Paul and Liis reviews Beyond Redemption, book one in Michael R. Fletcher’s grimdark fantasy series Manifest Delusions.
Liis bought this paperback 6 years ago (2018) in Ireland, via Book Depository (RIP), and finally read it in Estonia (2024). The book has travelled across the seas and through many countries.
Note
Paul’s review was originally published on June 9, 2022 to which we added Liis’ review and edited the post to bring it up to date.
| Series: | Manifest Delusions #1 |
| Genre: | Epic, Dark Fantasy, Grimdark |
| Publisher: | Harper Voyager |
| Date of Publishing: | June 16, 2015 |
| Trigger Warnings: | mental health, death, torture, body horror, fire |
| Page count: | 480 |
Faith shapes the landscape, defines the laws of physics, and makes a mockery of truth. Common knowledge isn’t an axiom, it’s a force of nature. What the masses believe is. But insanity is a weapon, conviction a shield. Delusions give birth to foul new gods.
Violent and dark, the world is filled with the Geisteskranken—men and women whose delusions manifest, twisting reality. High Priest Konig seeks to create order from chaos. He defines the beliefs of his followers, leading their faith to one end: a young boy, Morgen, must Ascend to become a god. A god they can control.
But there are many who would see this would-be-god in their thrall, including the High Priest’s own Doppels, and a Slaver no one can resist. Three reprobates—The Greatest Swordsman in the World, a murderous Kleptic, and possibly the only sane man left—have their own nefarious plans for the young god.
As these forces converge on the boy, there’s one more obstacle: time is running out. When one’s delusions become more powerful, they become harder to control. The fate of the Geisteskranken is to inevitably find oneself in the Afterdeath.
The question, then, is: Who will rule there?
PAUL’S REVIEW – 5/5👑
I’m not quite sure where, or indeed how, to start a review of BEYOND REDEMPTION. Certainly, I feel the need to point out the fact that this book is so GrimDark that even aficionados of the genre need to be aware of just how GrimDark it actually is.
No doubt you’ve already read Abercrombie, Lawrence, Smith Spark, and other luminaries of the craft. While their books are sure as shit dark, they are but scummy rock pools compared to Michael R. Fletcher’s ocean of filth.
The plot, boiled down to its bones, is pretty simple — a god is going to be born; who will control him? — but the way it plays out, and the world it plays out in, is the most mindfuckingly intricate thing I’ve experienced in a long time.
BEYOND REDEMPTION’s world is a ghastly, vile thing. It is governed by absolute chaos and enforced by whoever has the strongest delusions.
While there are a few sane people knocking about, most of the cast are Geisteskranken — The Delusional. There are just so many varieties of Geisteskranken, each based on real-world mental illnesses and conditions, each with their own powers.
Cotardists (think they’re dead), Gefahrgeists (sociopaths), Hassebrands (pyromaniacs) are just three of the twenty Geisteskranken listed in the book’s glossary, which also includes comorbidics who suffer/are blessed with more than one condition.
For all the chaos of the world, the ‘magic’ itself is fairly rule-based in the sense that they all work in very specific ways. The kicker, though, is that everything is ultimately based on the strength of belief, if you believe something strongly enough, it will be, if enough people believe the same thing… well, the world’s your rotten oyster.
To be fair, the world is a rotten oyster regardless of belief, it’s horrible, but gloriously so. The people are even worse, and the things that happen in this book, Jesus, if there was a list of trigger warnings, it’d probably fill a novella.
The three main characters Bedeckt, Stehlen, and Wichtig, are a remarkably engaging trio. The dynamics between them at first glance appear as friendly and as positive as the response you’d get if you tried to hug a feral cat. But as the story progresses, you start to see a little bit of who they are behind the pain, behind their own personal delusions, and you start to like them.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re bastards — but they’re YOUR bastards.
Then there are the other bastards, the ones who are most definitely not your bastards, to a character, they are all grotesquely fascinating and so amazingly unique.
It’s odd that despite the violence, darkness, and widespread nihilism, BEYOND REDEMPTION is such a fun, humorous book.
In terms of dialogue and writing, BEYOND REDEMPTION is suffused with such tarry thick and pitch-black humour, it pours from the page like blood from a head wound. The prose is descriptive, frequently graphic, but never anything short of exhilarating.
This was a book that I really didn’t want to put down and one that I demolished over a couple of days.
It’s not for everyone, but if you like some dark fantasy, dive headfirst into this cesspit.
LIIS’ REVIEW – 5/5👑
“Wherever you are, there you are. We define our reality.”
Michael R. Fletcher is a puppet master controlling all of the delusional and various states of minds in Beyond Redemption and making it into one of the worst and best dark fantasies out there. It’s no small feat to contain something as unpredictable, vague and sprawling like various mental states manifesting in magical powers. This book tickles the brain. No, not tickles. Scratches. There’s some pretty nasty imagery in this.
What’s the book about? To really condense it down, it all sort of boils down to one boy. A boy that a king plans to make into a god. And by make, I mean… well, the boy has to ascend and to ascend he has to… You can guess. But, before we get to the boy, there are other characters and happenings that… just… Okay. Read the damn blurb! There is also the theme of life, afterlife and redemption. Musings about how our actions in life might affect our Afterlife. Musings, and then swiftly setting those musings aside to live in the moment, baby!
Anyway, for me? Beauuuutiful! Beyond Redemption has the perfect balance of epic, grim and otherworldly with the human condition and near philosophical ponderings of the deviants. Ye gods, there’s nearly nothing better than a tainted soul wondering about redemption. Bahahaha…
We have Konig – who has Doppels, and is slowly falling victim to his delusions. The Doppels are damned intriguing and this whole Konig storyline just went exploding brain sort of what the hell just happened. We have Morgen, the child to become god who hates nothing else more than being dirty. A fellow germ freak, I could feel his despair at times. I am intrigued about Morgen’s storyline… There’s something of a psyhological case study potentially unravelling. His innocence and sin-free soul at the hands of selfish egotistical people… Which wins out? And is Morgen to blame for his actions or are those who molded him? Mmmmwah, chef’s kiss. We have Bedeckt (an older mercenary type), Wichtig (The Greatest Swordsman in the World) and Kleptic (ruthless, ruthless woman. Damn!) – those three travel together and I very much enjoyed the trio’s dynamics as well as the… well… dysfunctional symbiosis. There is Gehirn who basically is fire. There is the Slaver, Erbrechen – I know not how I always managed to be eating when I read the Slaver chapters. Nausea-inducing shit, that.
Gods, this book, in another universe, could have been a complete mess. Mixing all of these delusions, mental states and so many characters with their shadiness and immorality and their backstabbing ways. And it wasn’t a mess. Why? I think it boils down to a very simple thing. The characters never lost sight of their goals. Whatever their goal was, they stuck to it – some lost due to it, some won. The goal may have been slightly amended, polished, tuned, but it was always there, and it makes a hell of a difference to “hells, let’s just go and see what happens on the journey and here, reader, multiple funky threads with multiple funky things and fuck it, we’ll see where this leads.” The journeys can be great too, adventurous, but when they lack the purpose, a purpose so strong that the characters kill for it, it’s all just fine. Not great, not strongly convincing, it’s just fine. Here’s where Beyond Redemption has its strength – it does not waver and lose sight. Whatever horribleness befell, the goals of the characters didn’t waiver. Onwards, only onwards! The odds are there to be beaten!
As bonkers as this book is with all of the characters, one worse than the other, Fletcher does one thing really well. He makes them all very painfully human. They all want something because they’re so petty in their human-like need and egotism. Something that is so small and simple and yet something so foundational, like love. Or, peaceful few years before they die. Fletcher breaks down the very human thoughts, weaknesses, ambitions, wants and needs, and slathers them across the pages wrapped in delusions and horrible deeds.
What further polishes the shine of the brilliance of this story is that everything just seems to go a full circle. The characters, their own storylines and the main storyline – it just all winds its way to a conclusion. As a reader who enjoys grim and dark fantasy, I felt sated by this story. It delivered surprises as much as it delivered gentle realizations. Redemption, though? Nah, we’re way beyond that, I’m afraid.
If you don’t want to miss any of our posts, please consider signing up to our monthly newsletter or follow us on social media:
Leave a Comment