by Gordon Bonnet

Our main character is Duncan Kyle, a man of indeterminate age or origin who one night falls through the floor of his apartment and finds himself in a dark and mysterious world, one of many within the Sephirot that he must journey through and return home. This is a standard Voyage and Return type plot; Our hero wanders aimlessly in a strange land, having adventures and drawing wisdom and revelation through his experiences before returning home. In Kabbalah the Sephirot is ten different emanations/revelations of God. Each contains a different characteristic emotion or virtue, and through attaining enlightenment of any one of these levels one brings their self closer to the divine knowledge of God. In Bonnet’s book the Sephirot are represented by different fantasy realms that must be physically journeyed through; and with the Sephirot being a creation of the hero’s own mind, it is thus a journey to attain an enlightened knowledge of his self. Unfortunately, Bonnet fails to give as much thought to characterisation or setting as he does to concept or structure; ironically, crafting a journey that is, instead of being enlightening, one that feels hollow.

We don’t know anything about the protagonist and, only towards the last half of the book do we discover things about our hero, but then it is too late. The story is about the hero’s self discovery, not the reader’s discovery of the hero, and in this it is hard to find an emotional connection to Duncan Kyle or to emotionally invest in his journey. As well an uninteresting character, the conflicts he faces are resolved quickly, or avoided completely via last-minute portals opening and allowing him to escape into the next realm. Another over-used cliche is the quick discovery in every realm of the ‘mysterious helper’ archetype: a potential foil or background character who dispenses knowledge and advice and assistance to Duncan at almost every step of his journey. The impact of these story devices is that the tension is stripped from the book; any dangers presented to the main character are aesthetic and offer little tangible threat.

Despite these flaws, it is an enjoyable read with some interesting ideas and varied and interesting settings. I would have liked to have spent more time getting to know the different worlds, and the book could have benefitted from more consistent pacing, but the general direction of the book kept me intrigued. 6/10 stars.