The novella follows Manet, an Amanuensis (a person who dictates a manuscript) for the God-King, the supreme leader of the land. What makes Manet special is that she has a fantastic memory and dictates conversations mentally, rather than dictating it with ink. One day, she receives a locket from a mysterious force. The locket contains a picture of a woman who looks suspiciously like her yet isn’t. This propels her on a quest to investigate who exactly the woman in the locket is, while in the background, an increasingly illuminating light is shed on the world around her, as the reader gets a better and better glimpse of its dark underbelly.

That sounds simple enough. But there’s one thing I didn’t mention: the protagonist’s dialogue and thoughts are not included in the novella (with the exception of one chapter). We hear the person she’s talking to, and it's implied what she says through how the characters respond to her, but it’s never written out. To say that there’s a learning curve to the writing style is an understatement. Not only is the character initially portrayed in the story as a cipher whose background is explored by other characters' responses to her - many of whom she has just met – but the history of the fantastical world is unraveled in this fashion, too. Thus, the first half of the novella feels like solving an unsatisfying puzzle. But in the second half, things come together at the same time the story becomes propulsive and is an improvement of a read.

The Seventh Perfection is an exhausting read, both in terms of its themes and the level of work it demands to fully understand it. But by exerting yourself through a vigorous read, the benefits of absorbing the story feels so much more satisfying and potent. It might even be potent enough to chew on and savor the themes, rather than throw them away if they took the form of a trite, mediocre story. Reading the book is like a one-way conversation, in which you, the reader, are silent while the book is speaking to you. And hopefully, just like Manet, you will absorb important information without having to write down any notes.

This...was confusing.

Don’t get me wrong: we’re promised innovative storytelling and we get that. But it wasn’t for me, unfortunately. It’s told in second-person, each chapter a new character talking to *you* (a character named Manet) as she tries to uncover the secrets of the God-King. Things are told in a very disjointed fashion, as things unfold as a sort of dialogue, and it wasn’t something I had much patience for. That said, it’s an impressive feat, and certainly unique and memorable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc of this book. My opinions are my own.

This is not an easy book to review. It's a little confusing to read and it's very different from my usual reading experience. Not to say that that's a bad thing! It's just I can't exactly wrap my head around what I've just read yet.

We meet Manet, a woman with a perfect memory. Or actually, we don't meet her. We meet the people she talks to. Every chapter is a monologue of a character in the book, talking to Manet, slowly revealing the story. Who is the woman in the locket?

This could have been a lengthy fantasy book about revolution, a God-King and the beings that live outside of the city. But it's not. There is a world of stories that the author hints at, but all we get to see is a snippet, a few days in the life of Manet, seen through the eyes of others. And it's refreshing! For me it's a new take on the fantasy genre and I enjoyed reading it!

This book has an interesting enough format, with the way it’s all told from a second POV, and the chapters are all written interview style from different characters, minus the main character’s but I just didn’t care enough.

This is a weird novella, and I am here for it. The Seventh Perfection, by Daniel Polansky, sits somewhere between a full novel and a novella at just under 200 pages. But what a 200 pages it is. The story’s main gimmick is it is told completely from a second-person point of view, and it makes for a strange and fascinating tale. However, there is a reason that most books AREN’T told from this perspective, so did Daniel Polansky manage to use an original narrative technique while telling a compelling story? Yes, yes he did.

The Seventh Perfection tells the story of Manet, but you won’t know that for a while. Manet is a historian of sorts who has mastered the seven perfections. Each perfection represents a difficult skill, including things like perfect pitch and perfect memory. The perfections get harder as they climb in level, and Manet is one of the few who has mastered all seven. Manet is trying to track down the hidden stories of how the current God-King ascended the throne and overthrew the previous tyrant. When her chase starts to overturn stones that were better left unturned, she finds herself on the run from the law – yet consumed with the need to find out what happened.

