Into Another World

by N. D. Shack

Jonas lets everything happen to him. His girlfriend Alexandra drives him crazy and wants to drain him financially and emotionally. When the stress threatens to destroy him, his reality becomes distorted. The mad elf Elgalion is sent into his world as an assassin to eliminate Alexandra. After the ensuing events, Jonas allows himself to be locked away in a psychiatric ward. But he cannot suppress the unreal for long. The mysterious Rulliobh, Elgalion's boss, abducts the young man into the other world. At first, he feels out of place and out of time, surrounded by the strange environment and people there. But soon the events start rolling and his destiny unfolds.

Trigger Domestic Violence, Violence in General, Blood, Sexual Abuse

393 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 30, 2022

Reviews

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a challenging adult fantasy novel and have a strong stomach, this is your book!

In a genre dominated by whimsy, plot-armor, and “young adult” melodrama, N.D. Shack had written the mother of all departures, which does not shy away from gory violence, frank sexuality, emotional turmoil, abuse, and despair. Some may see that and dismiss it as yet another “grim-dark” offering in this long abused genre, but “Into Another World” is not the home of emo-goth badasses.

Much like in Shack's earlier novella, “The Humanoid”, this is a darkly ironic tale of alienation, but this one takes a term beyond madness (which is where the hero begins) and plunges into a strange amoral dimension which has a syndicate of elvish murderers killing and cannibalizing victims.

In the grand portal-fantasy tradition, our human protagonist, Jonas, finds himself abducted by dangerous fantasy beings. He is taken out of the mental hospital, where he still reels from memories of witnessing a massacre perpetrated by one of his rescuers, an elf named Elgalion, who kills and eats his victims with gusto. Jonas is soon in a labyrinthine castle, on an island, in a world he knows nothing about. He is initiated into the ranks of “the syndicate”, which involves training and enduring a lot of violence. He has to kill for a half-demon named Rulliobh and learn from a female elf name Erwyn, who may be too damaged to be a love interest. There is also a secretive trainer named Avely, whose motives may be the most mysterious of all.

Jonas is told that he belongs among them because he was “chosen by death”, a qualification he meets because he too is a murderer. There are no heroes in the pages of “Into Another World”, since this is a universe in which hope is lost, power and prejudice prove to be insurmountable forces and the existence of the supernatural is a source of despair, not hope.

The book is also written in the European style, so the paragraphs do not break for dialogue, which may be distracting to some Americans, unless of course they've read stuff elsewhere.

The book never pretends to be fluffy, it is a heavy trip from the beginning. Be warned that there is disturbing content far beyond the normal harmless macabre. Apart from the frank depictions of violence, self-harm, and cannibalism, we are also given detailed backstories for two major characters which show their road to murder, which includes bullying and incest. Basically, although “Into Another World” is an entry in the fantasy genre, it is in no way an escapist entertainment. This is an angry hopeless story that explores situations and feelings most strive to suppress.

Is it joyless?

Yes and no. Shack's capacity for invention and unique perspective make this more than merely a grim trip. Early on, Jonas, Elgalion, and Erwyn find themselves in a dimension that is a vast windowless office filled with endless computers in a kind of riddle world that Jonas must solve or be forever trapped in. We also at one point have characters taking a drug which reveals their unseen selves, in which we see the half-demon's secret form. There is also an episode with a character abducted by an amorous living-dead man which is worthy of Robert E. Howard.

This is the first book in “The Elusive Child” trilogy, only to be read if you have the guts to get through book one.

If you're easily offended or can't handle adult themes, you probably shouldn't be reading this or anything else.

There's a giant zeppelin in there too...