Book Review: A Chronicle of Lies by Abraham Carson
You might like this book if you:
-Are looking for awe-inspiring worldbuilding
-Are interested in subversion of isekai norms
-Enjoy dark fantasy and body horror elements
-Are interested in reading about characters suffering from mental illness (in this case schizophrenia)
-Think dragons are pretty neat
To summarize:
A Chronicle of Lies is one of the most unique, inventive, and imaginative books I've read in a long time, with a uniquely belligerent protagonist, bizarre and beautiful worldbuilding, and an isekai scenario that delves deep into some untapped potential for the genre. Though it has some rough edges, lacking professional editing and being perhaps a bit too lengthy, the extraordinary story and thematic depth is more than enough to make up for any of those reservations.
Full review:
Note: any spoilers in this review are limited to events that happen in the first 10% of the book.
A Chronicle of Lies is about a schizophrenic college student named Vincent who's thrown unwillingly into another world. Now transformed into one of the land's draconic residents, Vincent must search for a way home.
This summary sounds like typical isekai fare, and indeed that's what I originally expected: a typical isekai, maybe a bit self indulgent, containing the usual tropes of the genre where the schizophrenic finds out his hallucinations were actually real the whole time or something. That underestimation of what I was about to read worked in the book's favor, because when my expectations were subsequently thrown almost entirely out the window, I was thoroughly hooked.
An awe-inspiring world
Vincent is an engineering student who suffers from schizophrenia, and who is doing all he can to overcome his condition. He's extremely concerned about one day becoming the maddened, violent stereotype so often associated with schizophrenia, so he wants to get his degree and succeed in life despite the odds against him. But after a violent accident in the real world, a monster that Vincent calls the Stalker steals him away and painfully transforms him into a dragonlike creature, dropping him into a dark fantasy world with a whole lot of trauma and absolutely zero explanation.
This world that Vincent drops into is called Falius--a strange place where landmasses seem as if they've been stitched together by massive threads and dragonlike humanoids are the dominant intelligent lifeform. The world itself is stunningly well developed. Locations and aspects of the world aren't just there to look neat, but to serve thematic purposes and compliment the lore of this world, which reminds me of how a story like Lord of the Rings handles its locales. For instance, the land itself being held together by threads perhaps reflects how the main character sees his own broken mind. A city with a striking design provides context to the surrounding lands by serving as a nexus for their lore and history. This is clearly not shallow worldbuilding. But best of all, rarely does the story give in to the temptation of explaining the true depth of these features, largely alluding to their inner workings, but leaving plenty of room for speculation. That inspires a welcome sense of wonder I don't see as often as I'd personally like in fantasy stories. Readers who are fatigued by popular scientific magic systems may find this book quite refreshing as a result. I could go further into the wonderous features of Falius, but to do so would be to spoil a lot since so much storytelling is done through them. It's best if you discover this world yourself, as Falius is sure to peak your desire to explore a new land.
In lieu of talking further about Falius itself, I'll talk about its dragonlike race. Soon after being dropped into Falius in his new draconic form, Vincent is pulled half-dead from a lake and awakens in the home of three Falians. Despite being cringey talking dragon people (Vincent's words, not mine), these dragons are strikingly believable as a culture. As Vincent watches them, confused, fearful, and unable to communicate, we see a great deal of consideration has been given to how a species with wings, horns, a tail, carnivorous teeth, etc would move and function in everyday life. As a small example, Vincent discovers that these Falians must put caps on their horns so that they do not accidentally turn their heads and take someone's eye out. They have to bind their wings on windy days so that they don't get blown over or dragged off by a storm. They chomp down their food rather than chewing it in small bites. Small practices like these present throughout the book and continuously add depth to Falian culture. It's made even more believable by standing in contrast to how much Vincent is confused by and struggles to pick up these habits. Throughout the book he knocks into things, trips on his own tail, bites his tongue, and can't find a comfortable sleeping position to save his life. Meanwhile, Falian culture has developed ways of dealing with all of these problems, and characters are always teaching Vincent how to exist in his new body. Combining that with just enough history, mythology, food, and customs makes for a society that feels real.
Most importantly, both Falius and the Falians feel like they've been around since long before Vincent's story began--a crucial feeling to nail in good world building. I'm happy to see that feeling has been achieved here.
A uniquely belligerent protagonist
As Vincent comes to grips with his new situation, he naturally believes all of Falius to be an extremely vivid hallucination caused by his schizophrenia. He believes that he's unconcious in a hospital bed and that he needs to wake up before he loses his mind. This isn't a case of thinking he's having a simple dream, and how Vincent deals with that makes him by far one of the most interesting characters I've read about in a long time. For an Isekai protagonist, Vincent is in a very unique position. His main goal in life until his displacement into Falius has been to overcome his illness and succeed despite it. He is terrified of losing his sanity and becoming the mad, violent realization of a schizophrenic stereotype. Being thrown into a world that he believes is a schizophrenic hallucination then is Vincent's worst possible nightmare. Because of this, he very quickly decides that he needs to actively rage against his new reality and deny its existence at every opportunity.