While the story feels a little tried-and-true, Polansky’s narrative style breathes fresh life into the tale. Because the book is in the second person, we never actually get to hear our protagonist think or speak. The entire book is written in dialogue from people in conversation with Manet – and you never hear Manet’s side. The result is a book that sounds like it would be confusing, but Polansky’s eye for knowing which tidbits to include means that it actually flows extremely well. Since the entire book is dialogue, the pace is lightning fast, and I managed to finish the entire story in about two hours – every minute of which I spent glued to the pages. It felt like I was reading the book version of a video game speedrun. I was constantly in awe of how effortlessly Polansky managed to paint a vivid picture of the world, people, and story with only half of the dialogue in a conversation. Truly, it is an impressive piece of writing.

The crowning achievement of The Seventh Perfection is probably how well I felt I knew Manet by the end of the book, despite literally never hearing her speak or think. The dialogue slowly helps the reader piece together who this mysterious woman is and the process helps you become extremely invested in her struggle. I needed to know the answers to her questions because she needed to know. And the answers shocked and delighted me.

I can’t say too much more about The Seventh Perfection without giving away some large spoilers. Suffice to say, I very much recommend this book to anyone looking for something short and different. Its tiny page count and lack of bulky descriptives mean you will blast through it in about a day, but what a day you will have. Polansky has created something clever, rich, and fun, and I think everyone should check it out if given the chance.

Rating: The Seventh Perfection – 9.0/10
-Andrew

I wanted to love this book but the chosen writing style is one that I haven't historically been a fan of. The few characters I made it through were very interesting but, as a reader, I struggle with following this type of POV and story presentation. By about a quarter in, I couldn't keep track of characters and DNF. Top marks on originality for sure, and I'm bummed that I wasn't able to finish.

When I pick up a Tor.com book, I'm pretty much guaranteed a distinctive story. There's always something interesting about the storytelling, perspective, style, world-building, or other element that makes the reader nod along and say yep, I see why they picked this story.

This was another such case. I really admire the author for making some truly daring choices. The story is told entirely through second person POV, through a variety of other characters' conversations with the main character (whose perspective and dialogue the reader never hears).

That being said, unfortunately I do think much of the book went over my head. To be fair, I was extremely tired when I read it, and I think this story required more concentration than I had left to give that evening. Regardless, I love seeing authors take narrative risks and appreciate being given the opportunity to read an electronic advanced copy of The Seventh Perfection for free. Readers smarter than myself will probably absorb more from this story. Thank you Tor.com! All opinions are my own.

This was unusual. Written in second POV it was a bit confusing at first. The story slowly unfolds, but the open-end of the book left me with a lot of questions.

I had initially been excited about checking The Seventh Perfection out because it seemed like a good introduction to Daniel Polansky’s writing. Well…. This may not be the very best book to start out with. Or maybe it is and I won’t know until I pick another up. This is just a very odd book, primarily due to the writing style. It’s written so that you only get one side of the conversation, like eavesdropping on someone’s phone call.

The main character Manet is somewhat of a mystery. She works in some capacity for the god-king and it’s clear that she holds some power because the folks she speaks to become deferential when it comes up. Small details are revealed as the story goes along and soon it becomes apparent that she is highly trained and has mastered all of the “perfections” which is quite rare. She is clearly searching for someone – a woman in a locket picture – and the questions she’s asking aren’t safe.

The story follows Manet’s search for this woman pictured in the locket and each chapter is the next step in her search. It takes place over the course of a few days and escalates into quite an adventure by the end. The writing style leaves a great deal of room for the reader to interpret as far as Manet’s actions because you only get the side of the person she’s speaking to.

Overall, this is one of the most unique short stories I’ve read and while I feel that it’s not representative of the author’s usual writing style, I can at least say it’s made me curious about his other work. This was a bold piece of art, perfectly suited for novella format.

This novella cleverly creates a world through conversation alone. The protagonist searches for something and we experience her search only through the other side of conversations she has with people she meets. I think the experimental narration works really well, creating a mysterious story that is compelling as I wanted to know what was happening. I like a book that drops you into a situation and leaves you to figure it out on the trot. I'll likely reread this some time in the future and look forward to seeing how the story builds from the perspective of knowing how it ends.

