Anchored in the earthly slice of coexistent realities from their secret off-grid location, twins Keeto and Elize must transcend the lies that govern world order. But will they escape the entities that hunt them?
Even their Gadlin hosts, whose innovations and virtues had saved humanity from three mass extinctions, are vulnerable to treason from within. Only mastery of an ancient art form can hone the skills the twins need to escape.
In this fifth episode of the Nemecene™ series, the twin fugitives struggle to discern friend from foe. Spotty recollections from past trauma feed the anxiety that clings to Elize’s waking thoughts, while Keeto carries the burden of truth in the pages of his journal, and Izionnis, the young academic turned versal arts mentor from Eadonberg’s Museum of Antiquities, challenges Keeto’s courage in order to deepen his allegiance to their not-exactly-human kind. Meanwhile, with rumors of their hip-jiggling dweeb-of-a-genius half-Gadlin friend’s whereabouts unconfirmed, his mother Sakari and Elize unite through their shared affection for Zafarian and develop a fondness for each other that fills a void laced in loss.
Nevertheless, as storm the oceans, so shatters the illusory serenity of their village sanctuary. The various Unification factions intensify their covert power games with the twins as the bounty; the manifestations living inside the dreamless sleep begin to awaken; ecological experiments accelerate. Now, throw in a planet with her own amoral agenda, and urgency can leave any well-conceived plan poorly executed — to the peril of all.
Will haste be the enemy that stoppers time? Or will time itself stretch to give Keeto and Elize another year to uncover their origins? In any case … they will be watching … They are always watching.
Assessment:
Plot: The fifth novel in the Nemecene series reunites readers with twins Keeto and Elize and the immersive futuristic world finely established throughout the first four books. The author offers a detailed glossary and codes related to the narrative threads woven throughout the story—tools that prove helpful to readers navigating the often dense, multilayered content.
Prose: Lefave's prose is highly detailed, fluidly rendered, and often electric, if at times overbearing. The writing style varies as the text rotates between perspectives and moments in time. The potentially confusing machinations of the book are lessened through these fine delineations.
Originality: The Nemecene series offers an exceptional vision of a future world laced with fantastical elements and rich in psychological depth. To fully grasp—and embrace—the reading experience, readers will surely want to begin with the first book in the series. As such, the readership with this installment may be somewhat limited.
Character/Execution: The hypnotic, at times near stream of consciousness style of the writing allows readers to become intimately familiar with the individual characters’ internal thoughts, emotions, and motivations. Still, readers may struggle to become fully acclimated to the world the author so meticulously creates. Characters, though handled with precision and care, do not always concretely materialize.
Blurb: Lefave's Nemecene series features top notch worldbuilding and an entirely immersive reading experience.
Date Submitted: May 28, 2020
