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Shell
:.The Subject sleeps.:
A storm brews in the mind of a comatose girl where figments of her imagination vie for control of the isolated space therein referred to as the City.
Physics are unraveling. An office worker takes a tumble through twentieth-story glass. A high school girl chases the fleeting concept of “normalcy.” A pair of inquisitors strive to bring about a swift explanation for the increasingly fantastic, inexplicable phenomena occurring around them. And on the outside sits a shady scientist with a wild theory claiming to have the answer to it all.
As the inquisitors work to set things right, latent forces awaken in the City’s veins, threatening to bring about a flood that will wash away more than just the City inside the Subject’s mind.
A storm brews in the mind of a comatose girl where figments of her imagination vie for control of the isolated space therein referred to as the City.
Physics are unraveling. An office worker takes a tumble through twentieth-story glass. A high school girl chases the fleeting concept of “normalcy.” A pair of inquisitors strive to bring about a swift explanation for the increasingly fantastic, inexplicable phenomena occurring around them. And on the outside sits a shady scientist with a wild theory claiming to have the answer to it all.
As the inquisitors work to set things right, latent forces awaken in the City’s veins, threatening to bring about a flood that will wash away more than just the City inside the Subject’s mind.
371 pages, Paperback
Published August 7, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 6, 2022
Shell was one of the most intriguing and thrilling stories I’ve had the chance to read in a long time. The author states in his foreword that he set out to make something unique, and he has truly accomplished that.
First off, the prose of this story is exquisite. Hippie has done an incredible job weaving metaphors within metaphors and never allowing his language to feel dull or oppressive. There is a whimsical and dulcet quality to his writing that entranced me the whole way through.
Throughout the story, the characters are faced with constant existential confusion and dread, while at the same time, forces from “outside” their world (or maybe inside or maybe both or maybe somewhere else entirely heh) work to “set things right,” even if that means to the detriment of the city’s denizens. The City, the main location the story takes place, is expertly constructed and presented to the reader, and as we learn more and more about its machinations and transformations, we can’t help but feel transformed alongside it. I couldn’t help getting drawn into Shell Theory as Hashime and his partner Michiko vied to understand the nature of their reality and its connection to Shell. The very ontology of reality is constantly being questioned and explored through numerous different lenses as the foundations of reality buckle and the world falls apart…or maybe forms…Hippe leaves a great deal to the reader to decipher alongside his characters, and that makes the story even more invigorating. As the story is largely an investigation into the bizarre, you can’t help being drawn into the mind of the lead detective as he tries desperately to make sense of his wildly changing reality.
Shell at times reminded me of Ubik, other times of Dark City, other times of Century Rain, and almost all the time of House of Leaves. The story is part detective noir, part scifi, part surreal fiction, part poetry, even part exploration of intriguing pataphysics. It is a cleverly crafted and masterfully written exploration of the mind itself that will leave you on the edge of your seat and excitedly trying to piece everything together, even to the very end.
If you’re looking for something truly unique and endlessly intriguing, this is the story for you!
First off, the prose of this story is exquisite. Hippie has done an incredible job weaving metaphors within metaphors and never allowing his language to feel dull or oppressive. There is a whimsical and dulcet quality to his writing that entranced me the whole way through.
Throughout the story, the characters are faced with constant existential confusion and dread, while at the same time, forces from “outside” their world (or maybe inside or maybe both or maybe somewhere else entirely heh) work to “set things right,” even if that means to the detriment of the city’s denizens. The City, the main location the story takes place, is expertly constructed and presented to the reader, and as we learn more and more about its machinations and transformations, we can’t help but feel transformed alongside it. I couldn’t help getting drawn into Shell Theory as Hashime and his partner Michiko vied to understand the nature of their reality and its connection to Shell. The very ontology of reality is constantly being questioned and explored through numerous different lenses as the foundations of reality buckle and the world falls apart…or maybe forms…Hippe leaves a great deal to the reader to decipher alongside his characters, and that makes the story even more invigorating. As the story is largely an investigation into the bizarre, you can’t help being drawn into the mind of the lead detective as he tries desperately to make sense of his wildly changing reality.
Shell at times reminded me of Ubik, other times of Dark City, other times of Century Rain, and almost all the time of House of Leaves. The story is part detective noir, part scifi, part surreal fiction, part poetry, even part exploration of intriguing pataphysics. It is a cleverly crafted and masterfully written exploration of the mind itself that will leave you on the edge of your seat and excitedly trying to piece everything together, even to the very end.
If you’re looking for something truly unique and endlessly intriguing, this is the story for you!
July 13, 2023
Recommended to me on Reddit after reading Dream of Waking Life by ES Fein. Very similarly weird book, and VERY worth it! I was a bit lost in the beginning, but the payoff is extremely worth it! This is like a poetic version of Dark City. Truly deep and profound, with SO many realities all taking place at once. Also, the author does this really incredible job of adding in these areas of what seems like random flowery language but turns out to be something extremely cool in terms of the overall plot. A very impressive and bold story!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews