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.