I have received a review copy from the author in exchange of an honest review. My opinions are my own.

A lot of reviewers call Beyond Redemption ‘The grimdarkest of grimdark’ and as a grimdark fan, I agree with them. It’s the epitomy of grimdark but far from depressing. It has plenty of twisted humor and dark satire between the lines. The best way I can describe this book is that it’s immensely dark and gritty with slivers of hope, witty philosophy and stunning black humor scattered around. The point of view characters are horribly vile and amoral, perhaps with the exception of the little boy, whose innocence turns out to be tarnished like everything else in the book. Everyone is batshit crazy except for the one sane character.

Even though the characters are all insane and horrible, you still root for them. Don’t ask me how that is possible, this book is a work of genius and makes you care about those awful cretins. You end up feeling sorry for them. There’s only one character I (and I think everyone else) hated, which is the gluttonous, greedy slug Erbrechen the Slaver. Erbrechen one is 1000 times more revolting than all other characters and I’d say I hated him as much as I hated Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter and Joffrey from Asoiaf/The Game of Thrones. None of the fantasy books I recently read featured such a horrible villain. Reading this book made me realize how much I missed reading a well written, awful villain I could hate like no tomorrow.

One of the female characters, Stehlen the kleptic, is all kinds of awesome. She’s hideous and messed up beyond any hope, and she’s a horrible cutthroat bitch with no shred of morals or honor, but she’s still an awesome character and I liked her. The other female character, Gehirn the pyromaniac, is equally hideous and even more messed up. She also behaves like a damn weakling but I rooted for her more than anyone else. Two thumbs up to Mr. Fletcher for this stellar accomplishment.

The most entertaining parts for me were 1)the constant bickering between the three main characters and 2) the bantering and plotting between the doppels of the other main character Konig. Doppels are the aspects of personality becoming real beings of flesh. Kind of like the multiple personality disorder, but they are fragments of the same person’s character and they have the exact likeness. But delusions make reality in this crazy world, so everyone else can see and hear those delusions, too. The doppels are creepy as hell but quite intriguing, full of surprises and great fun to read. I really hope Mr. Fletcher writes some short stories featuring the doppels.

The other thing I found great about Beyond Redemption is the totally unpredictable twists and turns. If plot twists and fresh, original stuff is your thing, you will love this book without question. If you like magic systems you will love it, though it’s a different kind of magic system than you see in most fantasy books featuring significant magic elements. If you hate magic systems you will still love it for the same reason.

The concept of death is also quite original and unusual. I can’t say much for the sake of keeping this review spoiler free, but you will have a lot of fun after the character deaths. That’s all I can say, you have to read and see for yourself.

The morbid adventures of Bedeckt, Stehlen and Wichtig are insanely entertaining and the action never lets up. There’s also deliciously dark philosophy and black humor to be found in this story. Hilarious and macabre dialogues, messed up events and the cleverly woven satire making this book a 2 am in the morning page turner. It ends with a cliffhanger with the promise of a sequel. What can I say, I’m dying to read the second book.

Verdict: Buy it ASAP! If you love grimdark and complex characters, you will be a big fan. If you don’t like grimdark, you might still enjoy this book a great deal cause it’s much more than just grimdark.

Maybe a 3.75. Really bogged down in the middle, and Gehirn was mostly a slog to read about. Crazy unique (pun not intended), but Wichtig was perhaps the only like able character, at least until the end.

Need to let it stew a bit.

Wow! Clever, dark, disturbing and wonderfully meta in places. This is high concept grimdark fantasy at its absolute best.

The conceit at the center of this is the idea that belief is your reality - the stronger you believe in something the more real it becomes. The twist on this is that the people who believe most strongly that things aren't as they seem are people with delusions, and when those delusions are strong enough they become the reality. This has to be one of the most unique and scary magic systems I have ever seen in a fantasy novel.

Michael Fletcher has dug up some really interesting delusions to give power to. Whilst you get some more standard ones like sociopaths (called Gefahrgeist in the novel) whose ids are out of control and project their belief in their importance or ability (for example Wichtig, who believes he is the greatest swordsman in the world, and because of the strength of his convictions, he is), there are weirder and more wonderful ones like Cotard's Syndrome (they believe they are dead/decaying), Syndrome of Subjective Doubles (believe that they have doppelgangers who are carrying out independent actions), Catoptrophobia (believe the reflections in the mirror are someone other than themselves) and so on. This range of beliefs produces a wild a wacky range of abilities. When the characters delusions start getting delusions then it gets even more out there!

And because those who are delusional are powerful, the world is a crazy and brutal place. This is proper grimdark with every character manipulating and not entirely sane. The belief is reality concept also drive the mythology - if enough people believe you are a god, you become a god. The cleverness of how the central conceit works to tie everything together should not be underestimated!

On top of that, Michael's prose is very readable. The main characters, despite their various delusions, are relatable. There relationship, messy as it is, has a gritty realness to it.

Honestly, this is going straight in to my top 10 favourite books I have read. Clever, dark and brilliant.