It’s been a rough year. For far too many people in the world, it’s been a rough few decades capped by an even worse year. And when we say 2020 is painful what we’re really saying is that not only are we hurting, we’re being actively harmed in a time of crisis by those with power.
I’ve been reading as many stories as I can this year as a form of something I can’t even describe. As escape? Therapy? A search for wholeness or meaning? So many great stories have been published in 2020, almost as if life understands that fictional creations — that fantasies and myths and dreams — are a powerful way to not only to heal each other but the very world itself.
And the stories I’ve read have helped. Some. A bit. Because I’m still making it through. Still alive.
Now I’ve read The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg. And when I finished this novella I cried because it was so joyful and beautiful and moving that for the first time in a long while I caught a glimpse of the path forward.
The Four Profound Weaves is set in the Birdverse, a diverse world of feathered gods and mysterious deserts and magical names which bind people together and tear them apart. The story follows the lives of two people — Uiziya e Lali and an initially nameless man — who are in their sixties and trying to change their lives. But they’re up against a world which far too often believes change is a bad thing. That life should remain static and unyielding. That who others believe we are at one single moment of our life is who we must be for all our lives.
This is a lyrical, poetic, mystical journey which features some of the most beautiful writing I’ve encountered recently. In Lemberg’s hands a simple phrase like “The dawn is never far away” gains added depth and resonance to both stir the soul and make you pause your reading to reflect on what has been written. And the story also features two extremely endearing and relatable characters who you can’t help rooting for.
The Four Profound Weaves is queer as hell and fluid as hell and refuses to let anything stand in the way of what we can be, no matter is that means going up against an all-powerful dictator, the gender expectations of our family and friends, or even the world itself.
This is both a joy of a book and a joy of a reading experience. I came away feeling more healed than when I started. I won’t pretend one book can solve all the world’s problems, but The Four Profound Weaves was definitely the book I needed to read right now in my life. I think many other readers will respond the same way.
I expect I’ll reread The Four Profound Weaves over and over in the years to come. The novella will also be among my nominations for the upcoming Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards.
There is always a path forward. Unfortunately, many times we can’t see it until something brings our eyes back to where we’re walking.
The Four Profound Weaves illuminates for all of us the path forward.