A very wonderful Wizles recommendation that means I'm just now excited to read everything else Fellman has written.
The best description I have of this book is "what if The Spear Cuts Through Water met Into Thin Air" but, somehow, a little less depressing than either.
This book is another one that understands why it has a framing device and uses it appropriately to comment on the nature of narrative and the stories we tell ourselves while also making you realize, as a reader, that you could never tell exactly this story without the frame and it's just so good.
Also, I mean, the Holoh are not Jews, but they're not...not Jews either and I mean that as a compliment. And the parallels Fellman draws and, in particular, the way that the dominant religion punishes the Holoh for not following their divine figure and makes a mountain out of a mostly non-event and Fellman uses that (like Arkady Martine in the Tiexcalaan books) to talk about what a people becomes when they are defined by the dominant power that they are not.
It was just so smart and so good and so thoughtful and I loved it so much.