He Who Would Walk the Earth

Felix Babimoosay is his most recent name, and it seems better than any other name he’s been offered. He journeys ever forward across a sharp landscape of flat plains, stung by insects, wind, and thirst. Unable to remember his past, he doggedly walks alone through the decaying world until he is pursued by a threatening man claiming a bounty on Felix’s head. Felix’s irritation spurs a slow memory of the days he left behind, until he stumbles into a corrupted town and a city of talking crows that push him to move beyond his lost memories.

Sparse and dreamy, Griffin Bjerke-Clarke’s debut novel explores memory, identity, trauma, and healing through a timeless journey. Métis storytelling methods and elements of horror infuse He Who Would Walk the Earth, an anti-colonial western that powerfully evokes a mood reminiscent of twentieth-century classics like Waiting for Godot. This book unsettles as much as it stokes, dystopian in Felix’s apathy yet optimistic in the way he addresses challenges along his listless way. In the end, Felix must learn from his earnest mistakes as he begins to understand that agency requires collaborating with those around him.

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average rating is 4 out of 5, based on 1 votes, book lovers sharing their thoughts

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arielaonthego

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Merida, Mexico

average rating is 4 out of 5

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He Who Would Walk the Earth Book Review

This book was such a lovely and pleasant surprise. I don’t know what I was expecting from this book, but it certainly wasn’t what I read here. This book feels so dreamy. The setting is sparse and void of any warmth or comfort, the story is incredibly thought-provoking and interesting. One of the big things about the story is that it’s so nicely paced, there’s time to care, there’s time to run and flee, but there’s also time to breathe and think about a lot of things.

A slight drawback is that there’s not much vivid imagery in this book. However, this can be excused by the fact there’s actually not much to picture. It’s set in vast open plains, Felix lives there and wanders around a lot. We don’t really get any more than that. Characters come and go, but they’re really nothing more than just characters, they exist only as their personalities, and not very visually. I think it’s a stylistic choice, and I don’t think this hinders the reading experience in the slightest, because you’re just imagining everything in your head anyways, and it’s not too hard to just imagine a few more people. I actually thought this was a really interesting technique because they still felt like really good, really fleshed out, well written characters, just minus the visuals.

Not a huge fan of the 3rd act of this book. Lots of stuff happens, but it really starts to suddenly lean more into the “fantasy” aspect of the world. I like that there’s worldbuilding, but I do also find that there’s not enough? I think the lack of visuals certainly affects that. It’s very strange, because whereas the whole book feels extremely dream-like, in the 3rd act, suddenly everything gets dialled up to 11. All of the original worldbuilding that I previously praised for being removed from the real world just comes crashing down, and I got so incredibly lost.

That being said! I would certainly recommend this book, it’s an enjoyable read, I was very pleasantly surprised, and I think that there are a lot of others who can enjoy it too. It’s a very thought-provoking book, it’s very powerful and unique in it’s storytelling. I would recommend it if you’re into that!

I recommend this book.