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Ley Lines
Set in the waning days of the Klondike Gold Rush, Ley Lines begins in the mythical boom town of Sawdust City, Yukon Territory. Luckless prospector Steve Ladle has accepted an unusual job accompany a local con artist to the unconquered top of a nearby mountain. What he finds there briefly upends the town's fading fortunes, attracting a crowd of gawkers and acolytes, while inadvertently setting in motion a series of events that brings about the town's ruin.
In the aftermath, a ragtag group of characters is sent reeling across the Klondike, struggling to come to grips with a world that has been suddenly and unpredictably upturned. As they attempt to carve out a place for themselves, our protagonists reckon with the various personal, historical and supernatural forces that have brought them to this moment.
A wildly inventive, psychedelic odyssey, Ley Lines flips the frontier narrative on its ear, and heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in Canadian fiction.
In the aftermath, a ragtag group of characters is sent reeling across the Klondike, struggling to come to grips with a world that has been suddenly and unpredictably upturned. As they attempt to carve out a place for themselves, our protagonists reckon with the various personal, historical and supernatural forces that have brought them to this moment.
A wildly inventive, psychedelic odyssey, Ley Lines flips the frontier narrative on its ear, and heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in Canadian fiction.
- GenresCanada
311 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2025
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 17, 2025
I received a copy from River Street Writing in exchange for a fair review.
A strange novel with a touch of fever dream, Ley Lines is inventive and thematically deep.
This book reminds me of Pynchon in a way, as there’s a lot of weird stuff going on, but no one really questions it. For example, there is a giant floating ear that, while it becomes an attraction of sorts, is never really studied or explained in the narrative. The characters react to it with a sort of bemused nonchalance, which sets the tone for the rest of the novel, encouraging us as readers to also just accept that weird stuff is going to happen and just roll with it. I will admit that while there were other sorts of cryptic things in the novel that I did get the relevance of, I’m still not entirely sure what that Ear was about. And I’m not sure we’re supposed to. It’s almost like the surreal, bizarre stuff is meant to represent that life moves in ways we often can’t attach a pattern to, and that it’s supposed to bring us into what life felt like for those living in the Yukon in the late 1800s.
The characters were fun. Sasha, the bar owner, was my favourite, but there were also sympathetic characters like Don and Steve who carried most of the narrative, as well as Zeb Dingle, who has an interesting arc.
Tied to this, while the book isn’t laugh-out-loud funny, it does carry with it at times a sort of jokey, tongue-in-cheek air. It also gets quite serious at times, dealing with death, struggle, and survival.
The prose also dips into literary fiction at times. It doesn’t hold your hand, telling you something once and never reminding you, and we’re left to make connections ourselves as to why characters change their course or make the decision they do. A lot of time also passes quickly, with some events glossed over, which sometimes was hard to wrap your head around.
As much as I did enjoy the novel overall, I will admit the last third of the novel had my interest dropping off. The characters seemed to be restarting from where they were in the first two-thirds, so instead of a progression, it felt like repetition. Yet, I think this was meant to show the cyclical and unsustainable nature of boom towns, of, if we drill even deeper, our society’s focus on capitalizing on something and then bleeding it dry, only to move on to the next thing. Connsummerism, if you will. More specifically, I can’t help but see how this relates to the environment in particular, but it can also relate to less tangible things. Of course, the title is suggestive of hidden meanings or deeper connections.
I will point out that while there is some gold panning and a wilderness hike at the start, there isn’t a great deal of focus on the beauty of the area, so if you were looking for a lush historical fiction of the gold rush, this isn’t that.
Yet, if you are looking for something a little different, is somewhat of a historical fiction, and has rather weird characters and events, you should check this out. I really enjoyed it!
A strange novel with a touch of fever dream, Ley Lines is inventive and thematically deep.
This book reminds me of Pynchon in a way, as there’s a lot of weird stuff going on, but no one really questions it. For example, there is a giant floating ear that, while it becomes an attraction of sorts, is never really studied or explained in the narrative. The characters react to it with a sort of bemused nonchalance, which sets the tone for the rest of the novel, encouraging us as readers to also just accept that weird stuff is going to happen and just roll with it. I will admit that while there were other sorts of cryptic things in the novel that I did get the relevance of, I’m still not entirely sure what that Ear was about. And I’m not sure we’re supposed to. It’s almost like the surreal, bizarre stuff is meant to represent that life moves in ways we often can’t attach a pattern to, and that it’s supposed to bring us into what life felt like for those living in the Yukon in the late 1800s.
The characters were fun. Sasha, the bar owner, was my favourite, but there were also sympathetic characters like Don and Steve who carried most of the narrative, as well as Zeb Dingle, who has an interesting arc.
Tied to this, while the book isn’t laugh-out-loud funny, it does carry with it at times a sort of jokey, tongue-in-cheek air. It also gets quite serious at times, dealing with death, struggle, and survival.
The prose also dips into literary fiction at times. It doesn’t hold your hand, telling you something once and never reminding you, and we’re left to make connections ourselves as to why characters change their course or make the decision they do. A lot of time also passes quickly, with some events glossed over, which sometimes was hard to wrap your head around.
As much as I did enjoy the novel overall, I will admit the last third of the novel had my interest dropping off. The characters seemed to be restarting from where they were in the first two-thirds, so instead of a progression, it felt like repetition. Yet, I think this was meant to show the cyclical and unsustainable nature of boom towns, of, if we drill even deeper, our society’s focus on capitalizing on something and then bleeding it dry, only to move on to the next thing. Connsummerism, if you will. More specifically, I can’t help but see how this relates to the environment in particular, but it can also relate to less tangible things. Of course, the title is suggestive of hidden meanings or deeper connections.
I will point out that while there is some gold panning and a wilderness hike at the start, there isn’t a great deal of focus on the beauty of the area, so if you were looking for a lush historical fiction of the gold rush, this isn’t that.
Yet, if you are looking for something a little different, is somewhat of a historical fiction, and has rather weird characters and events, you should check this out. I really enjoyed it!
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April 7, 2025This book is a wildly unique fever dream.
For those who love mythological stories where everything is full of meaning but also appreciate a bit of absurdity and humor, this one is for you. As quirky as it sounds.
The book is a bit dense so put on your literary reading hat before picking it up, but it is 100% one of the only books you’ll find out there that is like no other.
For those who love mythological stories where everything is full of meaning but also appreciate a bit of absurdity and humor, this one is for you. As quirky as it sounds.
The book is a bit dense so put on your literary reading hat before picking it up, but it is 100% one of the only books you’ll find out there that is like no other.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews