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La Canzone dei Nomi
Quando le parole sono scomparse, il mondo è cambiato per sempre. Tutto ha perso significato, e l’umanità ha dovuto ricominciare da zero. I mostri sono scivolati fuori dai sogni e i fantasmi vagano ovunque, muti e confusi. Solo grazie al lavoro che i comitati – addetti a nomi, mappe, fantasmi, sogni – stanno portando avanti sarà possibile ritrovare i contorni e i nomi delle cose e arginare il terrore di tutto ciò che rimane selvaggio e incontrollabile, perché privo delle parole necessarie a definirlo. Perché nulla è più pericoloso di ciò che non ha un nome.
L’aralda del comitato dei nomi ha il compito di consegnare le parole nuove, ma la sua esistenza rappresenta un’anomalia, perché lei stessa non ha mai ricevuto un nome; e quando le minacce e gli attacchi nei confronti del mondo nominato aumentano, è costretta alla fuga. Accompagnata da un vecchio fantasma, da un mostro impacciato e da un animale misterioso, intraprenderà un viaggio ai confini dei territori nominati, durante il quale dovrà fare i conti con il proprio passato e con la propria natura. Fino all’incontro con il Quadrato Nero, una stravagante compagnia teatrale composta da individui bizzarri e mostri imprevedibili, unica depositaria delle antiche storie. E saranno proprio le antiche storie, come nei migliori racconti, a farsi strumento per una nuova comprensione del mondo, per guardare all’ignoto non più come una minaccia, ma come un’occasione di scoperta.
Un’avventura fantasy attraverso verità pericolose, incontri sorprendenti e ribellioni inaspettate, ambientata in una società, non troppo diversa da quella in cui viviamo, disposta a tutto pur di plasmare a sua immagine il significato di ogni cosa; un libro che ci aiuta a evocare un altro mondo, più libero e magico, ma non meno reale di questo.
«La Canzone dei Nomi è una meraviglia. Una straordinaria storia fatta di parole e fantasmi, di mostri e significati e mistero. Un viaggio spaventoso e glorioso che pare al contempo nuovo e antico, una creatura del mito postapocalittico».
Erin Morgenstern
«Al cuore di questa geniale, emozionante avventura c’è l’esplorazione del potere che hanno le parole di trasformare il modo in cui vediamo noi stessi, la nostra storia e i possibili futuri. La Canzone dei Nomi comprende fino in fondo la magia del linguaggio, e infonde quella magia in ogni cosa».
Holly Black
«Un racconto che lascia senza fiato».
Cassandra Clare
«Ogni scrittore, naturalmente, deve compiere magie con le parole, ma in La Canzone dei Nomi Jedediah Berry compie strane e meravigliose magie con l’assenza di parole. Questo romanzo è una parata di piaceri e incubi, scritto con la precisione ipnotica di cui sono fatti i veri incantesimi».
Kelly Link
L’aralda del comitato dei nomi ha il compito di consegnare le parole nuove, ma la sua esistenza rappresenta un’anomalia, perché lei stessa non ha mai ricevuto un nome; e quando le minacce e gli attacchi nei confronti del mondo nominato aumentano, è costretta alla fuga. Accompagnata da un vecchio fantasma, da un mostro impacciato e da un animale misterioso, intraprenderà un viaggio ai confini dei territori nominati, durante il quale dovrà fare i conti con il proprio passato e con la propria natura. Fino all’incontro con il Quadrato Nero, una stravagante compagnia teatrale composta da individui bizzarri e mostri imprevedibili, unica depositaria delle antiche storie. E saranno proprio le antiche storie, come nei migliori racconti, a farsi strumento per una nuova comprensione del mondo, per guardare all’ignoto non più come una minaccia, ma come un’occasione di scoperta.
Un’avventura fantasy attraverso verità pericolose, incontri sorprendenti e ribellioni inaspettate, ambientata in una società, non troppo diversa da quella in cui viviamo, disposta a tutto pur di plasmare a sua immagine il significato di ogni cosa; un libro che ci aiuta a evocare un altro mondo, più libero e magico, ma non meno reale di questo.
«La Canzone dei Nomi è una meraviglia. Una straordinaria storia fatta di parole e fantasmi, di mostri e significati e mistero. Un viaggio spaventoso e glorioso che pare al contempo nuovo e antico, una creatura del mito postapocalittico».
Erin Morgenstern
«Al cuore di questa geniale, emozionante avventura c’è l’esplorazione del potere che hanno le parole di trasformare il modo in cui vediamo noi stessi, la nostra storia e i possibili futuri. La Canzone dei Nomi comprende fino in fondo la magia del linguaggio, e infonde quella magia in ogni cosa».
Holly Black
«Un racconto che lascia senza fiato».
Cassandra Clare
«Ogni scrittore, naturalmente, deve compiere magie con le parole, ma in La Canzone dei Nomi Jedediah Berry compie strane e meravigliose magie con l’assenza di parole. Questo romanzo è una parata di piaceri e incubi, scritto con la precisione ipnotica di cui sono fatti i veri incantesimi».
Kelly Link
547 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 24, 2024
About the author
Jedediah Berry
22 books341 followersJedediah Berry's latest book is Kill All Wizards, the first in the Barbaric Ledgers series. His novel The Naming Song won the Massachusetts Book Award for fiction and was an LA Times Book Prize finalist. His first novel, The Manual of Detection, won the Crawford Award and the Hammett Prize, and was adapted for broadcast by BBC Radio 4.
He is the author of numerous stories and interactive works, including The Family Arcana. He is the co-creator, with Andrew McAlpine, of the Wildendrem adventure game setting, which began with the Ennie Award-winning The Valley of Flowers.
Together with his partner, writer Emily Houk, he runs Ninepin Press, an independent publisher of fiction, poetry, and games in unusual shapes. He lives in Western Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 252 reviews
May 24, 2024
My complete review is published at Grimdark Magazine.
The Naming Song by Jedediah Berry is a richly imagined literary fantasy that serves as a meditation on the power of names and naming.
Naming has been an integral part of fantasy literature for decades. The foundation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s magic system in Earthsea is based on the knowledge of so-called true names, which capture the language of creation and the wisdom of the creator. Le Guin’s emphasis on true names had an enormous impact on subsequent fantasy literature, such as The Naming by Alison Croggon and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. More recently, the magical power of language is the raison d’être of R.F. Kuang’s Babel.
Reverence for language and the power of naming is as old as humanity itself, nearly ubiquitous across world religions and folklore. Creation is inexorably linked to language, as evident in the opening verse of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Moreover, early in the Book of Genesis, God endows Adam with the power of naming, allowing him to bestow names on each living creature.
With The Naming Song, Jedediah Berry constructs an entire world around this power of naming. Berry develops a complete mythology around naming, including diviners who discover or create new words and couriers who deliver those words to the populace. Diviners and couriers have a longstanding rivalry about who has the more important role. While the secretive diviners perform their work behind the locked doors of a train car, couriers must traverse all corners of the world to deliver these new words where they are most needed.
Mystery and danger in the world of The Naming Song come from the presence of unnamed things, since without words there is no meaning. Part of the problem is recognizing when something doesn’t yet have a name:
“How many times each day do we fail to see the unnamed things right in front of us? Or worse…the unnamed things lurking within. But you see them, somehow. You seek them out, take hold of them, bind them with words.”
Although The Naming Song overflows with imagination, the story never quite escapes the arbitrariness of its internal logic. The sense of danger always feels muted because the world is never truly real. Despite the undeniable beauty of Jedediah Berry’s prose, I found it difficult to form an emotional connection with the characters, who feel like actors playing a theatrical role instead of being fully realized individuals.
In summary, The Naming Song is a richly imagined world, and I applaud Jedediah Berry for his unbounded creativity. At the same time, I hoped to discover more emotional depth and complexity in the story’s dramatis personae.
The Naming Song by Jedediah Berry is a richly imagined literary fantasy that serves as a meditation on the power of names and naming.
Naming has been an integral part of fantasy literature for decades. The foundation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s magic system in Earthsea is based on the knowledge of so-called true names, which capture the language of creation and the wisdom of the creator. Le Guin’s emphasis on true names had an enormous impact on subsequent fantasy literature, such as The Naming by Alison Croggon and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. More recently, the magical power of language is the raison d’être of R.F. Kuang’s Babel.
Reverence for language and the power of naming is as old as humanity itself, nearly ubiquitous across world religions and folklore. Creation is inexorably linked to language, as evident in the opening verse of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Moreover, early in the Book of Genesis, God endows Adam with the power of naming, allowing him to bestow names on each living creature.
With The Naming Song, Jedediah Berry constructs an entire world around this power of naming. Berry develops a complete mythology around naming, including diviners who discover or create new words and couriers who deliver those words to the populace. Diviners and couriers have a longstanding rivalry about who has the more important role. While the secretive diviners perform their work behind the locked doors of a train car, couriers must traverse all corners of the world to deliver these new words where they are most needed.
Mystery and danger in the world of The Naming Song come from the presence of unnamed things, since without words there is no meaning. Part of the problem is recognizing when something doesn’t yet have a name:
“How many times each day do we fail to see the unnamed things right in front of us? Or worse…the unnamed things lurking within. But you see them, somehow. You seek them out, take hold of them, bind them with words.”
Although The Naming Song overflows with imagination, the story never quite escapes the arbitrariness of its internal logic. The sense of danger always feels muted because the world is never truly real. Despite the undeniable beauty of Jedediah Berry’s prose, I found it difficult to form an emotional connection with the characters, who feel like actors playing a theatrical role instead of being fully realized individuals.
In summary, The Naming Song is a richly imagined world, and I applaud Jedediah Berry for his unbounded creativity. At the same time, I hoped to discover more emotional depth and complexity in the story’s dramatis personae.
August 1, 2024
This book is a masterpiece of language and ideas. It's filled to bursting with metaphor and thematic meaning without ever letting its plot buckle under the weight of them. It has so many ideas, so many things to say, and such beautiful prose to say them with. It's got the whimsy of The Night Circus and The Starless Sea but with the post-apocalyptic edge and opinions about the evils of capitalism of The Gone-Away World; it has the weirdness of The City & the City but with actual magic; it makes literal and magical what 1984 suggests about the power of language. It's thoughtful and action-filled and queer. It is wholly original and unique, and I adored it.
