The Misheard World, by Aliya Whiteley
The Book
Synopsis:
Elize Janview is a soldier, one of the few survivors of an unimaginably terrible weapon, which ended the long détente between the North and the South and plunged them back into all-out war. She enlisted with a dream of finding those responsible, of somehow getting revenge for the deaths of everyone she knew, but was posted to guard the prison at Crag, the fortress of the South, which has never fallen to the enemy.
Janview’s life is transformed when a rough wooden box is delivered to Crag, holding the performer and spy Marius Mondegreen, agent of the North: the Misheard Word, who can read minds, breathe fire, and make objects appear and disappear. Janview is to witness Mondegreen’s interrogation by his captor, the beautiful and cruel Allynx Syld, who promises the end of the war. As recorder – and by degrees participant – in the interrogation, Janview comes to question everything she knew about the war, and the very world she lives in…
My Review
The Misheard World is a thought-provoking sci-fi novel written by Aliya Whiteley, published by Solaris. A powerful story that takes a dive to examine the concept of war as a story and how it shapes the world through a curious lense, how war can be storytelling for powerful people; an intricate story that leaves the reader wondering more about the meaning of their own worlds.
Elize Janview is a soldier, one of the few survivors of the terrible weapon that devastated the city of Droad and that broke the detente between the North and the South; a war that neither side can afford to lose. She opted for reasons to work at Crag, a prison for those captured in wartime; when they receive Marius Mondergreen, legendary spy and storyteller, Elize is chosen to observe the interrogations conducted by Allynx Syld, a noble, and report to the prison's governor. An interrogatory that seems to have the key to why and how this war can be stopped and that evolves into something bigger.
Whiteley has created a weird story that works like an onion, a composite of multiple layers: from the simple interrogatory between two characters that clearly know more than what the third person in the room understands; we see Elize trying to understand the cryptic meanings behind the stories told by Mondergreen, and what that really means about the war between the South and the North. Later, we will see how the own Mondergreen will act as our narrator to give a new meaning to this war, how it's no more than an instrument for others in a literal superior layer; a parallelism that could be easily established with our own world and how war serves the interest of the powerful alone, while they are not suffering the consequences.
The brilliance of this novel is something I firmly believe I cannot capture with words, it needs to be experienced; if you are looking for a though-provoking and timely-accurated novel, Whiteley's The Misheard World is the perfect choice for you. An astounding novel that firmly enters on my top reads list of the year!
The Author/s
Aliya Whiteley
Aliya Whiteley is the author of many books of speculative fiction, including the fantasy/SF travelogue Three Eight One, which won the BSFA 2024 Best Novel award, Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlisted Skyward Inn and The Loosening Skin, and also The Beauty, which was shortlisted for a Shirley Jackson award. She lives in Sussex with her husband and daughter.
Her short fiction has appeared in F&SF, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Strange Horizons, The Dark, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and The Guardian, as well as in anthologies such as Unsung Stories’ 2084 and Lonely Planet’s Better than Fiction.
Her non-fiction includes The Secret Life of Fungi, a look at how fungi are a permanent presence in her life. She also writes a regular non-fiction column on sci fi and fantasy matters for Interzone magazine.