200 Words or Less: Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher

Welcome to the very first edition of 200 Words or Less, a new weekly feature that will run on Fridays on The Tattooed Book Geek where I will bring to you reviews/thoughts of 200 words or less from the books I read before I started blogging. We all have them, books that we read and loved or even read and hated before we decided to start blogging and what better way than a quick fire review of 200 words or under to share your thoughts on them.

My Choice:

Faith shapes the landscape, defines the laws of physics, and makes a mockery of truth. Common knowledge isn’t an axiom, it’s a force of nature. What the masses believe is. But insanity is a weapon, conviction a shield. Delusions give birth to foul new gods.

Violent and dark, the world is filled with the Geisteskranken—men and women whose delusions manifest, twisting reality. High Priest Konig seeks to create order from chaos. He defines the beliefs of his followers, leading their faith to one end: a young boy, Morgen, must Ascend to become a god. A god they can control.

But there are many who would see this would-be-god in their thrall, including the High Priest’s own Doppels, and a Slaver no one can resist. Three reprobates—The Greatest Swordsman in the World, a murderous Kleptic, and possibly the only sane man left—have their own nefarious plans for the young god.

As these forces converge on the boy, there’s one more obstacle: time is running out. When one’s delusions become more powerful, they become harder to control. The fate of the Geisteskranken is to inevitably find oneself in the Afterdeath.

The question, then, is: Who will rule there?

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Beyond Redemption (Manifest Delusions #1) by Michael R. Fletcher.

Beyond Redemption welcomes us to the world of Manifest Delusions and the Geisteskranken. Where your delusions shape your reality and change the world. The more deluded you are, the more powerful you become, can you say, the inmates are running the asylum! 

Bedeckt, Witchtig and Stehlen are a grizzled, self-centred and hideous trio of tortured yet enthralling main characters and yes, they are pure awesome. 

The only very minor downside to the book is the usage of the German language to name the Geisteskranken, at times whilst reading I found it’s hard to pronounce the names but the harsh and sharp sounding words fit well with the overall very dark and very grim tone of the book. 

A unique idea with delusions shaping reality, top writing, dark humour, great world building, visceral action, a veritable cornucopia of weird and wonderful batshit crazy fruit loop – (one of my favourite phrases, I feel lucky to have finally managed to use on my blog) Geisteskranken and finally a trio of captivating degenerates all makes Beyond Redemption a top quality, purely grimdark read.

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Quotes from Beyond Redemption:

“Listen carefully. If communication is manipulation, sex is all-out war.”

“I was sane once. It was horrible.”

“A sane man is simply a man afraid to unleash his inner demons.”

“Always best to start with violence and attempt communication second. People reacted more favorably when they knew you would snuff a few lives to get what you wanted… or for no reason whatsoever.”

“For all Wichtig spoke of trust, he trusted no one. For all he spoke of wisdom, he learned nothing. Every word he uttered was done so with an eye toward manipulation.”

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So, what are your thoughts? Do you think this is a good idea? Terrible? Would you like to see more 200 Words or Less posts?? If any of you wish to participate, 200 Words or Less will run each Friday (hopefully) on my blog then please do! And, please feel free to use the created graphic or create your own and make sure to link back to my blog and give Drew @ The Tattooed Book Geek credit as blog promotion for my little blog is always appreciated and 200 Words or Less is my evil creation that I have unleashed! 🙂

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