It may sound like damning with faint praise to talk first about the mechanistic stuff, the ways the ideas are expressed, but honestly the fact that it does those things so well is so very impressive. It's really hard to imbue a story with clear philosophical point of view without having that smack you in the face, and this does that. It is a difficult thing to seed the plot points you will use in the future without making it obvious you are doing so, and to give a story an ending that is properly satisfying. On a technical level, the prose is lyrical but never leaves me feeling adrift in an unfamiliar world: there's a lot of action and different locations, and they're all clear and fleshed-out. Despite the sheer volume of things that happen, the narrative feels continuous, not episodic.
That structural stuff is important because the ideas this book is conveying are nuanced and beautiful and weird and fun. It's a book about the ways that naming things gives them structure and boxes them in, how it limits as well as defines, and how it allows you to create an "us" and a "them" (and how delightful a send-up of fascist propaganda to have an enemy that is literally unnameable). It explores what Terry Pratchett called Narrative Causality, the ways in which the words we use to describe ourselves shape who we are. It's an extended metaphor for the process of self-exploration and the attempt to understand our thoughts by putting words to them, and it's a warning about the ways that doing so robs us of flexibility.
Lest it sound like this book is all just philosophical waffling, I note that there is so much plot. There's action and intrigue and mysteries and romantic tension, chasing and fighting, magic and whimsy. What's great is that it slides in between all those events a lot of strong ideas. I love a book with strong ideas, especially so when those ideas are anarchist and queer. This is a book that explicitly says that there was no difference between men and women until there were different names. It's hard not to read diviners and couriers arguing about which job is easier as an acknowledgement that self-exploration and coming out are equally difficult tasks. The literal burning of dreams for fuel is poignant, as is the exploitation of ancestral resources by making ghosts work in factories.
This is a book about metaphor, about how the language we use to describe ourselves shapes ourselves. Importantly, the ideas it has about that are all told in metaphor themselves. It tells a story about stories without beating you over the head with it. It is a masterpiece.
It may sound like damning with faint praise to talk first about the mechanistic stuff, the ways the ideas are expressed, but honestly the fact that it does those things so well is so very impressive. It's really hard to imbue a story with clear philosophical point of view without having that smack you in the face, and this does that. It is a difficult thing to seed the plot points you will use in the future without making it obvious you are doing so, and to give a story an ending that is properly satisfying. On a technical level, the prose is lyrical but never leaves me feeling adrift in an unfamiliar world: there's a lot of action and different locations, and they're all clear and fleshed-out. Despite the sheer volume of things that happen, the narrative feels continuous, not episodic.
That structural stuff is important because the ideas this book is conveying are nuanced and beautiful and weird and fun. It's a book about the ways that naming things gives them structure and boxes them in, how it limits as well as defines, and how it allows you to create an "us" and a "them" (and how delightful a send-up of fascist propaganda to have an enemy that is literally unnameable). It explores what Terry Pratchett called Narrative Causality, the ways in which the words we use to describe ourselves shape who we are. It's an extended metaphor for the process of self-exploration and the attempt to understand our thoughts by putting words to them, and it's a warning about the ways that doing so robs us of flexibility.
Lest it sound like this book is all just philosophical waffling, I note that there is so much plot. There's action and intrigue and mysteries and romantic tension, chasing and fighting, magic and whimsy. What's great is that it slides in between all those events a lot of strong ideas. I love a book with strong ideas, especially so when those ideas are anarchist and queer. This is a book that explicitly says that there was no difference between men and women until there were different names. It's hard not to read diviners and couriers arguing about which job is easier as an acknowledgement that self-exploration and coming out are equally difficult tasks. The literal burning of dreams for fuel is poignant, as is the exploitation of ancestral resources by making ghosts work in factories.
This is a book about metaphor, about how the language we use to describe ourselves shapes ourselves. Importantly, the ideas it has about that are all told in metaphor themselves. It tells a story about stories without beating you over the head with it. It is a masterpiece.
Read
September 26, 2024Alexa, play Nobody's Soldier by Hozier
I am constantly looking for something new, that breaks away from expectations and trends, and this book was just that: wholly unique. This theater kid epic, full of intrigue and curiosity, is hard to pin down. Berry spends this one-of-a-kind novel celebrating the ability of story to shape the world we live in, and the power held in carving a story of your own. It had me mystified, pulling me through this narrative not by a need to find answers to its questions but by a joy of traversing the unknowns.
Theater kids, lovers of language, storytellers of all kinds, folks who are fans of the journey rather than the destination, I implore you to check out this dystopian literary fantasy.
Thank you so much to Jedediah and TOR for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I am constantly looking for something new, that breaks away from expectations and trends, and this book was just that: wholly unique. This theater kid epic, full of intrigue and curiosity, is hard to pin down. Berry spends this one-of-a-kind novel celebrating the ability of story to shape the world we live in, and the power held in carving a story of your own. It had me mystified, pulling me through this narrative not by a need to find answers to its questions but by a joy of traversing the unknowns.
