Review: The Warren by Brian Evenson
Although The Warren is short - less than a hundred pages and compelling enough to read in a single sitting - I needed some time to digest its content and figure out what I wanted to say about it. Ultimately, I think the less said about it the better. (And I do mean this in all seriousness, and in the best way possible.)
I went into this book blind, knowing very little about it other than it had a snazzy cover and was another release in Tor's strong line of novellas. I think this is about all you should know about it, as well. It's a good, twisty read and you should probably check it out so long as you can stand not having everything perfectly resolved and all questions neatly answered.
Not enough? OK, fine. Imagine taking some science fiction heavy weights, like Blade Runner and The Martian and tossing them in a heavy-duty blender with Memento for added flavor. The Warren, however, is far from simply a pastiche of these other works, even if I found their influences to be strong. What you end up with, though, is a short work that calls into question the nature of self and self-perception with an utterly unreliable narrator in what is, basically, a locked-room drama.
This warped and fairly grim narrative cares not a whit about delivering the goods in a linear fashion, so readers should go in with scrutinizing eyes and pay keen attention to the details. Brian Evenson raises a lot of questions within his story, most of which are either answered ambiguously at best, or left to the reader to suss out the clues. I enjoyed connecting the various puzzle pieces presented in The Warren, and I suspect that a second read-through would be both deeply rewarding and quite different than the initial journey. This is certainly a story that demands a focused reading, and the closer you inspect Evenson's writing the more satisfying it becomes.
[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title for review from the publisher via NetGalley.]
