Review: Beneath the Heavens by Christine O'Neill (2012)

You may remember when, in a fit of stress-induced crankiness, I established R.A. Salvatore's Starless Night (not to be confused with Starry Night) as a stock example of what fantasy should not be. Today, I have an example of what, in many respects, fantasy should indeed be. I present: Beneath the Heavens.

Before I spoil the dust jacket summary, I should clear up some things that color my reading of this book differently from most other reads. First: the author, like me, is a college student rather than a full-time, New York Times bestseller. Second: like me, she self-published. Although I've since washed out the residual taste of that experience, I still have mixed feelings about the concept. Finally: she's a personal friend of mine.

All this meant that no matter how hard I tried, the time I spent reading this book bombarded me with questions about whether my writing is on the right track. It's simply easier in this case than with an author whose experiences completely fail to overlap with mine. Let's dive in, shall we?

Beneath the Heavens is about a group of people who come together to ride the Miracle Line, an expensive train reserved only for the terminally ill. Their destination is the Everlands, a legendary place that is supposed to cure any illness. There, the passengers discover not only miracle cures but also a society that seems too idyllic to be true. But they only begin to suspect a darker secret beneath the surface when the new arrivals begin to turn up murdered...

The job of all fantasy writers is to bring something new to the reader while also learning a bit from the history of the genre. Homer's epics are often cited as the two works that have defined Western fantasy even in modern books: the Iliad is the War, and the Odyssey is the Journey. While it's fun to stick to these concepts, the first thing I enjoyed about Beneath the Heavens was the fact that it doesn't focus at all on either of these. It's not even predominantly a murder mystery, although that factor is the main plot driver. No, what I took most out of this book was the relationship between the characters and their illnesses. Each one has a different case which brings out his or her inner qualities–good in some cases and bad in others–in powerful ways.

The fantasy world here is another enjoyable point. It's roughly analogous to the real world, with all the names spelled wrong, but done in a charming way. One thing that helps is the little amount of time spent dwelling on the functionality of the fantasy. Many modern authors butcher this aspect of fiction. When forced to justify fantasy against realism, it's easy to try too hard to make the fantasy seem realistic, when it's far more natural just to accept the fact that there's a dinosaur running next to your train, or that the term "miracle cure" isn't such an exaggeration.

Not to oversell this book, I should point out that the writing style frequently didn't thrill me. Too often there are points of confusion between the semi-antique speech of the setting and the teenage slang of the main characters. Hardly anyone doesn't have an awkward-sounding line somewhere.

But to cap it off, the characters are great. Among my favorites are Karishma, an "Yndean" woman undergoing a complicated pregnancy; Tiernan, a teenager with severe schizophrenia; and especially Fritz, the socially-terrified engineer of the Miracle Line. The entire ensemble cast is great, once you can sort out who's who.

There you have it! I'd certainly recommend this book, especially to young writers who want to read a peer in action. For me, that's one of the best motivators there are.


If you're interested, check out Beneath the Heavens at Amazon.com or at Christine's website!