Theater kids, lovers of language, storytellers of all kinds, folks who are fans of the journey rather than the destination, I implore you to check out this dystopian literary fantasy.
Thank you so much to Jedediah and TOR for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
September 26, 2024
The Naming Song entices you to enter a world built around the power of language. What has been named and can be controlled? How is that power of control wielded? And what goes nameless, and seeks to haunt the world? These themes swirl around scholars aboard a train dedicated to furthering knowledge, but just out of reach is an understanding of the things that have gone nameless. These scholars (who frequently feel like they might as well be wizards) live side-by-side with ghosts, coexisting almost casually. It's that blatant supernatural element that really teases you to understand how the world works, and to see what relationships the living and dead have in their world.
I received an e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for my opinion.
I received an e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for my opinion.
December 21, 2024
I'm not entirely sure how to rate this one-- it's imaginative and ambitious, which I appreciate, but also gets lost in its own dream-logic at times, often at the expense of clear answers or deep character work. I loved some individual scenes more than the experience as a whole, but I'm glad I read it. RTC.
Read
May 8, 2025This was weird. Real, real, weird. And so fascinating. A book for word nerds for sure.
What if language went away? What if you looked around, and suddenly had no words for what you were seeing? How do you give meaning to your world? How do you communicate with the people around you?
Then of course, there's the monsters that spawn from people's dreams, and the ghosts that form when someone . . . oh, wait . . . is there a word for . . . you know, the body stops? But the ghost keeps on going . . .
*I am not rating books read for the World Fantasy Award.*
What if language went away? What if you looked around, and suddenly had no words for what you were seeing? How do you give meaning to your world? How do you communicate with the people around you?
Then of course, there's the monsters that spawn from people's dreams, and the ghosts that form when someone . . . oh, wait . . . is there a word for . . . you know, the body stops? But the ghost keeps on going . . .
*I am not rating books read for the World Fantasy Award.*
February 9, 2024
Name me “Lookingforwardtothisone Smith”
December 23, 2024
frustrating for a book to be this good and this mediocre at the same time. the writing is beautiful and the world walks the line between overdetermined and overly handwaved pretty well and the premise of naming as power has potential, but I can't help holding this up to books in the same vein (a wizard of earthsea, amatka, riddley walker, even mr. burns) and finding that it falls far short. I think it can't decide if it wants to ground its word magic in something more like real theory or commit to a fleshed out magic system, and ends up doing neither in a meaningful way. which sucks. the best bits were the stories about hand and moon or something falling from the something tree; any time where berry actually showed language having power through myth, folktale, nursery rhyme, etc.
there's a beautiful moment about halfway through this book where it lets go of its philosophical aspirations (that absolutely do not have theoretical grounding) and lets itself be a really fun, quirky adventure about vaguely magic theater on a train, sort of like a more fantastical station eleven. unfortunately this also triggers a sickening slide into a kind of ya-esque saccharine nonsense where all the complex political problems fade away and the end just sort arrives. the last 50 pages are very nearly unbearable. but there were moments where the aesthetics of it all resonated in nearly the same way as something like the night circus, which is a high I've been chasing since 2011. and who doesn't love a magic train?
there's a beautiful moment about halfway through this book where it lets go of its philosophical aspirations (that absolutely do not have theoretical grounding) and lets itself be a really fun, quirky adventure about vaguely magic theater on a train, sort of like a more fantastical station eleven. unfortunately this also triggers a sickening slide into a kind of ya-esque saccharine nonsense where all the complex political problems fade away and the end just sort arrives. the last 50 pages are very nearly unbearable. but there were moments where the aesthetics of it all resonated in nearly the same way as something like the night circus, which is a high I've been chasing since 2011. and who doesn't love a magic train?
September 15, 2024
I couldn’t get into this book. It sounded like a really interesting premise but the narrator was not for me. I wasn’t able to focus on the story due to the inflections of the teller. What I did retain wasn’t interesting enough for me to push through. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to review.
September 12, 2025
Premessa molto interessante e accattivante, aveva esercitato una forte attrattiva nel mio immaginario, ma purtroppo nella pratica questo libro non è riuscito pienamente a conquistarmi.
La storia è tra le più complicate e visionarie che abbia letto, ambientata in un mondo post-apocalittico privato della parola e del significato, un contesto strano ma anche affascinante, avrei adorato se fosse stata accompagnata da una scrittura più fruibile. Il problema è che la scrittura è stata (per me) molto asettica, caratterizzata da un fastidiosissimo "telling non showing" costante che mi ha fatto vivere la storia da lontano.
Ho quindi trovato l’esperienza di lettura un po’ frustrante, non sono riuscita ad entrare pienamente in questo worldbuilding fantastico, non ho trovato una vera connessione con i personaggi del libro, ho vissuto la storia come se io lettrice avessi una barriera davanti a distanziarmi da tutto.
Riconosco a questo libro moltissime qualità per i temi trattati (Il linguaggio come creazione del mondo e veicolo di potere/identità) e per il contesto fantasioso e dai richiami distopici in cui avviene la storia ma semplicemente è una lettura che non mi ha coinvolta e che mi ha tenuta sempre a distanza.
La storia è tra le più complicate e visionarie che abbia letto, ambientata in un mondo post-apocalittico privato della parola e del significato, un contesto strano ma anche affascinante, avrei adorato se fosse stata accompagnata da una scrittura più fruibile. Il problema è che la scrittura è stata (per me) molto asettica, caratterizzata da un fastidiosissimo "telling non showing" costante che mi ha fatto vivere la storia da lontano.
Ho quindi trovato l’esperienza di lettura un po’ frustrante, non sono riuscita ad entrare pienamente in questo worldbuilding fantastico, non ho trovato una vera connessione con i personaggi del libro, ho vissuto la storia come se io lettrice avessi una barriera davanti a distanziarmi da tutto.
Riconosco a questo libro moltissime qualità per i temi trattati (Il linguaggio come creazione del mondo e veicolo di potere/identità) e per il contesto fantasioso e dai richiami distopici in cui avviene la storia ma semplicemente è una lettura che non mi ha coinvolta e che mi ha tenuta sempre a distanza.
August 31, 2024
I’d been excited about this book for months. But my listening experience was like opening up a much anticipated toy at Christmas, only to find it broken.
First, the chapters are LONG. My audiobook is broken into only four chapters. The exposition goes on and on… and on. So if you like breaks, you’ll have to make your own somewhere along the way.
Then, the story. Umm… I don’t know what to say. The potential for whimsy is there. And yet. Nothing worked for me. The writing is very much telling, not showing. The characters didn’t come alive.
The narrator does a great job with the audiobook, but none of it was holding my attention.
DNF at 16%
*I received a free audiobook download from Macmillan Audio.*
First, the chapters are LONG. My audiobook is broken into only four chapters. The exposition goes on and on… and on. So if you like breaks, you’ll have to make your own somewhere along the way.
Then, the story. Umm… I don’t know what to say. The potential for whimsy is there. And yet. Nothing worked for me. The writing is very much telling, not showing. The characters didn’t come alive.
The narrator does a great job with the audiobook, but none of it was holding my attention.
DNF at 16%
*I received a free audiobook download from Macmillan Audio.*
August 29, 2024
Life is too short to continue with a book in hopes that, eventually, it will get much better. I'm sure that there are some who would really get into this, but it was definitely not the book for me. DNF
January 7, 2025
3.5 Stars
Very complex storyline. It’s like stretching my brain and my imagination to depths I could never have conjured myself. Thus, the feeling of unfamiliarity, feeling lost and just agog most of the time but also weary and confused. It was certainly a new territory for me.
The story had a whisper of the show Snowpiercer, Garth Nix’s books and Gaiman’s (ugh) Neverwhere but stays rooted to its original plot. The world building is intense and needs all brain power to concentrate on details and characters. I could compare the experience to reading Gideon the Ninth but this book is slightly easier to grasp than the former for me.
The book’s plot giving reverence to naming things was such a novel idea to me that I was very much delighted when I started the book. However, as the plot thickens, the sense of danger, that is, the unnamed things and the nature of confusing villains, it was difficult for me to hold strong emotions other than confusion. The main character was also very difficult to pin down and form a bond, I somehow ended up feeling more for a monster who had more emotional range than the main character.
In conclusion, generally the story was very rich and complex but needs more heart.
Very complex storyline. It’s like stretching my brain and my imagination to depths I could never have conjured myself. Thus, the feeling of unfamiliarity, feeling lost and just agog most of the time but also weary and confused. It was certainly a new territory for me.
The story had a whisper of the show Snowpiercer, Garth Nix’s books and Gaiman’s (ugh) Neverwhere but stays rooted to its original plot. The world building is intense and needs all brain power to concentrate on details and characters. I could compare the experience to reading Gideon the Ninth but this book is slightly easier to grasp than the former for me.
The book’s plot giving reverence to naming things was such a novel idea to me that I was very much delighted when I started the book. However, as the plot thickens, the sense of danger, that is, the unnamed things and the nature of confusing villains, it was difficult for me to hold strong emotions other than confusion. The main character was also very difficult to pin down and form a bond, I somehow ended up feeling more for a monster who had more emotional range than the main character.
In conclusion, generally the story was very rich and complex but needs more heart.
April 2, 2025
I struggled with this book because I actually love some fantasy, but this one was hard for me to follow. I kept wanting to put it down, but felt it was going to go somewhere that I would like. I liked his characters, but I could not figure everything out and where they landed as we progressed. I liked the ending, but I worry that I missed the point. It is almost like there was something else all of this was referring to that I forgot to check on beforehand.
June 5, 2024
"The Naming Song" by Jedediah Berry was not on my radar until BookBrowse (yet again introducing me to authors I was unaware of and adding to my ever expanding TBR list!) offered it as a First Impressions selection. I was hooked after the very first page where the unnamed Courier is introduced. She is delivering new words into this complex world by acting them out-for example, secreting herself away on a freight train boxcar to speak the word stowaway. As the narrative continues we learn that some sort of apocalyptic event occurred that wiped out all the words, and the Diviners are slowly researching the proper replacements and the Couriers are restoring them in live action scenarios. There are humans that are named, there are others that are nameless, there are monsters dreamed into being, and this is simply the most amazing, original, intricate work of fiction I have read in a long time.
