My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Belief defines reality.What the masses believe, is the truth. The delusional have all the power and the sane are nearly helpless against it. A religious order has decided to make their own god and it appears they are closer than ever to their goal. A violent kleptomaniac, a delusional swordsman, and an old sane warrior have learned of this god to be. They have decided to kidnap him in order to ransom him back to the religion who has made him. This trio aren't the only ones after him, many other powerful delusional people want the god to be and will do anything to get him.
Beyond Redemption is a unique Grimdark novel. Belief defines reality so crazy people are very powerful. Some can have their reflections speak to them in mirrors others have doppelgangers called doppels who represent parts of the persons psyche. Many have the ability to manipulate others. Some people could only manipulate in minor ways. Others have such massive control that they can enslave others just by speaking or looking someone in the eye. The way powers were attained and how these powers worked was without a doubt the most interesting part of the novel.
If you aren't familiar with the German language then Beyond Redemption offers a challenge. There are a significant amount of German words that I for one could not sound out. I treated words like Geisteskranken as a symbol and just remembered what that symbol meant. I have no idea how to say that word.
The downfall of this novel and most Grimdarks for me is that the characters are mostly horrid. When the nicest characters are thieves and murderers it's going to be a challenge to find anyone to like. After finishing the novel I'd say there were some interesting characters, but no one I'd root for overall. Seeing bad people do bad things for no reason, leaves me pretty disconnected from the story quite often.
Beyond Redemption is a creative Grimdark novel. Unfortunately I was left hoping for someone to like and there just wasn't anyone like that in this story.
View all my reviews