The relationship, if any, between belief and reality has been a philosophical issue dating back at least to Plato. For “belief”, substitute “perception”, “subjectivity”, “ego”, “the will”, or, in quantum theory, “observation”. Is it ever possible to “know” reality, or in Kant’s phrase, to know “the thing in itself” (der ding an sich), or are we always confined to subjectivity? If the latter, do “beliefs” then define reality as experienced, and if so, do shared beliefs create a common “reality”? Are the beliefs of the delusionally insane (which phrase, of course, begs the question) so much stronger than those of the “sane” that they create and impose a weird and twisted reality? Beyond Redemption ostensibly takes the latter conceit as the basis for a fantasy novel, and I was excited to see how the topic would be developed. Sadly, the opportunity was missed.

Michael Fletcher simply posits as a given that belief (especially of the mentally and emotionally wounded) creates reality, and then uses it to populate his story with supervillains. We then have a typical medieval fantasy in a sad and drab world “beyond redemption.” I hoped for more. Fletcher is not an unskilled writer, and I do not fault his prose. His use of German was an interesting way of avoiding shopworn fantasy nomenclature, and judicious use of a German/English dictionary revealed his humor. It did lead to one bit of certainly unintended mirth, caused either by an inattentive editor or limitations of software. One of the characters is named Grosse Klinge (“big blade”). However, Fletcher used the German eszett for the double-s, which is a letter similar to the capital English “B”. On the Kindle the name on the page rendered as “GroBe Klinge”. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought this was hilarious.

Otherwise, the book is absent levity. The sections dealing with the “slaver” I found truly abhorrent, so much so that I struggled to finish the book. I will not be picking up the sequel. Alright, since Fletcher can handle language, I might give him a second chance.