The Way to Babylon

Exquisite prose meets paint-by-numbers fantasy in this reissue of Kearney's 1992 novel. Newly widowed author Michael Riven finds himself drawn into the world he created, and learns that only by saving that world can he save himself. If the premise is unassuming, Kearney largely pulls it off with aplomb thanks to his lush rendering of the novel's geography, from the Isle of Skye to the fantasy world created by Riven's imagination. Characterization is Kearney's downfall. The characters are archetypes, not people, and the few female characters are idealized creatures whose only role is to appeal to or repulse Riven. Additionally, while Riven accepts his new reality a little too easily, the reader can't. The scenes set in our world have a vivid cruelty that the rest of the novel lacks, making it impossible to truly believe he has stumbled into a wish-fulfillment universe. Ultimately, the reader is left with the sense of a strong narrative voice telling the wrong story. (May)