collapses, and all hell breaks loose.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities7 Reviews
3.0
Abbie
Created 7 months agoShare
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“Please see the trigger warning at the end - but be forwarned that the the trigger warning may be a spoiler in some sense, but does not reveal the story really.
I'm not even sure what genre this book really fits into - I received an advanced copy because I tend to like fantasy. But I would dare to say this is more than fantasy, but where does it fit exactly? I can't say for sure.
An island, two immortal gods who are also mortal enemies. The same endless tasks of slaying demons and retrieving "unwanteds" and destroying them. A circular existence that has stretched on for all of time. Or has it?
No man is an island unto himself - unless, that is, he becomes one. And thus begins one of the most intricately woven tales I have read in a while. A tale of two gods overlaid with the story of a ill-fated Princess and her prince, overlaid again with another reality altogether. Yet the three tales are intricately woven together, inseparable, clinging to each other, dependent on the other ones. But which is the true reality.
Trauma, past mistakes, demons that haunt and can never really be dispatched. Running away, hiding, coping in ways that make sense. But in reality the only thing to be done is to face it all, to tear down the walls, dismiss the alternate realities and stories that make things more bearable. The only way forward is to march straight through the past, to shoulder the responsibility, to see for once the way things really are.
Our mistakes, our decisions are rarely contained within our own realities. In fact everything we do in life effects another person, influences another's perceptions, truths, self-talk, decisions. We are never, have never been, self-contained islands unto our selves. We are never truly alone. And so the story of the stranger, and his lies, and his ability to bend perceptions, manipulate feelings and create bondage resonates with the human truth. For haven't we all fell victim? Haven't we all believed and invested ourselves in some way in the lies of the stranger because his lies flatter our ego, fill our needs, meet our unstated fears, fill that dark void, silence (even for a moment) our inner demons. But what happens when the stranger leaves and in his wake we are left with the damage? We are left with demons worse than before? How do we cope?
This book......it's so much more than the surface level. It is so much deeper than it seems. It takes a minute to wade through it, but then it resonates, it reverberates against the inner conscience. We easily want to say we have never met the stranger. We want to stand in judgment and say we are better. We want to defend our choices and lay the blame outside. It is the nature of the human to do so. But.....the reality is we are not an island, and all realities based within ourselves, all defenses we build to shield ourselves, all stories we tell ourselves and others to make the truth less painful, the demons less real will crumble in on themselves. Because we all crave forgiveness, a clean slate, a way to start over and move forward. The trick is reaching that point before the world and people we love are lost or destroyed while we were busy playing at life on an island of our own making, being gods of our own world.
Thanks for the review copy. I ordered a print copy to put beside The MIdnight Library.
Trigger warning: This book deals with mental health issues, suicide and adultery. This may contain subject matter that is sensitive and hard for some to handle. This is the only thing about the official cover description of this book that somewhat bothered me. I think that there should be a warning. The general reader will pick up this book and think they are getting a book about a war between two gods trapped on an enchanted island prison only to find out it is very much NOT that at all and the subject matter is actually deals with is weighty, heavy, hard to swallow - but reality for far to many.
I just reviewed The Island by Sean Platt & Johnny B. Truant. #TheIsland #NetGalley
https://www.netgalley.com/book/278511/review/204965”
Danielle Lacelle
Created 8 months agoShare
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“<strong>Not for me</strong>
I've tried for many months to get through this short book. I like to finish what I start at least to give the benefit of the doubt. This was a very strange book.”
mikka.reads
Created about 1 year agoShare
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“I find it difficult to put into words what makes this novel so utterly compelling. It begins as the story of two seemingly immortal men, Gerd and Atticus, who have been held captive on the titular island for ages, trapped by the magic of an unknown power. Every day, they must perform certain tasks and are then given a number of "Unwanted", tiny creatures that trigger horrible thoughts and images in Gerd and Atticus, causing them to see it as their true purpose on the island to kill the Unwanted.
But one day, Atticus finds something Wanted, and everything changes.
Gerd and Atticus are as different as two people can be, in terms of their personalities. Gerd believes in order and wants to follow the rules to the T, while Atticus is pure chaos and tests the limits of their captivity. The two men hate each other and yet live in an uneasy balance. However, this doesn't stop them from "killing" each other in the most brutal ways imaginable, just because they're bored and they're desperate … This is darkly humorous, wickedly funny, but also described in revolting detail. I could have lived without the gore, and this in fact makes it a 4-star read for me instead of a 5-star one.
From the beginning, I had an inkling of what might really be going on, what the Unwanted possibly represented. However, the way the plot ultimately comes together still held some surprises that I won't spoil here! Let me just say that the story has a suprising emotional depth.
I can't stress enough how creative the writing is. Add to that two well fleshed-out characters, an atmosphere of dark mystery and a plot that hints at a coming escalation, and you've got yourself a pageturner. When all's said and done, it is a deeply original, well-written story of grief, guilt, and forgiveness, that is hard to resist.”
Amy Verkruissen
Created over 1 year agoShare
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Celia López
Created over 1 year agoShare
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“Thanks to NetGalley and Sterling & Stone for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book was not was I expected but I enjoyed it anyway, maybe even more than I would have if it have stuck to the synopsis. As other reviews say, it's marketed as sci-fi/fantasy when in reality it's more like a psychological thriller. In any case, it's fast paced and it will keep you interested; the "what is going on???" aspect is common to both genres.
I really liked the way it's written and I feel like the main characters (at least the gods - there are other characters because there two plots narrated in parallel) are well defined; I could visualize their personality and motivations.
The plotwist wasn't really unexpected, which actually speaks in a positive way about the coherence of the story. The build up is clear, and although some details are left unexplained, the reader gets satisfactory answers. However, the ending was a bit too long for me. After the plotwist, there isn't really much left to explain, but the books goes on for another 50 pages or so (which is a lot for a 150-pages book).
I would recommend this book for people who like Lost, The OA or Archive 81. I strongly advise potential readers to check the trigger warnings, though: explicit violence and death, suicide, mental health.”
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