This one is a keeper- it has tons of action, and thoughtful conversations that will resonate with the reader for a very long time. The lead protagonist, our Courier, is a well crafted personality faced with so many obstacles and every single one of the supporting characters is just as relevant and interesting. The reader will feel all the feels, so many emotions- sorrow and anger and moments of hope and joy and love- it is hard to put this one down.
I am not going to give any more details, no spoilers here-you need to experience this one yourself, without any preconceived notions. Suffice it to say, I could see this as a well developed, multi seasons, streaming series in the hands of the right director and actors. I will definitely be rereading this book at some point and wish that Berry would continue this saga, either by returning to the narrative of the Courier or any of the other roles his imagination has so eloquently put to the page.
This one is a keeper- it has tons of action, and thoughtful conversations that will resonate with the reader for a very long time. The lead protagonist, our Courier, is a well crafted personality faced with so many obstacles and every single one of the supporting characters is just as relevant and interesting. The reader will feel all the feels, so many emotions- sorrow and anger and moments of hope and joy and love- it is hard to put this one down.
I am not going to give any more details, no spoilers here-you need to experience this one yourself, without any preconceived notions. Suffice it to say, I could see this as a well developed, multi seasons, streaming series in the hands of the right director and actors. I will definitely be rereading this book at some point and wish that Berry would continue this saga, either by returning to the narrative of the Courier or any of the other roles his imagination has so eloquently put to the page.
April 7, 2025
Judging by this book's rating of more than three and a half stars, there were some readers who enjoyed it -- who possibly even were able to make sense of it. I persisted for a hundred pages, into the beginning of the second section, "The Black Square Show," where I had hope that some elucidation of the gargantuan premise might be granted. Unfortunately, we were not finished with elaboration of the riddle.
We have action. We have characters. We have conflict. We have a postapocalyptic setting with a certain amount of internal logic. We do not have a rationale.
We have action. We have characters. We have conflict. We have a postapocalyptic setting with a certain amount of internal logic. We do not have a rationale.
April 11, 2025
Okay so the first half of this book was slower than molasses in winter. The character and plot development crawled painfully along. About halfway through, there was a shift towards more action and plot development. By the end of the book, I enjoyed plot and characters alike. However, because it took so very long for me to actually start ENJOYING this book, I’m going to overall give it 3 stars. If you can stick with it to the halfway point, you should be able to finish it. I allllllmost DNF’d, but I’m no quitter 😂
November 29, 2024
I have read a lot of books. Seldom do I read one this uniquely brilliant. Just when I think there are no new stories or new ways to tell the old stories I find this book. Essentially perfect, or as close as possible anyway. Utterly masterful and quite unforgettable. Wow.
February 5, 2025
If I was in this book my name would be Tragic because that's what this read felt like
January 18, 2026
La canzone dei nomi si sviluppa negli interstizi della realtà e l’autore è stato bravissimo a mantenere per tutta la narrazione le caratteristiche di eccentricità e di oniricità che una storia raccontata tra i margini richiede. Il romanzo di Jedediah Berry è fantasmagorico, insolito, poetico, originalissimo e complesso: a una prima metà più lenta, che introduce progressivamente al mondo dei nominati, segue una seconda parte caotica e travolgente, surreale, come un sogno febbrile. È difficile e tortuoso destreggiarsi insieme all’aralda e ai suoi insoliti compagni dentro e fuori dagli spazi del reale, ma è un viaggio di una bellezza irreale dove l’immaginazione trionfa: non voglio sminuire l’originalità del romanzo con un paragone facile, ma ho immaginato intere scene trasposte in un film di Miyazaki perché ne condividono la qualità fiabesca e visionaria, macchine da guerra organiche, mostri e fantasmi, città senza-nome arroccate tra il mare e la foresta, creature ibride nate da un sogno… Il tutto raccontato attraverso una lingua di fumo e magia, dove non esistono confini e ogni cosa è possibile, anche esistere nello spazio tra una parola e l’altra, tra il mondo conosciuto e un altro, indomabile e impossibile da definire, che conosciamo solo immaginandolo.
October 2, 2024
I fully admit I mostly bought this because of that gorgeous cover; I didn't quite know what to expect other than an eco-futuristic dystopia, a bisexual FMC and soft sapphic relationships. It was hard for me to get into this at first because it was a little more bizarro than I usually care for, and since it's a story ultimately about language and how it's formed, the descriptions could feel awkward to me. But I was taken by the story of the unnamed courier and her reluctant rebellion, and drawn in by the rich imagination of a world where people try to remember stories after they've disappeared but civilization still perserveres. A unique, abstract story filled with theater kids, storytellers, magic, ghosts and monsters made from dreams, and finding your way in a world that doesn't want you to exist.
April 24, 2026
I wish i could give it half a star more!
