"This place, which lies between your world and the next, is the theater where stories like yours are told" — This moonlit body

Jimenez's The Spear Cuts Through Water is a testament and tribute to oral storytelling and all its complexities. This story incorporates the grandness that lies within a tale being told to the reader and main character alike. Where animals have central roles and play their part in pushing the plot forward and even the smallest character has their own time on the page leaving a mark in the weaving of a sweeping tapestry.

In a land where power and fear is used to secure a kingdom and tribute, a one-armed warrior is swept up in the theatre of betrayal, murder, escape, and rebellion. 

I do believe I would have struggled to read this physically, not being able to give another book any attention, but the narrator infuses the story and each character with such control and animation that the listening experience unfolded like a play. I could pick out the influences of puppet shows, stage work, word of mouth retellings, familial memory and recall.