The Smoke And Flowers

by R.A Bea

Val has three secrets.

One: if he stands in front of the ocean with his Walkman, the waves will choose a song for him.
Two: when Val dreams sometimes he becomes someone else.
Three: there is a house that lives inside him. And it hates him.

After years of searching for a way to sever his connection with the house, Val resigns himself to a lifetime of dreams in which he is drowning, and of living reluctantly with the vengeful house that howls into his heart. Breka: the small, fishing island he calls home offers no respite, with the locals too busy extracting and selling their memories to be of any real help.

When a local child goes missing, Val is promised a hefty sum and is roped into helping with the investigation alongside Briggs, an ever present shadow who won’t leave Val alone; Saro, an anxious visitor who wears her heart on her sleeve, and Neema, a mysterious mainlander who cannot stand him. Val is sure it’ll be an easy job, even if that means he must burn bridges to get there. But as Breka takes on a life of its own, the house grows angrier, and as the person Val becomes in his dreams begins to bleed into his waking moments, he’s not so sure anymore.

452 pages, Paperback

Published January 13, 2023

Reviews

[Hope]

so I was given a pdf of this book, a format that always makes me forget I was reading. I think if I had a proper e-book or physical copy I would have been able to finish. the book is honestly kind of confusing and incohesive (e.g., the monster old man at the beginning didn't come up again for forever; too many characters were introduced too quickly and I was constantly searching their names to remember who was who), but the setting and characters are still cool. I especially liked the scholar from the mainland. I thought the relationship between the island and the mainland, magic and science were interesting and well thought out. The plot was also interesting, though it moved in a sort of round about way that I can't really explain. Sometimes the imagery just confused me (I have a weird imagination that cannot conjure images well, so it might be my fault? but some storygraph readers sorta said the same). If my local library ever stocks this book, then I'm definitely willing to try reading it again

[Ana Arlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book so far, the relationships between the characters feel so real, I specially love the conversations bettwen briggs (BEST BOY) and val. Dark and witty and mysterious I cant wait to finish it!