Unknown language is a curious and engrossing sci-fi apocalypse/evolving dystopia informed by, and interspersed with, the texts of a 12th Century Abbess (now saint). Probably not for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed it. 8/10
Unknown language is a curious and engrossing sci-fi apocalypse/evolving dystopia informed by, and interspersed with, the texts of a 12th Century Abbess (now saint). Probably not for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed it. 8/10
Well, this is a conundrum: wtf have I just read?!
A public health official escapes the city after a Biblical apocalypse that has angels carrying out quasi-Stalinist purges. This narrative is bracketed by a mystical prose poem and a biographical essay on Hildegard. It sounds weird enough but felt oddly prosaic. Named as co-author, I expected more Hildegard. The *ideas* may be hers; perhaps I just wish she'd been allowed to articulate them herself.
An ambitious, obscure and ambiguous riff on the writing of twelfth-century saint Hildegard of Bingen. With an unknown narrator and setting that shifts imperceptibly between the present, past and future it tackles spiritualism and Christianity and recreates themes of Hildegard's visions as a modern apocalypse. It's impossible to pin down and will probably reveal more and more through rereads. #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks