This Modern Fantasy Book Deserves Far More Attention Than It Gets

Fans of the fantasy genre are spoiled for choice in today’s market. Each year, a million new epic sagas emerge, with kingdoms on the verge of implosion and chosen heroes meant to save the world. Making the mark in a genre that thrives on clichés and stereotypes is a challenge that makes The Spear Cuts Through Water stand out even more.

The 2022 novel by Simon Jimenez kicks off with familiar elements: a cruel emperor, a god imprisoned, and two heroes ending up in a dangerous situation together. Some chapters later, it becomes evident that this work is not another epic fantasy based solely on maps and battles. Jimenez draws on familiar foundations to craft an engaging tale centered on memory, history, love, and the survival of the stories themselves.

‘The Spear Cuts Through Water’ Reinvents the Way Fantasy Stories Are Told

Image via Penguin Random House

At its heart, the novel follows Keema, a one-armed warrior, and Jun, the grandson of an imprisoned moon goddess. Together, they escort the dying deity across the Old Country while an empire collapses around them. Truthfully, it sounds like the setup for a classic fantasy quest, but the execution is anything but conventional.

Rather than presenting events in a straightforward timeline, Jimenez layers multiple stories one inside the other. The central adventure is framed as a tale passed down through a family, a mysterious theater stages the story like a living performance, and the narration shifts among first-, second-, and third-person perspectives, inviting readers to become part of the story rather than simply watching from the outside.

Though it can be perplexing, Jimenez does not forget about the emotional background. Each change of narration creates a new layer of the world rather than destroying it. It contributes to an amazing feeling of witnessing ancient folklore passed down through our memories after many retellings. The novel also considers storytelling as a question of why people love stories so much.

Experimental storytelling often comes with a tradeoff. The structure becomes the star while the characters fade into the background, but that never happens here. Keema and Jun anchor every page, and their relationship gives the novel its emotional weight. Keema projects confidence, even when circumstances strip away his pride, and Jun carries the burden of a violent past he can’t simply outrun. Their growing trust feels deserved, developing through shared hardship rather than grand declarations.

Romance unfolds with similar restraint; it doesn’t act as a side story, interrupting the main plot, but rather as an extra dimension of the book’s central issue: Can a person free themselves from past stories, or will they always be determined by them?

This emotional base also influences how the author depicts violence. Wars have consequences, and minor characters are not disposable barriers to be overcome. The author often interrupts the narration to speak about the people involved in the war, saying that every heroic deed or injustice has its repercussions. Despite featuring gods, monsters, and magic, the book is about human beings.

Why ‘The Spear Cuts Through Water’ Already Feels Like a Modern Fantasy Classic

Image via Penguin Random House

Jimenez expects readers to surrender to the rhythm of the novel rather than demand immediate explanations. Questions linger, perspectives shift, and scenes flow into one another with a dreamlike quality that can feel disorienting at first. Many fantasy novels explain every corner of their worlds as quickly as possible. Jimenez does the opposite. He lets readers discover the Old Country piece by piece, trusting them to assemble the larger picture themselves.

It’s also remarkably visual. The Inverted Theater, the mythic imagery, and the larger-than-life figures all create scenes that linger long after the final page. Few novels capture the feeling of sitting around a fire, listening to an old legend, while making that legend feel immediate and alive, and the result is a book that invites rereading. Once you know where the story is headed, small details take on entirely new meaning, making the experience richer the second time around.

Classic fantasy isn’t defined by age. It’s defined by influence, ambition, and the ability to leave readers thinking differently about what the genre can accomplish, and The Spear Cuts Through Water checks every one of those boxes. Since its publication, the book has received considerable critical attention and won significant awards; however, awards do not tell the whole story. The main feature of Jimenez’s novel is the fact that it is absolutely true to its own vision. The novel uses traditional elements of fantasy but transforms them into something truly original.

It is exciting but does not rely on spectacle; it is romantic but not sentimental; it is experimental yet still emotional. Most importantly, the novel trusts its readers. It invites them to slow down, deal with uncertainty, and take an active part in the narrative.

For readers looking for another sprawling fantasy series, there are plenty of options. But for anyone searching for a book that genuinely expands the possibilities of epic fantasy, The Spear Cuts Through Water deserves to be near the top of the list—and it’s long past time more people discovered it.