This results in a protagonist who is constantly angry, unable to take things seriously, often a total jerk, and an instigator of problems. Usually, readers avoid characters with those traits. They tend to be unbearably unlikable and frustrating to read about, but Vincent's strong motivations make for a dynamic that defies this rule. His behavior is entirely understandable given the circumstances he believes himself to be in. He's coping with schizophrenia in the way he always has, but now pushing those coping mechanisms to 11 in order to apply them to an entire fantasy world. Vincent wants to fall in love with the world he's found himself in, and with the people he's now become kin to, but he thinks that doing so will be a final step on losing his mind for good. In this way, a character who'd usually elicit nothing but contempt from readers instead elicits sympathy, and that sympathy may even transcend the page as sympathy for schizophrenics in real life, as it did for me.
Schizophrenia isn't the only character trait Vincent has, however. He is adamant about not letting the disease define him, after all, and the author makes an effort to accommodate. Vincent is an engineer: he's a problem solver and a logical thinker. Despite his insistence that Falius isn't real, he cannot help but examine the world and try to figure out how it works, even as he tries to resist taking an interest in it. It's hard to become interested in worldbuilding if the characters themselves aren't interested in the world as well, so this fits nicely into the structure of the story while still retaining Vincent's main apathetic motivation. He also has a soft spot for kids that takes precedence over his distain for the Falians and seems to connect back to his own traumatic childhood. It's good to see a character with complexity that mirrors the complexity of the fantasy world around him.
Vincent is definitely going to be a hard character to beat when I look back at the books I've read this year and think about who wins my own personal best character award.
A schizophrenic surprise
Soon after Vincent arrives in Falius, his schizophrenia begins to manifest. He begins to have full on conversations with a drill sergeant named Dave, he becomes extremely paranoid, and even gets a bit violent. This is where A Chronicle of Lies really sank its teeth into me. What really hooked me personally was not the world building, and not the character development, but the fact that as Vincent gets his bearings in this new world, he very much still has schizophrenia. I personally didn't expect that. I thought that surely Vincent's schizophrenia was going to be explained away as the product of two realities bleeding through one another or something. That way the writer would get to avoid the challenge of portraying such a complex illness. But no, Vincent continues to suffer from schizophrenia in this fantasy realm, just as he would on Earth. He has visions of a modern day drill sergeant following him around and shouting at him. He has out of body experiences where he talks to people from his past. Voices from nowhere pester him constantly, and characters are confused by him carrying on conversations with empty air. Seeing the writer take on the challenge of showing schizophrenia operating in a fantasy world like this was massively impressive to me.
Because schizophrenia in A Chronicle of Lies is not reduced to a simple plot device or character quirk here; it is instead shown to be a permanent and consequential disorder that deserves the empathy and respect of readers. It can't be fully cured by an Isekai event, nor by even the most powerful of elixirs (other than one, which only temporarily relieves it). That instantly hooked me to this book, as it's something I simply hadn't seen before and that I thought had huge potential. And indeed, I think that potential is more than taken advantage of here, as it makes for an engaging and affecting story from all angles: character, plot, and worldbuilding alike.
(It should be noted that there seem to be some narrative exceptions made to how schizophrenia works in this book. Most importantly, Vincent can often, but not always, recognize that his hallucinations are not real. He has also has had schizophrenia since he was a young child, rather than it manifesting in his late teens or 20s. As I understand it, this extremely rare, and perhaps not even possible in real life schizophrenia, so keep in mind that it is not a perfect depiction of the illness, and that exceptions have been made for the sake of readers who are unfamiliar with it.)
A Chronicle of Typos
I've done nothing but sing the book's praises so far, because I believe the book's qualifies vastly outweigh its deficiencies, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. And in fact, some of the book's problems are glaring.
First, this book has not been professionally edited. While refinement has clearly been made to the entire book, there are still various typos and clumsy pieces of prose from time to time, in addition to prose that could have been trimmed down. Editors are expensive, so I can't hold self published works like this to that high a standard, but do keep in mind you're going to encounter this while reading so you don't abandon the book at the first misspelling.
Second, this should really be considered two books. It's understandable why it wasn't split up. A lot of self published authors aren't able to afford the publication of one book much less two, whether it be for lack of time, finances, or otherwise, but I can see readers being rather put off by the book's length. I could probably use my physical copy as a deterent in a home invasion. So, if you're intimidated by this tome, I recommend trying to see it as two books rather than one. You'll be able to tell where the first one should end and the second should begin pretty easily.
I have some hope that maybe the author will do a rerelease someday with these two problems solved, but it might just be wishful thinking on my part. I personally think it would help propel the book much further.
In conclusion...
I can't recommend A Chronicle of Lies enough. It soared past my expectations, challenged my empathy, and provided an example of good worldbuilding and character development for me to recommend to writers. If they can manage to get past the rough edges, I think many readers will find this to be their new favorite book. I truly hope this story gains in popularity so more people get to experience it, and I can't wait to see the author continue this epic saga.
Print & Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/Chronicle-Lies-Sculptor-Fantasy-isekai-ebook/dp/B0DMKQKTSZ
