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Arms from the Sea
Escape with a disaffected young sculptor from a desert dystopia to “heaven,” a blue ocean realm ruled by a perverse, tentacled god with a mysterious purpose. Your trust may be outraged, but dive deeper and you’ll uncover clues to the creative sea change in our ideals that could redeem a desolate world.
195 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2016
21 people are currently reading
1046 people want to read
About the author
Rich Shapero
23 books289 followersRich Shapero’s novels dare readers with giant metaphors, magnificent obsessions and potent ideas. His casts of idealistic lovers, laboring miners, and rebellious artists all rate ideas as paramount, more important than life itself. They traverse wild landscapes and visionary realms, imagining gods who in turn imagine them. Like the seekers themselves, readers grapple with revealing truths about human potential. All of his titles—Beneath Caaqi's Wings, Dissolve, Island Fruit Remedy, Balcony of Fog, Rin, Tongue and Dorner, Arms from the Sea, The Hope We Seek, Too Far and Wild Animus—are available in hardcover and as ebooks. They also combine music, visual art, animation and video in the TooFar Media app. Shapero spins provocative stories for the eyes, ears, and imagination.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
September 18, 2016
Don't read books handed out for free by strangers.
January 24, 2018
There’s so much pretty language and odd descriptions that I had no damn clue what was going on for a very long time. Best way I can describe this book is someone who had an inkling of an idea decided to do some acid and then just ran away with it while under the influence.
There’s an octopus god with a head the shape of a bell, our main character likes to rock climb and is obsessed with water he’s never seen or felt, and there’s these random bearded dudes who just sail forever on the seas of “heaven” because.....octopus god told them to? I think?
Lots and lots of fragmented sentences. Gliding, smashing, curling into the pages of the tome, like so many tentacles. They make no fucking sense.
Someone else said it, and I’ll repeat it: tentacle porn. That’s what I started out thinking this was, and that’s how it should’ve stayed.
Moral of the story is don’t take free books from strangers (except I love free books and will probably do it again).
There’s an octopus god with a head the shape of a bell, our main character likes to rock climb and is obsessed with water he’s never seen or felt, and there’s these random bearded dudes who just sail forever on the seas of “heaven” because.....octopus god told them to? I think?
Lots and lots of fragmented sentences. Gliding, smashing, curling into the pages of the tome, like so many tentacles. They make no fucking sense.
Someone else said it, and I’ll repeat it: tentacle porn. That’s what I started out thinking this was, and that’s how it should’ve stayed.
Moral of the story is don’t take free books from strangers (except I love free books and will probably do it again).
December 25, 2016
I mean... I'm just gonna get this out of the way... Am I the only one who thought tentacle porn? Yes? No? Ok cool.
This novel was being distributed in mass on my college's campus. I happen to work at the college library where hoards of this book started showing up in the return boxes. I knew this book didn't belong to us and it seemed to appear out of nowhere one day so I was intrigued and took a copy home to read. It was not good. And yet, some compelling force kept pulling me through its pages.
In brief, the story is about a man who dislikes the current state of the city in which he lives. He feels a deep connection to the past that this city once experienced and a longing to bring the ideals of that past to reality once again. Through his actions of making a stand against the state, and his *attempted* suicide, he is thrust into an alternate land of the sea where he meets the sea Polyp and is given the 101 on life, truth, creation, destruction, and change.
Rich Shapero likes to play with language and words, which I would appreciate, except that he's not very skilled at it. It felt like he was using this strange, archaic language just to sound smart and different. This entire book felt like an acid trip. The plot was poorly sketched and there was really no resolve to the conflicts presented. If anything, more questions were raised than answered.
My 2 star rating is for the following reasons: The writing was mediocre. The plot was interesting but severely lacking in execution. It was bizarre and intriguing but more in the way that a bad street performer is intriguing, where you can't help but watch even while cringing at every wrong note.
This novel was being distributed in mass on my college's campus. I happen to work at the college library where hoards of this book started showing up in the return boxes. I knew this book didn't belong to us and it seemed to appear out of nowhere one day so I was intrigued and took a copy home to read. It was not good. And yet, some compelling force kept pulling me through its pages.
In brief, the story is about a man who dislikes the current state of the city in which he lives. He feels a deep connection to the past that this city once experienced and a longing to bring the ideals of that past to reality once again. Through his actions of making a stand against the state, and his *attempted* suicide, he is thrust into an alternate land of the sea where he meets the sea Polyp and is given the 101 on life, truth, creation, destruction, and change.
Rich Shapero likes to play with language and words, which I would appreciate, except that he's not very skilled at it. It felt like he was using this strange, archaic language just to sound smart and different. This entire book felt like an acid trip. The plot was poorly sketched and there was really no resolve to the conflicts presented. If anything, more questions were raised than answered.
My 2 star rating is for the following reasons: The writing was mediocre. The plot was interesting but severely lacking in execution. It was bizarre and intriguing but more in the way that a bad street performer is intriguing, where you can't help but watch even while cringing at every wrong note.
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December 26, 2016this book is trash. it's extremely weird, esoteric, neo-erotic, and generally the plot feels like a high schoolers account of a bad experience in kindergarten. If you're ever j studying at the Kraemer Family Library at UCCS and see this piece of shit read at the free book exchange, consider using it as toilet paper at the food court when you get diarrhea from a vegan taco salad that was made last week. I tried reading this book while reading tonight before bed, which I always do, and found myself wanting to perform seppuku on myself with my Katana. literally such a bad book that I think shapero needs to stop writing books, go back to California and quietly live with his family, and stop trying to influence young minds that salt is comparable to the Nazionale Socialist party of Hitlers Germany. I mean what fucking moron calls the evil State salt? it's the dumbest concept I've ever heard of. to anyone who enjoyed this book, I am sorry, go see a pschiatrist, have an Arnold Palmer, or both at the same time. I would rather read a pamphlet on famous Indian trapeze artists than EVER take a glance at this neo-New Age gossipy bullshit ever again. By the way, whoever places 3 copies of Arms from the sea in my charity box for homeless kids in the springs, I want to know who you are just so I can write a book on why anyone on earth would ever subject a homeless child to such steamy hog shit in hardback form. OK we're done here, happy new year from beautiful Colorado Rick! hope to never see your books again. P.S. don't even get me started on The Hope We Seek or Wild Animus, that one was a nightmare on print. plus, learn how to use high-caliber vocabulary, college kids can read. stop doing so much acid and write a real book.
October 7, 2016
Shapero treads an awkward no-man's-land between myth and novel in Arms from the Sea, and he doesn't always manage to pull it off. The first few chapters of the novel are slow, with a lot of the telling, not a lot of showing, and an aggressive amount of description of salt (It's white everywhere. I get it, okay?). There's a lot of imagery (one notable example is the bizarre "living wheel" of arms that Lyle hallucinates in Chapter 1, p. 14), but we're not far enough into the story yet to grasp any meaning from it, except that this guy named Lyle has some sort of weird fetish for the sea and everyone else is obsessed with salt. Next, we're thrown into the strange "heaven" crafted by the Polyp without any explanation for why the in-universe bounds of reality have suddenly shifted, and the Polyp's backstory is never fully explained.
In a myth, reliance on narration and, of course, the featuring of gods and miracles are commonplace, and I'm willing to grant Shapero some leniency in his gratuitous usage of these elements given what he seems to be trying to accomplish. On the other hand, Shapero's book is in many ways a novel: it features non-god characters, such as Lyle, who experience complex human emotions that stem from various sources, and there's clearly a dystopian plotline trying to come through. And a novel often has very different demands than a myth: three-dimensional characters are best experienced through three-dimensional showing rather than merely telling, the latter of which Shapero seems to prefer. The following example is one that irked me:
That is an insane amount of narration in one paragraph! We're taken through the entire development of a primary aspect of Lyle's character in a mere five sentences. Why does Shapero tell us that "the carving had become an obsession" rather than showing us what he means? Shapero later explains to some extent how this obsession manifests in terms of Lyle's seclusion in the quarries, working to the point of exhaustion; but then what was the point of the narration? The reader gains neither emotional information (What did obsession mean and feel like specifically for Lyle?) nor plot detail (How rapid is rapid? What kind of pains did he enjoy taking?) from this narration.
Shapero initiates some interesting ideas in Arms from the Sea, and he pushes expectations in some ways. The lack of coherence and implied lack of ethics in the insurgent group was intriguing, since so often dystopian stories fall into a formula of Evil Oppressive Government versus Heroic Rebels. The insurgents in Arms from the Sea are human and complex. But Shapero seems mostly to have just used this as an excuse for Lyle not to find solidarity anywhere in the State of Salt and to completely give himself, with very little thought or hesitation, to the Polyp.
The weird thing is that somehow this ends up being the right thing to do. Of course, an author is free to tout any moral or message they like, but the message that I gathered from Arms from the Sea is peculiar. The ocean-obsessed lunatic turns out to be right about everything? Man infused with godlike power is considered natural and right rather than dangerous and problematic? Rain wrath down on our enemies with no mercy, because they have no souls and feel "nothing, not even fear" (p. 192)?
Is Arms from the Sea possibly some kind of satire, in fact a rejection of the principles that lead its own characters to victory? What is Shapero really trying to say? I simply don't know.
There were parts of the novel that were painfully slow, others that excited my interest (though rarely was that interest brought to fruition). It certainly elicited a reaction from me at times, which is something I very much seek in a book, even if that reaction was shock and rejection of the characters' morality (or lack thereof). But in the end it just felt like something was missing. The story lacks dimension. I probably won't read Shapero again.
In a myth, reliance on narration and, of course, the featuring of gods and miracles are commonplace, and I'm willing to grant Shapero some leniency in his gratuitous usage of these elements given what he seems to be trying to accomplish. On the other hand, Shapero's book is in many ways a novel: it features non-god characters, such as Lyle, who experience complex human emotions that stem from various sources, and there's clearly a dystopian plotline trying to come through. And a novel often has very different demands than a myth: three-dimensional characters are best experienced through three-dimensional showing rather than merely telling, the latter of which Shapero seems to prefer. The following example is one that irked me:
"Within a year, the carving had become an obsession. He devoted every spare hour to it, teaching himself, learning through trial and error how to achieve the appearance of life. He saw progress, rapid progress. He had the gift of dexterity and enjoyed taking pains. He had a reckoning eye and strength in his hands." -- page 51
That is an insane amount of narration in one paragraph! We're taken through the entire development of a primary aspect of Lyle's character in a mere five sentences. Why does Shapero tell us that "the carving had become an obsession" rather than showing us what he means? Shapero later explains to some extent how this obsession manifests in terms of Lyle's seclusion in the quarries, working to the point of exhaustion; but then what was the point of the narration? The reader gains neither emotional information (What did obsession mean and feel like specifically for Lyle?) nor plot detail (How rapid is rapid? What kind of pains did he enjoy taking?) from this narration.
Shapero initiates some interesting ideas in Arms from the Sea, and he pushes expectations in some ways. The lack of coherence and implied lack of ethics in the insurgent group was intriguing, since so often dystopian stories fall into a formula of Evil Oppressive Government versus Heroic Rebels. The insurgents in Arms from the Sea are human and complex. But Shapero seems mostly to have just used this as an excuse for Lyle not to find solidarity anywhere in the State of Salt and to completely give himself, with very little thought or hesitation, to the Polyp.
The weird thing is that somehow this ends up being the right thing to do. Of course, an author is free to tout any moral or message they like, but the message that I gathered from Arms from the Sea is peculiar. The ocean-obsessed lunatic turns out to be right about everything? Man infused with godlike power is considered natural and right rather than dangerous and problematic? Rain wrath down on our enemies with no mercy, because they have no souls and feel "nothing, not even fear" (p. 192)?
Is Arms from the Sea possibly some kind of satire, in fact a rejection of the principles that lead its own characters to victory? What is Shapero really trying to say? I simply don't know.
There were parts of the novel that were painfully slow, others that excited my interest (though rarely was that interest brought to fruition). It certainly elicited a reaction from me at times, which is something I very much seek in a book, even if that reaction was shock and rejection of the characters' morality (or lack thereof). But in the end it just felt like something was missing. The story lacks dimension. I probably won't read Shapero again.
February 25, 2021
Handed out for free even in the UK!
THE STORY:
SALT, SEA; BLAH, BLAH, BLAH,BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
NO STORY, NO CONTEXT, THE END.
This really needs to be edited, re-written, pissed on, pulped, dried, burnt, shit on and finally returned to the author and his vanity publishing company because no one else will want to publish and distribute this crap.
PLEASE STOP!
THE STORY:
SALT, SEA; BLAH, BLAH, BLAH,BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
NO STORY, NO CONTEXT, THE END.
This really needs to be edited, re-written, pissed on, pulped, dried, burnt, shit on and finally returned to the author and his vanity publishing company because no one else will want to publish and distribute this crap.
PLEASE STOP!
March 26, 2018
This book is impossibly, horrendously, earth-shatteringly bad. I am truly in awe of how bad it is.
I can't even really tell you what this is about because the writing was so bad it was difficult to tell what was happening. I am pretty sure a psycho kid from a futuristic wasteland tried to kill himself, ended up in some weird purgatory where a terrifying jellyfish climbed into his brain and insisted it was a god and took him on adventures, and then woke back up in his real world and killed everyone except for one kid who he mutilated mentally, proving that he was a terrible person all along.
I received this for free at Electric Forest. I feel bad it was printed on real paper.
I can't even really tell you what this is about because the writing was so bad it was difficult to tell what was happening. I am pretty sure a psycho kid from a futuristic wasteland tried to kill himself, ended up in some weird purgatory where a terrifying jellyfish climbed into his brain and insisted it was a god and took him on adventures, and then woke back up in his real world and killed everyone except for one kid who he mutilated mentally, proving that he was a terrible person all along.
I received this for free at Electric Forest. I feel bad it was printed on real paper.
May 4, 2017
I hope no one ever reads this terrible novel.
May 22, 2016
I honestly have no idea what I just read. A part of me was expecting this to be a homosexual romance novel set in a science fiction setting, and while this book wasn't exactly that, it definitely was... something. Sections of this book when read out loud sound like a descriptions of "artistic" gay erotica, which is even more weird when you realize this is between a dude and a jellyfish alien god? Even funnier when you think about the description on the cover describing the Polyp as "seductive." I can't help but feel the author was TRYING to make this book gay, but managed to make it feel like a novel that isn't gay but everyone thinks it is.
I'd have to say my overall impression was "WTF." I didn't love it, but I didn't not enjoy it, although I really am left sitting here trying to question what exactly the hell I read. Characters and setting were interesting. Book was spaced out really well, and overall the story telling and plot was solid. Description in the first 3 chapters was a little confusing, however. There were some descriptors that felt like they were trying too hard, yet being too vague at the same time, and at these points I was forced to reread sections in order to figure out what was going on. Beyond those parts, the writing and description leveled out.
There never hit a point where I connected emotionally with the book, although I kept reading it because I wanted to know how it would end. Because of the way the book is spaced and paced, you find out more about the characters' backstory the more you read the book. In the end everything clicks and makes sense, and finishes with a double-twist that leaves you going, "WTH?"
I'd have to say my overall impression was "WTF." I didn't love it, but I didn't not enjoy it, although I really am left sitting here trying to question what exactly the hell I read. Characters and setting were interesting. Book was spaced out really well, and overall the story telling and plot was solid. Description in the first 3 chapters was a little confusing, however. There were some descriptors that felt like they were trying too hard, yet being too vague at the same time, and at these points I was forced to reread sections in order to figure out what was going on. Beyond those parts, the writing and description leveled out.
There never hit a point where I connected emotionally with the book, although I kept reading it because I wanted to know how it would end. Because of the way the book is spaced and paced, you find out more about the characters' backstory the more you read the book. In the end everything clicks and makes sense, and finishes with a double-twist that leaves you going, "WTH?"
May 23, 2017
This review and more can be found on Living for the Books
This book is a perfect example of why I tend to avoid strangers, especially strangers that really seem to be pushing stuff in your face. I was on my way to class when some random guy essentially shoved this book into my hands while shouting something that I don't remember because all I wanted to do was make it to class on time. As I've seen on other reviews it seems to be that most people got their hands on this book because it seems to be distributed at college campuses. The one good thing about that is that at least I didn't pay for this.
To put it lightly, this book is a mess. After almost 200 pages, I still have no idea what was happening. I don't think there was much of a plot and if there was it didn't make sense. The writing was hard to follow, making the story even more difficult to get into and actually figure out what was going on. There were two different story lines going on throughout the book and for most of it I thought one of them was in the past, but based off the ending I have no idea. When I was about halfway through I described what I had read to my boyfriend and his response was yikes because I couldn't make sense of it and what I was saying didn't make sense. It essentially sounded like I was describing a really weird dream.
The main character, Lyle, was nothing special. I felt no connection to him or any of the other characters. I found the scenes with Lyle and the Polyp weird and slightly disturbing mainly because there seemed to be sexual, especially because in the description it says that the Polyp is seductive. Now, you're probably wondering why that would be disturbing. It's because the Polyp is literally a jellyfish and Lyle doesn't seem to always be on board with everything that happens to him. Also during the interactions with the Polyp, the god would narrate what he was doing and it seemed so weird and honestly shouldn't have been part of the dialogue.
I really don't know what I just read and would recommend steering clear, if only because the writing makes the story extremely difficult to grasp and understand.
This book is a perfect example of why I tend to avoid strangers, especially strangers that really seem to be pushing stuff in your face. I was on my way to class when some random guy essentially shoved this book into my hands while shouting something that I don't remember because all I wanted to do was make it to class on time. As I've seen on other reviews it seems to be that most people got their hands on this book because it seems to be distributed at college campuses. The one good thing about that is that at least I didn't pay for this.
To put it lightly, this book is a mess. After almost 200 pages, I still have no idea what was happening. I don't think there was much of a plot and if there was it didn't make sense. The writing was hard to follow, making the story even more difficult to get into and actually figure out what was going on. There were two different story lines going on throughout the book and for most of it I thought one of them was in the past, but based off the ending I have no idea. When I was about halfway through I described what I had read to my boyfriend and his response was yikes because I couldn't make sense of it and what I was saying didn't make sense. It essentially sounded like I was describing a really weird dream.
The main character, Lyle, was nothing special. I felt no connection to him or any of the other characters. I found the scenes with Lyle and the Polyp weird and slightly disturbing mainly because there seemed to be sexual, especially because in the description it says that the Polyp is seductive. Now, you're probably wondering why that would be disturbing. It's because the Polyp is literally a jellyfish and Lyle doesn't seem to always be on board with everything that happens to him. Also during the interactions with the Polyp, the god would narrate what he was doing and it seemed so weird and honestly shouldn't have been part of the dialogue.
I really don't know what I just read and would recommend steering clear, if only because the writing makes the story extremely difficult to grasp and understand.
March 7, 2017
As seemingly everyone who's reading this, I received Arms from the Sea for free on campus at my University. Definitely an interesting book. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the more lucid, grounded story told in the desert with the dreamy, almost psychedelic story told in the sea. There's a marked difference between the two settings in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary that adds to the overall effect. There are a lot of words in the sea portions that I've never read before. I'm not sure how many of them were invented, and how many are simply archaic or particularly esoteric. Descriptions in the sea portions are quite vague, and time seems quite subjective, all of which lends to the feel. Mr. Shapero did a good job with the distinction, which I think is probably the strongest feature of the novel.
I wish there had been more character development, as Lyle feels pretty stationary throughout the course of the novel, undergoing very little change in terms of his personality. The seamen are entirely forgettable, which may be purposeful given the nature of those chapters. Audrie was, in my opinion, by far the most relatable character, being pulled in various directions by his duties, desires, and power.
I think the novel would have benefited from being longer, focusing more on character development and really fleshing out both of the worlds it inhabits. The themes it discusses are interesting, but it doesn't explore them so much as it brings them up. Cool concept though, and it's short enough that it didn't feel like a waste of time even if it isn't my favorite book of all time.
I wish there had been more character development, as Lyle feels pretty stationary throughout the course of the novel, undergoing very little change in terms of his personality. The seamen are entirely forgettable, which may be purposeful given the nature of those chapters. Audrie was, in my opinion, by far the most relatable character, being pulled in various directions by his duties, desires, and power.
I think the novel would have benefited from being longer, focusing more on character development and really fleshing out both of the worlds it inhabits. The themes it discusses are interesting, but it doesn't explore them so much as it brings them up. Cool concept though, and it's short enough that it didn't feel like a waste of time even if it isn't my favorite book of all time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2018
Weird and insular, Arms from the Sea is a tough nut to crack. Shuttling back and forth in space and time, it’s like Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and filled with words more bizarre than anything dreamed up by Lewis Carroll and twisted creatures that are both beautiful and strange.
Lyle is a man hating his salt-encrusted environment, one from where the oceans have long since evaporated. You puzzle over whether he summoned the fearsome god that demolished it or whether it’s all a fever dream from his own tortured mind, a dilemma suffered by the protagonist of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.
The novel is insular, turning again and again on the intermingling of two very different minds. While Lyle is momentarily upset at the loss of his world, he doesn’t get too steamed up about it. Retaliation is very far from his mind when he encounters the Polyp, self-proclaimed god, bringer and destroyer of life. At first, the eldritch creature scares him; it’s so unlike himself. Yet you find yourself drawn along with him into accepting the Polyp and its terrible gift of hope and failure.
This novel is both mesmerizing and yet repellant. It’s hard to put down, taxing to wrap your mind around and difficult to quantify. Is it fantasy or science fiction? Gay romance or action adventure? As fluid and shapeshifting as the element at its center, Arms from the Sea is for people who keenly enjoy a touch of the peculiar in their fiction.
Lyle is a man hating his salt-encrusted environment, one from where the oceans have long since evaporated. You puzzle over whether he summoned the fearsome god that demolished it or whether it’s all a fever dream from his own tortured mind, a dilemma suffered by the protagonist of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.
The novel is insular, turning again and again on the intermingling of two very different minds. While Lyle is momentarily upset at the loss of his world, he doesn’t get too steamed up about it. Retaliation is very far from his mind when he encounters the Polyp, self-proclaimed god, bringer and destroyer of life. At first, the eldritch creature scares him; it’s so unlike himself. Yet you find yourself drawn along with him into accepting the Polyp and its terrible gift of hope and failure.
This novel is both mesmerizing and yet repellant. It’s hard to put down, taxing to wrap your mind around and difficult to quantify. Is it fantasy or science fiction? Gay romance or action adventure? As fluid and shapeshifting as the element at its center, Arms from the Sea is for people who keenly enjoy a touch of the peculiar in their fiction.
July 23, 2016
I recommend Rich Shapero’s Arms From the Sea with one caveat: it must be read slowly. This is a story to be savored: the language is lush, the themes are challenging, and the action/motivation is dense. If you’re looking for a novel that has a deep, philosophical thread and a meaty plot, then this is the book for you. The questions here about creativity and complacency are especially important today, given our political and spiritual climate.
Not only did I enjoy the novel, but the accompanying music and art are marvelous. Each of these three components—the book, the art, and the music—can certainly stand on its own, but combined as they are in this multimedia extravaganza, it is truly unlike any other reading experience I have ever had. I haven’t painted in years, but these artists inspired me to bring out my watercolors and paint my own fantastic mindscapes.
I must admit, I deeply admire Shapero. Not only is he a very talented writer, but he is an incredibly deep thinker. What he has to say about humanity, the divine, and creativity is so evocative and relevant. If you haven’t yet had a chance to read the interview he gives on his website, I strongly encourage you to do so. Knowing how Shapero views reality can be really helpful in navigating his books.
Not only did I enjoy the novel, but the accompanying music and art are marvelous. Each of these three components—the book, the art, and the music—can certainly stand on its own, but combined as they are in this multimedia extravaganza, it is truly unlike any other reading experience I have ever had. I haven’t painted in years, but these artists inspired me to bring out my watercolors and paint my own fantastic mindscapes.
I must admit, I deeply admire Shapero. Not only is he a very talented writer, but he is an incredibly deep thinker. What he has to say about humanity, the divine, and creativity is so evocative and relevant. If you haven’t yet had a chance to read the interview he gives on his website, I strongly encourage you to do so. Knowing how Shapero views reality can be really helpful in navigating his books.
May 29, 2016
I seriously hesitate to give any book negative remarks. A dream that has had so much time, effort and energy put forth deserves a certain level of appreciation regardless of personal taste. A quick read, could have finished it in an afternoon if I'd had the time. The book itself has a beautiful cover. The author certainly had some interesting ideas and a very original setting but it just wasn't for me. I think that others may really enjoy it. Give it a shot!
February 11, 2017
Book received from a GR giveaway.
Tis a strange story. This book is like nothing I've read before.
The dialogue threw me off in the beginning. But after I was able to wrap my head around it, I was good.
But I enjoyed.
Tis a strange story. This book is like nothing I've read before.
The dialogue threw me off in the beginning. But after I was able to wrap my head around it, I was good.
But I enjoyed.
November 5, 2017
Handed out for free at Tx Book Festival. Honestly I won’t read this because they were so pushy handing it out. It really devalues your work if handing it out free is your strategy. Is this some kind of cult??
December 1, 2018
My girlfriend and I couldn't keep a straight face while reading this book. It reads like an erotica without the actual erotica.
Also Blednishev has become an amusing swear in our house.
Also Blednishev has become an amusing swear in our house.
November 24, 2016
We did not like this book.
At all.
There are a lot of reasons for this, so buckle up. If you haven't read this book, please be warned that spoilers are unmarked and frequent! We are assuming that if you're reading this, you've read the book, so you also won't need us to provide context for the things we discuss.
First, there was no main focus of the story, and none of the many threads were developed well enough to make it a multi-pronged story. Second, the theme (or themes) was/were unclear at best and completely contradictory at worst. Third, there were issues of consent that arose in any interaction between Lyle and the Polyp. Fourth (and finally), many of the stylistic choices detracted from the actual experience of reading the story.
Let's start with the issue of story focus. Now, we have both read stories that include many foci or plot threads. Those stories are successful because they give appropriate weight to each thread, so that the reader is able to understand the underlying theme of the work. Arms From the Sea did not do that. Here are the threads that we found: Lyle and his relationship to his parents; Lyle's work against the government; Lyle's inner turmoil and self-development; Lyle and the Polyp; the Polyp's cosmic crusade; the Polyp and Nawkoo; the dystopic nature of the State of Salt; and the final twist of the book.
It is entirely possible that all of these things are well connected. However, the weight given to each thread in relation to the others and to the overall theme of the narrative was not well balanced. Some threads (Lyle and his parents particularly) were given entirely too much weight, which took away from threads that were appropriately developed (Lyle and the Polyp, Lyle's inner turmoil). Others were given entirely too little weight (the Polyp's cosmic crusade), which led to narrative confusion and obfuscation of the actual theme of the novel.
On this note, let's take a look at the theme of the novel. Theme? What theme? Obviously, Shapero does have some overarching theme in mind. And, according to his website, that theme might well be "the positive power of change" (in a condensed form). If you read the interview to which we linked, however, it becomes apparent that either Shapero intended for there to be multiple, not-entirely-connected themes—or Shapero himself doesn't have a specific theme in mind at all.
This in itself is not inherently bad! Multiple interpretations of any work are possible, even good. It is also possible that an author may have multiple themes or no intended theme at all in a particular work. However, it's very clear that Shapero did intend for there to be A theme (as in, one single message) to take away from the novel. It's not clear what that theme was. As other reviewers have noted, the messages are contradictory in large part because of the last page of the novel. While certainly an interesting twist, it did not carry any of the possible preceding messages at all.
Which, in turn, brings us to the third issue: that of consent. Here's where the review gets a little bit odd, and significantly more disturbing. Other reviewers have done a great job of pointing out the oddly sexual and homoerotic connotation of the..."encounters" between Lyle and the Polyp. So we're going to focus on something slightly different. In all but the last encounter between the two, Lyle repeatedly and loudly (often even desperately) begs the Polyp to stop. "Don't...Let go of me. Please" (46), Lyle says in the first encounter. "You'll remember this moment with joy, not dread" (73), the Polyp reassures Lyle as he enters the human's terrified brain. "I beg you— Stop, please stop—" (101) Lyle screams as the Polyp forcibly mutates his body.
All of the foregoing was monumentally disturbing, not necessarily because of the nature of the Polyp, but because of the fact that Lyle was clearly terrified and clearly consented to very little if any of their encounters. When he did consent in the preceding cases, it was consent that was coerced--the Polyp was already inside his body. This would be bad enough and horrific enough, except that Shapero's prose is clearly sexually charged. These scenes (which make up a significant portion of the novel) are not just transformations. Whatever they are, they're meant to evoke some kind of arousal in the reader (we're not going to dig too deep into what kind that might be).
Speaking of evoking emotions, let's get on to the fourth point. What exactly is happening, from a stylistic standpoint? It's almost as if the novel is trying to emulate Ernest Hemingway's prose in The Old Man and the Sea, except that it ends up sounding more like a modern H.P. Lovecraft, in his more poetic moments. Many passages are fairly spare, lacking in description and mostly telling the reader what's happening without much showing. This is a fine stylistic choice, but juxtaposed against the absolutely florid prose that describes the sea and the Polyp, it just doesn't make sense. In this regard, it becomes difficult to follow the story, if only because it's impossible not to be distracted by the tonal shifts in the prose.
Another distraction is the color blue. The only colors that are consistently described in the book are blue and white. White is always given as “white”—no synonyms are given. Blue, on the other hand, is given the synonyms “teal”, “azure”, “turquoise”, “midnight blue”, “crystal blue”, “glassy blue”, and “phosphorescent blue”, among others. Yes, we understand: salt is white and boring. The Sea is blue and interesting. This is constantly reinforced. It is unnecessarily reinforced. It becomes as boring as the salt itself. There are other ways to describe the sea (“wine-dark” from Fagles’ translation of the Iliad, “gunmetal”, “green”, even “shining”) that don’t rely on not-quite-color-matched synonyms. If the sea is supposed to be fascinating, then descriptions should reflect that. They don’t even match the intriguing colors of the paintings on which this book is based. Those paintings include purples, reds, oranges, yellows, even white, a scheme which certainly isn’t reflected in the book.
We may have lied a little bit. In the process of writing this review, we realized that there is a fifth point that we should probably get into in more detail. (If you haven’t read the book, STOP READING THIS REVIEW NOW. We’re about to spoil the climax of the novel.) On page 193, the very last page of the book, anything that may have been built up in terms of theme is abruptly obliterated. What was a story about the use of creativity to fight authority, how change can transcend the drudgery of communal life, and similar things becomes a story about how individual personal power can do whatever you want. Examples include but are not limited to: overthrowing the government, brainwashing people, and forcibly transforming them into some other form of life.
You can tell we were horrified.
All of the issues of story focus, all of the issues of lack of an overarching theme, all of the consent issues—all these have a triumphant reprise in the final ten paragraphs. Story threads are tossed aside with abandon. Potential themes are trodden upon. The consent of half the cast is savagely violated with a literal scalpel. Anything redeeming about the previous parts of the book no longer applies. Lyle (who was already an unlikeable protagonist) becomes an outright villain. Driven by his own biases and prejudices, empowered by the cosmic Polyp, he’s able to do whatever he wants. And what he wants to do is to “make a change” (193). It’s weird. It’s downright horrifying, actually. In any other novel, this would be the prologue, the point where the villain gets their start. In this book, it’s the heroic climax. It’s clear that we are expected to root for Lyle and to cheer when he finally brings down his scalpel. All we did was scream and drop the book in undiluted horror.
In conclusion, we did not like this book.
At all.
For us, as readers and as writers, we found very few redeeming qualities, and what redeeming qualities there were vanished as soon as we hit page 193. The book had potential, if more exploration of the State of Salt, the legend of Nawkoo, or even the goals of the Polyp had been given more time. In this book, they weren’t. Lyle’s asocial and selfish actions and unnecessary cerebral tentacle erotica were granted center stage. It’s unfortunate, because the potential was there. It just wasn’t acted upon.
At all.
There are a lot of reasons for this, so buckle up. If you haven't read this book, please be warned that spoilers are unmarked and frequent! We are assuming that if you're reading this, you've read the book, so you also won't need us to provide context for the things we discuss.
First, there was no main focus of the story, and none of the many threads were developed well enough to make it a multi-pronged story. Second, the theme (or themes) was/were unclear at best and completely contradictory at worst. Third, there were issues of consent that arose in any interaction between Lyle and the Polyp. Fourth (and finally), many of the stylistic choices detracted from the actual experience of reading the story.
Let's start with the issue of story focus. Now, we have both read stories that include many foci or plot threads. Those stories are successful because they give appropriate weight to each thread, so that the reader is able to understand the underlying theme of the work. Arms From the Sea did not do that. Here are the threads that we found: Lyle and his relationship to his parents; Lyle's work against the government; Lyle's inner turmoil and self-development; Lyle and the Polyp; the Polyp's cosmic crusade; the Polyp and Nawkoo; the dystopic nature of the State of Salt; and the final twist of the book.
It is entirely possible that all of these things are well connected. However, the weight given to each thread in relation to the others and to the overall theme of the narrative was not well balanced. Some threads (Lyle and his parents particularly) were given entirely too much weight, which took away from threads that were appropriately developed (Lyle and the Polyp, Lyle's inner turmoil). Others were given entirely too little weight (the Polyp's cosmic crusade), which led to narrative confusion and obfuscation of the actual theme of the novel.
On this note, let's take a look at the theme of the novel. Theme? What theme? Obviously, Shapero does have some overarching theme in mind. And, according to his website, that theme might well be "the positive power of change" (in a condensed form). If you read the interview to which we linked, however, it becomes apparent that either Shapero intended for there to be multiple, not-entirely-connected themes—or Shapero himself doesn't have a specific theme in mind at all.
This in itself is not inherently bad! Multiple interpretations of any work are possible, even good. It is also possible that an author may have multiple themes or no intended theme at all in a particular work. However, it's very clear that Shapero did intend for there to be A theme (as in, one single message) to take away from the novel. It's not clear what that theme was. As other reviewers have noted, the messages are contradictory in large part because of the last page of the novel. While certainly an interesting twist, it did not carry any of the possible preceding messages at all.
Which, in turn, brings us to the third issue: that of consent. Here's where the review gets a little bit odd, and significantly more disturbing. Other reviewers have done a great job of pointing out the oddly sexual and homoerotic connotation of the..."encounters" between Lyle and the Polyp. So we're going to focus on something slightly different. In all but the last encounter between the two, Lyle repeatedly and loudly (often even desperately) begs the Polyp to stop. "Don't...Let go of me. Please" (46), Lyle says in the first encounter. "You'll remember this moment with joy, not dread" (73), the Polyp reassures Lyle as he enters the human's terrified brain. "I beg you— Stop, please stop—" (101) Lyle screams as the Polyp forcibly mutates his body.
All of the foregoing was monumentally disturbing, not necessarily because of the nature of the Polyp, but because of the fact that Lyle was clearly terrified and clearly consented to very little if any of their encounters. When he did consent in the preceding cases, it was consent that was coerced--the Polyp was already inside his body. This would be bad enough and horrific enough, except that Shapero's prose is clearly sexually charged. These scenes (which make up a significant portion of the novel) are not just transformations. Whatever they are, they're meant to evoke some kind of arousal in the reader (we're not going to dig too deep into what kind that might be).
Speaking of evoking emotions, let's get on to the fourth point. What exactly is happening, from a stylistic standpoint? It's almost as if the novel is trying to emulate Ernest Hemingway's prose in The Old Man and the Sea, except that it ends up sounding more like a modern H.P. Lovecraft, in his more poetic moments. Many passages are fairly spare, lacking in description and mostly telling the reader what's happening without much showing. This is a fine stylistic choice, but juxtaposed against the absolutely florid prose that describes the sea and the Polyp, it just doesn't make sense. In this regard, it becomes difficult to follow the story, if only because it's impossible not to be distracted by the tonal shifts in the prose.
Another distraction is the color blue. The only colors that are consistently described in the book are blue and white. White is always given as “white”—no synonyms are given. Blue, on the other hand, is given the synonyms “teal”, “azure”, “turquoise”, “midnight blue”, “crystal blue”, “glassy blue”, and “phosphorescent blue”, among others. Yes, we understand: salt is white and boring. The Sea is blue and interesting. This is constantly reinforced. It is unnecessarily reinforced. It becomes as boring as the salt itself. There are other ways to describe the sea (“wine-dark” from Fagles’ translation of the Iliad, “gunmetal”, “green”, even “shining”) that don’t rely on not-quite-color-matched synonyms. If the sea is supposed to be fascinating, then descriptions should reflect that. They don’t even match the intriguing colors of the paintings on which this book is based. Those paintings include purples, reds, oranges, yellows, even white, a scheme which certainly isn’t reflected in the book.
We may have lied a little bit. In the process of writing this review, we realized that there is a fifth point that we should probably get into in more detail. (If you haven’t read the book, STOP READING THIS REVIEW NOW. We’re about to spoil the climax of the novel.) On page 193, the very last page of the book, anything that may have been built up in terms of theme is abruptly obliterated. What was a story about the use of creativity to fight authority, how change can transcend the drudgery of communal life, and similar things becomes a story about how individual personal power can do whatever you want. Examples include but are not limited to: overthrowing the government, brainwashing people, and forcibly transforming them into some other form of life.
You can tell we were horrified.
All of the issues of story focus, all of the issues of lack of an overarching theme, all of the consent issues—all these have a triumphant reprise in the final ten paragraphs. Story threads are tossed aside with abandon. Potential themes are trodden upon. The consent of half the cast is savagely violated with a literal scalpel. Anything redeeming about the previous parts of the book no longer applies. Lyle (who was already an unlikeable protagonist) becomes an outright villain. Driven by his own biases and prejudices, empowered by the cosmic Polyp, he’s able to do whatever he wants. And what he wants to do is to “make a change” (193). It’s weird. It’s downright horrifying, actually. In any other novel, this would be the prologue, the point where the villain gets their start. In this book, it’s the heroic climax. It’s clear that we are expected to root for Lyle and to cheer when he finally brings down his scalpel. All we did was scream and drop the book in undiluted horror.
In conclusion, we did not like this book.
At all.
For us, as readers and as writers, we found very few redeeming qualities, and what redeeming qualities there were vanished as soon as we hit page 193. The book had potential, if more exploration of the State of Salt, the legend of Nawkoo, or even the goals of the Polyp had been given more time. In this book, they weren’t. Lyle’s asocial and selfish actions and unnecessary cerebral tentacle erotica were granted center stage. It’s unfortunate, because the potential was there. It just wasn’t acted upon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
December 2, 2021I loved this strange, strange book. A love story between a man and a mollusk that invades his brain.
July 22, 2017
This was an interesting read, with some very interesting imagery. Supposed to be read as an interactive experience with online material, but I'm a traditionalist - I like a book that I can pick up and just start reading.
I think I may have read this book a bit quick, as I was in a bit of a weird mood. Some fascinating ideas, and nice description of water experiences but possibly a bit deep (excuse the pun) for my preferred read.
I think I may have read this book a bit quick, as I was in a bit of a weird mood. Some fascinating ideas, and nice description of water experiences but possibly a bit deep (excuse the pun) for my preferred read.
June 5, 2021
LOVE THE TENTACLE!
Okay, for real. This is an LSD trip with auto-predict and a thesaurus. No. No, it is not just you. It's definitely tentacle porn-y. "But Helen! He slid up the back of Lyle's mind! Not his booty hole." Don't care. Polyp still lubed up first.
Plot summery Lyle is an average sculpture, and being average he tries to kermit suicieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerd. But then the ocean comes and takes his world away. (Probably. Not entirely clear.) Anyway, two dudes in a boat pick him up, they take him to The Old One of this novel. The funky-ass God that doesn't even claim power over their version of Hell. Pulpo, I mean Potyo, I meant to say Polyp! Gives Lyle The Tentacle. Multiple times. While he screams "No." *Chef kiss* Eventually Lyle gets possessed by the spineless god and starts doing his dirty work. Because Lyle is a badass like that. He can actually do the things that need doing. I guess at some point Lyle wakes up in a hospital and tentacles someone else. He probably hurt himself on LSD.
Anyway, the only reason this got two stars instead of one was because the app is @#$%!ing incredible. Like, whoa. I have no idea what the author does for a living but someone spent Real Money on the talents that made that. It was exquisite. I wanna listen to The Ballads of Tentacle while I sip my morning coffee. The soundtrack is frigging fire!
All in all, this book isn't anything if it's not immersive. It will suck you in and make your forget you have a corporal being. A corporal being that does not consent to The Tentacle.
Light CW/TW: for the non-consensual themes.
Bite my liberal ass. I know way too many people that have been shoved against a wall by monsters without tentacles and now, oddly enough, the thought of having things forcefully shoved into holes bothers them.
Okay, for real. This is an LSD trip with auto-predict and a thesaurus. No. No, it is not just you. It's definitely tentacle porn-y. "But Helen! He slid up the back of Lyle's mind! Not his booty hole." Don't care. Polyp still lubed up first.
Plot summery Lyle is an average sculpture, and being average he tries to kermit suicieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerd. But then the ocean comes and takes his world away. (Probably. Not entirely clear.) Anyway, two dudes in a boat pick him up, they take him to The Old One of this novel. The funky-ass God that doesn't even claim power over their version of Hell. Pulpo, I mean Potyo, I meant to say Polyp! Gives Lyle The Tentacle. Multiple times. While he screams "No." *Chef kiss* Eventually Lyle gets possessed by the spineless god and starts doing his dirty work. Because Lyle is a badass like that. He can actually do the things that need doing. I guess at some point Lyle wakes up in a hospital and tentacles someone else. He probably hurt himself on LSD.
Anyway, the only reason this got two stars instead of one was because the app is @#$%!ing incredible. Like, whoa. I have no idea what the author does for a living but someone spent Real Money on the talents that made that. It was exquisite. I wanna listen to The Ballads of Tentacle while I sip my morning coffee. The soundtrack is frigging fire!
All in all, this book isn't anything if it's not immersive. It will suck you in and make your forget you have a corporal being. A corporal being that does not consent to The Tentacle.
Light CW/TW: for the non-consensual themes.
Bite my liberal ass. I know way too many people that have been shoved against a wall by monsters without tentacles and now, oddly enough, the thought of having things forcefully shoved into holes bothers them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 10, 2017
I have no idea what I’ve just read; it was like smoking a load of bad grass.
This is a standard dystopian future story where the protagonist is a paragon rebel caught up in a fight to overthrow the malicious government. Although this is usually an excellent formula for excitement and adventure, Shapero manages to miss the bullseye entirely by jumbling his prose and baffling his readers.
The plot is infernally foggy, with a tiring quantity of confusing imagery thrown in. It’s difficult to keep track of what’s going on - and what’s going on isn’t at all compelling, or even significant. The narrative slops along for a few pages at a time until something somewhat evocative happens, only for nothing to ever become fully realised.
Lyle the protagonist is dull, with no real substance between his ears, making him incredibly difficult to connect with. His motivations and backstory are told, rather than shown, rendering any potential emotional connection null and void.
There are various scenes where Lyle, after being whisked off to the water kingdom, has encounters with the Polyp, or water god. Many of these felt really creepy and sexual, as the god felt him up constantly with his tentacles, and whispered questionable things to Lyle. Think Robin Thicke with fins.
An utterly baffling story whose plot I am at a loss to describe; I’m only glad it’s over.
This is a standard dystopian future story where the protagonist is a paragon rebel caught up in a fight to overthrow the malicious government. Although this is usually an excellent formula for excitement and adventure, Shapero manages to miss the bullseye entirely by jumbling his prose and baffling his readers.
The plot is infernally foggy, with a tiring quantity of confusing imagery thrown in. It’s difficult to keep track of what’s going on - and what’s going on isn’t at all compelling, or even significant. The narrative slops along for a few pages at a time until something somewhat evocative happens, only for nothing to ever become fully realised.
Lyle the protagonist is dull, with no real substance between his ears, making him incredibly difficult to connect with. His motivations and backstory are told, rather than shown, rendering any potential emotional connection null and void.
There are various scenes where Lyle, after being whisked off to the water kingdom, has encounters with the Polyp, or water god. Many of these felt really creepy and sexual, as the god felt him up constantly with his tentacles, and whispered questionable things to Lyle. Think Robin Thicke with fins.
An utterly baffling story whose plot I am at a loss to describe; I’m only glad it’s over.
December 9, 2017
I should have known a free book handed out on a street corner wouldn't be the next great masterpiece, but I gave this a go anyway. Arms from the Sea is a confusing book as tangled as the tentacles it fights to describe.
More surprising than the dystopic adventure to nowhere is the strange homoerotic subtext of the main character and a godlike creature called The Polyp.
Even stranger than the book itself is its creator, Rich Shapero, who seems to write these crazy books (and create their accompanying smartphone apps and mixtapes) solely for fun, publishing them with his own money. This is respectable, and it makes me feel a bit bad for so harshly critiquing a clear passion project, but I'm more baffled than anything. He's never given an interview, his website features four different pictures of "him" that seem to be four entirely different people, and once he hired men in Australia to dress up like wolves and run around a college campus for an ad campaign.
A book as bizarre as its author, I only suggest reading this if you can get your hands on whatever drugs Rich Shapero took when writing it.
More surprising than the dystopic adventure to nowhere is the strange homoerotic subtext of the main character and a godlike creature called The Polyp.
Even stranger than the book itself is its creator, Rich Shapero, who seems to write these crazy books (and create their accompanying smartphone apps and mixtapes) solely for fun, publishing them with his own money. This is respectable, and it makes me feel a bit bad for so harshly critiquing a clear passion project, but I'm more baffled than anything. He's never given an interview, his website features four different pictures of "him" that seem to be four entirely different people, and once he hired men in Australia to dress up like wolves and run around a college campus for an ad campaign.
A book as bizarre as its author, I only suggest reading this if you can get your hands on whatever drugs Rich Shapero took when writing it.
May 14, 2017
I do not understand how this book does not have more 5 star ratings! It actually lulled me into the story! I felt like I was transported into Shapero's fictional world! I obtained it at the L.A Times Festival of Books. I suppose I would not recommend this novel to just anyone. It is a great read for people who love the Ocean and the idea of lucid dreams becoming reality! The ending amazed me! Each time I put this book down, I actually felt it tugging me back to read it! Must have been those arms of the sea! Great work Rich! Author: Elisa Guajardo Carothers
March 8, 2018
If asked to relay what I have just read, I would be unsure how to describe this odd book. Did I like it? Alittle. I liked the idea of god and man in a relationship. I found the most interesting character was not Lyle or Polyp but the captain who found him. The book was a rollercoaster of uncertainty that ended with a big question mark.
March 31, 2018
I read this book to give it a chance... wasn’t worthwhile. I literally burned this book when I finished it because the book has no point. I mean the style was alright and interesting but as reading goes it’s helps when a book has a purpose. But maybe the was the point... who knows. I won’t be rereading this one.
May 21, 2016
What the eff did I just read? Definitely not what I was expecting after reading the description. Interesting but a little strange. Loved the twist at the end, however.
November 29, 2021
I couldn't even finish this mess, they dumped a shit ton of them at Lesley University.
June 22, 2017
Absolutely awful.
February 26, 2025
Bile fascination drove me to finish. I got bored with it a few pages in, but kept it around for when I had artistic frustration to kill. Sometimes you just need to read a really bad book to regain focus.
The creative sea change in these ideals betray a hapless ignorance of how both nature and authoritarianism works, exactly the sort of stupidity I needed to motivate me to write again.
The characters (dull) and the setting (lovely vibes but underused) exist as a political vehicle that is very conservative despite the anti-authoritharian structure.
This is a story about the evils of basic universal income.
The evil regime came about because of a "liberation" that made universal basic income a reality. The oppressing class are the people who, despite this, wanted to keep working instead of lazying about, somehow universal basic income means all the people who want to do so become authoritarians. A caricature of it in any case. This strawman State lets them the "citizens" lazy about in total contradiction to any real oppressive regime.
Most we see of the regime is super flattering, the only evil they seem to do is destroy a landmark. Other evils are actually good, like people being able to voluntarily take anti anxiety augmentation, or fictitious, like an entire nation ceasing to do all art because of they got free wifi in their brains.
The regime has to actually adjust how they do certain things to appease citizens, who can freely join the ruling class by agreeing to work.
With the author so proudly in denial of how exploitation factors into oppression of people, it no wonder the author is full of contempt for nature too.
Much ado about how dried out the once maritime area is — except when it comes to oppression. There appears to be no water rations, no food shortages. Things being dry is a mild irritation because there's salt everywhere, and people's lack of appreciation for the missing sea hinder the protagonist : they close the quarry he chills in to build a wifi hot spot.
The back cover claims this book is to guide the reader's understanding of water. Great idea. The author should definitely start learning about human-water relations himself, if this is the biggest aquatic problem he can imagine.
The aesthetics of the ocean are present like on a postcard, but at its heart, this is anti-ecofiction. Not once does any character even consider what might restore an ecosystem back to function. On the contrary : the ultimate good, the Polyp uniting with an angry human, explicitly is about destroying ecosystems.
The only detail about how ecosystems work only comes up in the context of how evil it is for predators to exist. The god that set the evolution out to happen goes around destroying any predator it finds through genetic manipulation into a non-predator species.
It has all the nuance of a children's picture book.
It's just as juvenile and closeminded about any other kind of injustice.
The first time the protagonist runs into people of color : men with long black hair and copper skin, whom he identifies as natives. They fall to their knees in reverent worship of him. Especially notable since Lyle's default colored guide doesn't do this despite also worshiping the Polyp.
Yeah, it's one of those stories. Published unapologetically in 2016.
It being April 1 really doesn't excuse it. Not funny.
The polyp's goal is to merge with a messiah who agrees to conquest. Most of the 'heavens' it created were other worlds that they invaded with violence, to conduct cleansings where they either transformed or murdered to create sea biomes. The natives are written to be super appreciative of this.
Author's got ideas about gender too.
The Polyp's first appearance involves forcibly altering the main character's body, first making him super macho, then changing his sex to female, then to marine life, all without consent. Only the second one's made sexy. The main character experiences "foreign emotion" — this author is of the women are from venus, men from mars persuasion. This transformation's the only one where the Polyp actually cops a feel; the rest of the horny is more metaphorical.
There are no women on the side of the good Polyp, 1 evil woman on the side of the State, and only the resistance, those which the author has the least regard for, are said to have gender equality — but beyond the opening they aren't really in the story. Good women = devoted to men moms, evil women = squishy death.
The author's pen name Rich Shape is the cherry atop : the story really does ooze that certain Rich White Man Perpetually Stuck At The Left Edge Of The Dunning-Kruger Scale because his money shapes his own mind.
Anyway, the facts are that the closer countries are to basic universal income, and the less people have to work themselves to the bone, the more art is made. Not less, as this venture capitalist believes.
Wonder how many people being tied up in deadening jobs he built his fortune on, only to waste it on this sermon, when he could have donated that to an art program for poor kids instead.
The creative sea change in these ideals betray a hapless ignorance of how both nature and authoritarianism works, exactly the sort of stupidity I needed to motivate me to write again.
The characters (dull) and the setting (lovely vibes but underused) exist as a political vehicle that is very conservative despite the anti-authoritharian structure.
This is a story about the evils of basic universal income.
The evil regime came about because of a "liberation" that made universal basic income a reality. The oppressing class are the people who, despite this, wanted to keep working instead of lazying about, somehow universal basic income means all the people who want to do so become authoritarians. A caricature of it in any case. This strawman State lets them the "citizens" lazy about in total contradiction to any real oppressive regime.
Most we see of the regime is super flattering, the only evil they seem to do is destroy a landmark. Other evils are actually good, like people being able to voluntarily take anti anxiety augmentation, or fictitious, like an entire nation ceasing to do all art because of they got free wifi in their brains.
The regime has to actually adjust how they do certain things to appease citizens, who can freely join the ruling class by agreeing to work.
With the author so proudly in denial of how exploitation factors into oppression of people, it no wonder the author is full of contempt for nature too.
Much ado about how dried out the once maritime area is — except when it comes to oppression. There appears to be no water rations, no food shortages. Things being dry is a mild irritation because there's salt everywhere, and people's lack of appreciation for the missing sea hinder the protagonist : they close the quarry he chills in to build a wifi hot spot.
The back cover claims this book is to guide the reader's understanding of water. Great idea. The author should definitely start learning about human-water relations himself, if this is the biggest aquatic problem he can imagine.
The aesthetics of the ocean are present like on a postcard, but at its heart, this is anti-ecofiction. Not once does any character even consider what might restore an ecosystem back to function. On the contrary : the ultimate good, the Polyp uniting with an angry human, explicitly is about destroying ecosystems.
The only detail about how ecosystems work only comes up in the context of how evil it is for predators to exist. The god that set the evolution out to happen goes around destroying any predator it finds through genetic manipulation into a non-predator species.
It has all the nuance of a children's picture book.
It's just as juvenile and closeminded about any other kind of injustice.
The first time the protagonist runs into people of color : men with long black hair and copper skin, whom he identifies as natives. They fall to their knees in reverent worship of him. Especially notable since Lyle's default colored guide doesn't do this despite also worshiping the Polyp.
Yeah, it's one of those stories. Published unapologetically in 2016.
It being April 1 really doesn't excuse it. Not funny.
The polyp's goal is to merge with a messiah who agrees to conquest. Most of the 'heavens' it created were other worlds that they invaded with violence, to conduct cleansings where they either transformed or murdered to create sea biomes. The natives are written to be super appreciative of this.
Author's got ideas about gender too.
The Polyp's first appearance involves forcibly altering the main character's body, first making him super macho, then changing his sex to female, then to marine life, all without consent. Only the second one's made sexy. The main character experiences "foreign emotion" — this author is of the women are from venus, men from mars persuasion. This transformation's the only one where the Polyp actually cops a feel; the rest of the horny is more metaphorical.
There are no women on the side of the good Polyp, 1 evil woman on the side of the State, and only the resistance, those which the author has the least regard for, are said to have gender equality — but beyond the opening they aren't really in the story. Good women = devoted to men moms, evil women = squishy death.
The author's pen name Rich Shape is the cherry atop : the story really does ooze that certain Rich White Man Perpetually Stuck At The Left Edge Of The Dunning-Kruger Scale because his money shapes his own mind.
Anyway, the facts are that the closer countries are to basic universal income, and the less people have to work themselves to the bone, the more art is made. Not less, as this venture capitalist believes.
Wonder how many people being tied up in deadening jobs he built his fortune on, only to waste it on this sermon, when he could have donated that to an art program for poor kids instead.
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