It's such an interesting reading: i LOVED the writing style, especially in the first half of the book. It's so detailed but effortlessly smooth, incredibly immersive (the only exception being the last 150 pages: that was definitely too many details, I felt lost trying to understand what was going on and it kinda felt uninteresting :/). Also, the pacing felt just right, not too fast but also not to slow
It's a very relaxed reading in my opinion, not really a page-turner. I would have loved some cliffhanger but I guess that depends on personal taste.
The Italian translation is so good, such a great work at conveying how clever words are used!
I must admit that I disliked the length of the chapters: it felt like too many things have been squished inside the same super long chapter and it does not help in keeping track of how things develop.
It's such an interesting reading: i LOVED the writing style, especially in the first half of the book. It's so detailed but effortlessly smooth, incredibly immersive (the only exception being the last 150 pages: that was definitely too many details, I felt lost trying to understand what was going on and it kinda felt uninteresting :/). Also, the pacing felt just right, not too fast but also not to slow
It's a very relaxed reading in my opinion, not really a page-turner. I would have loved some cliffhanger but I guess that depends on personal taste.
The Italian translation is so good, such a great work at conveying how clever words are used!
I must admit that I disliked the length of the chapters: it felt like too many things have been squished inside the same super long chapter and it does not help in keeping track of how things develop.
November 4, 2024
Wow! Just...wow! Completely different from The Manual of Detection (which I also loved). This book has some of my favorite things: a character who seems to believe in who she is, unwilling to compromise her moral code, full of determination, flawed yet also likable, an interesting premise that you don't see every day, a well-structured system, and the idea of language as something that can literally change the shape of things (or, that the shape of things can make one come up with the right language). I've always been fascinating by the connection between language/names and identity and this book explores this aspect in a unique way that keeps things interesting.
I hope to see more books from Jedediah Berry in the future. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite writers.
I hope to see more books from Jedediah Berry in the future. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite writers.
August 15, 2024
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.
This book disoriented me at first. It's original in the way one's dreams are. It holds a brand new world, it moves with a fresh rhythm. It's so incredibly fresh that it challenged my suspension of disbelief at times. I was resistant to this book's spell, because how many books achieve true fantasy originality anymore? Was this just a try hard?
Thematically, it has elements of Snowpiercer and The Giver. Maybe even Dune.
This story also calls to something completely primal. It had me thinking about the fruit of the tree of knowledge. "Whole lives played out beneath its branches. A few stood apart from the rest, and there was something strange about these few, something hungry and cruel. When the light came to them they caught it in their hands and examined it through a pane of glass." The tree creaked, gears came loose. The glass fruit fell and shattered. Is this about anti-progress following an EMP? There are never, ever any answers, but so many stories. So many possible backstories, and we are never given ANYTHING definite, but there is so, so much to think about anyway.
This story had me thinking about Creation. A named thing has certainty. It can be defined and held in the imagination. An unnamed thing is mysterious and fuzzy around the edges. God divided the heavens from the earth with a word, and before that they were just, what, one thing? We don't know, as it was never described.
In short, Wow. This novel really caught me up. I thought it might be a gimmick for a long time, and its lingering mystery is more frustrating than satisfying, but it's a RARE example of a book that could have been a whole series, but instead of exploiting readers that way provided an evolving tale that twists in ways it's impossible to expect. You've DEFINITELY never read anything quite like this before. Absolutely hypnotic.
This book disoriented me at first. It's original in the way one's dreams are. It holds a brand new world, it moves with a fresh rhythm. It's so incredibly fresh that it challenged my suspension of disbelief at times. I was resistant to this book's spell, because how many books achieve true fantasy originality anymore? Was this just a try hard?
Thematically, it has elements of Snowpiercer and The Giver. Maybe even Dune.
This story also calls to something completely primal. It had me thinking about the fruit of the tree of knowledge. "Whole lives played out beneath its branches. A few stood apart from the rest, and there was something strange about these few, something hungry and cruel. When the light came to them they caught it in their hands and examined it through a pane of glass." The tree creaked, gears came loose. The glass fruit fell and shattered. Is this about anti-progress following an EMP? There are never, ever any answers, but so many stories. So many possible backstories, and we are never given ANYTHING definite, but there is so, so much to think about anyway.
This story had me thinking about Creation. A named thing has certainty. It can be defined and held in the imagination. An unnamed thing is mysterious and fuzzy around the edges. God divided the heavens from the earth with a word, and before that they were just, what, one thing? We don't know, as it was never described.
In short, Wow. This novel really caught me up. I thought it might be a gimmick for a long time, and its lingering mystery is more frustrating than satisfying, but it's a RARE example of a book that could have been a whole series, but instead of exploiting readers that way provided an evolving tale that twists in ways it's impossible to expect. You've DEFINITELY never read anything quite like this before. Absolutely hypnotic.
December 5, 2025
Despite its uniqueness and action-packed final act, this drags and drags and confuses. I guess the big question is how do you write a 500-page book about a time and place still acquiring vocabulary that has history, advanced technology, and evidence of the supernatural? Forget the ridiculous fact that etymology is thrown out the window in a book about words, but how is the reader supposed to believe that these things exist and are created and people communicate about these things when you’re telling us that fairly straight-forward nouns don’t exist? It doesn’t make sense. Characters, while interesting, get muddled up because many have numbers in their names. I could go on. This just didn’t work for me despite some fun fantastical invention. But I tried.
January 29, 2026
Un libro che racconta di un mondo post apocalittico abitato da creature e persone disposte a tutto pur di dare significato ad ogni cosa e ad ogni parola, anche quelle che non si possono pronunciare, non perché proibite ma perché sono andate perse. A causa del grande Silenzio l'umanità deve ricominciare da zero.
Un' avventura fantasy ipnotica dove le parole hanno un peso, anche quelle non dette, e dove i mostri e i fantasmi celano segreti ricchi di significato, a cui ognuno di noi può liberamente dare il proprio.
Metafore che ho apprezzato moltissimo.
Un racconto dalle atmosfere oniriche e magiche che spinge il lettore a delle riflessioni, e a chiedersi perché la tendenza a conformarsi a opinioni, usi e comportamenti già definiti in precedenza e socialmente prevalenti, ci dà quel senso di sicurezza e appartenenza che altrimenti non avremmo, forse, se ogni cosa non avesse un nome.
Una bella provocazione
Un' avventura fantasy ipnotica dove le parole hanno un peso, anche quelle non dette, e dove i mostri e i fantasmi celano segreti ricchi di significato, a cui ognuno di noi può liberamente dare il proprio.
Metafore che ho apprezzato moltissimo.
Un racconto dalle atmosfere oniriche e magiche che spinge il lettore a delle riflessioni, e a chiedersi perché la tendenza a conformarsi a opinioni, usi e comportamenti già definiti in precedenza e socialmente prevalenti, ci dà quel senso di sicurezza e appartenenza che altrimenti non avremmo, forse, se ogni cosa non avesse un nome.
Una bella provocazione
Read
August 20, 2024this comes out in september and you should read it.
there’s a scene near the end that made me actually tear up, which RARELY happens to me with books. the world of this felt always a little difficult to settle into, but i loved the way it made me think about words and language and the way they shape our perception of the world. i think i was hindered somewhat by the lack of a map in the ARC—nonetheless. shades of the name of the wind and the night circus. and of course i love a story about sisters
there’s a scene near the end that made me actually tear up, which RARELY happens to me with books. the world of this felt always a little difficult to settle into, but i loved the way it made me think about words and language and the way they shape our perception of the world. i think i was hindered somewhat by the lack of a map in the ARC—nonetheless. shades of the name of the wind and the night circus. and of course i love a story about sisters
December 5, 2025
I want to cuddle this book and hide myself between these pages until the day that i die
Did Not Finish
November 24, 2025DNF al 27%
Mi sono trascinata questo libro per un bel po', sperando che ad una certa mi sarebbe venuta voglia di continuare, ma ciò non è accaduto.
Anzi, l'idea di riprenderlo è stata sgradevole abbastanza da rischiare di farmi andare in blocco quelle due o tre volte - così, giusto per gradire.
Cosa non ha funzionato per me: è prolisso.
Sono arrivata praticamente ad un terzo del libro e il punto focale della trama è stato solo sfiorato per un attimo e nulla più.
Si sarebbe potuto tagliare molto e avremmo avuto un'opera più sottile, forse, ma anche più snella e funzionale.
Passo, non fa per me, accetto e così sia.
Mi sono trascinata questo libro per un bel po', sperando che ad una certa mi sarebbe venuta voglia di continuare, ma ciò non è accaduto.
Anzi, l'idea di riprenderlo è stata sgradevole abbastanza da rischiare di farmi andare in blocco quelle due o tre volte - così, giusto per gradire.
Cosa non ha funzionato per me: è prolisso.
Sono arrivata praticamente ad un terzo del libro e il punto focale della trama è stato solo sfiorato per un attimo e nulla più.
Si sarebbe potuto tagliare molto e avremmo avuto un'opera più sottile, forse, ma anche più snella e funzionale.
Passo, non fa per me, accetto e così sia.
July 13, 2025
The Naming Song by Jedediah Berry is a journey both wonderful and strange. There's really no comparing it to anything else - I've never read a book like it, and I doubt I ever will.
Berry's world jumps off the page. Berry accomplishes such unique worldbuilding, and he backs it up solidly with detail throughout the novel. The world doesn't feel flimsy, it feels lived-in and real, which is hard to do with such an out-there concept.
I just love the characters, the magic, the monsters, the journey. I can't say a single bad thing about this book, because I can't find a single flaw.
All in all, I had a great time. It didn't quite hit me emotionally on a 5-star level, so I'm leaving it at a 4.5. This book will be hard to forget!
Berry's world jumps off the page. Berry accomplishes such unique worldbuilding, and he backs it up solidly with detail throughout the novel. The world doesn't feel flimsy, it feels lived-in and real, which is hard to do with such an out-there concept.
I just love the characters, the magic, the monsters, the journey. I can't say a single bad thing about this book, because I can't find a single flaw.
All in all, I had a great time. It didn't quite hit me emotionally on a 5-star level, so I'm leaving it at a 4.5. This book will be hard to forget!
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