This is a very unique and innovative book. the POV, as well as the writing itself, is really well done. I quite enjoyed the story and was glad it was short. That being said, I was not as emotionally invested as I would have liked to be. It might've been the style, and maybe that's the nature of this POV.

I think it’s safe to say Daniel Polansky's The Seven Perfection is like nothing I’ve ever read.

Granted, I went into this novella fairly blind, and based on the blurb, I was expecting an arcanepunk mystery along the lines of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms or Three Parts Dead. However …, its execution turned out to be very different.

In this story, YOU are the main character searching for the identity of woman with a locket while trying to save the God-King’s city.

It’s almost like you’re in an RPG where the hero is silent and you must speak to various NPCs to gather information. However, rather than feeling engaged in the mystery, I felt disconnected instead. I was frustrated that many of the characters seemed to spout dialogue for the purpose of worldbuilding rather than advancing the plot or developing the main character. This made the second person point of view feel very limiting and static here. Ultimately, I only got fragments of a story, and when put all together, it didn't quite feel satisfactory or create a complete tapestry for me.

Overall, this is very divisive book. You will love it or hate it or scratch your head wondering what you just read. Conceptually, it sounds phenomenal and I applaud the author for experimenting around with the second person point of view; however, its execution felt lacking compared to works like The Fifth Season.

I’m not sure what I expected when I picked up this book, but I don’t believe this was it. Actually I don’t believe I would ever have expected this – particularly as I’m still not exactly sure what this was.

Somewhere in the middle I thought it was a story about history being written by the victors. In the middle, it certainly seems that way.

As Manet searches the country for the secret of the holographic locket she mysteriously received, we observe that her country seems to have deliberately expunged its past in favor of the present moment. And that her search digs into a past that few remember and fewer even want to.

The act of remembering the time before the Revolution that overthrew the Divine Empress – now referred to as the Anathema – and raised up the God-King Ba’l Melqart – seems to have become an act of defiance. Even for Ba’l Melqart himself.

Which led me to my second thought about what this story is, a story about the circle of life turning into a cycle of death, as the entire country embodies the saying about those who don’t remember the past being condemned to repeat it.

Ba’l Melqart doesn’t remember his own past, not even why he had the locket sent to Manet.

Manet, on the other hand, can do nothing but remember. Everything. Always. Forever. It’s what the seventh perfection has trained her to do. She’s been trained to be both slave and memory for the God-King who can no longer remember much of anything.

Because that’s what the ascension to the throne costs. The loss of who he once was.

He was once Manet’s father, even if his memories of her mother, their legendary romance, and Manet’s own birth are just a hazy dream. When he remembers at all.

Manet was set on a search for a truth that costs her dear, and that no one seems to want her to find. But what is truth in a land where everyone but Manet herself, seems to be trained to forget?

Escape Rating B-: In the end, The Seventh Perfection reads more like an experiment than a story. The problem for this reader is that I read for the story, and in this book the story is more teased than realized.

Part of that is due to the nature of the experiment itself. This is an experiment in voice, specifically that the entire thing is written in the second person. Manet is never “I”, we never hear her words or delve into her thoughts.

Manet is a vessel of memory. She remembers every single thing she sees, hears, smells, tastes, feels. Someday it will drive her mad. If she survives – which is questionable at many points in the story.

The story, such as it is, is Manet conducting a series of interviews with people – and occasionally not-exactly-people – who are supposed to know something about the image in the locket and the person it might represent. The legendary revolutionary Amata. The God-King’s one true love. And seemingly Manet’s mother.

But we don’t hear Manet ask questions. Or know what she thinks about what she hears. Instead, we read the responses that people make to her questions, and are left to assume what Manet must have asked and said. We could be wrong.

In the end, I’m left with the feeling that I was looking for a tiny epic (it’s a short book) but am left with hints of a tragedy. Not necessarily Manet’s tragedy, as she embarked on her quixotic quest willingly. Or at least her quest wasn’t a tragedy, although its result may turn out to be one.

But Manet might not think so. We’ll never know. But I wish I knew more about Manet’s world. The hints that I got were tantalizing.

If I were to describe this book in on word, it would be intriguing. I’ve never read anything else by Daniel Polansky, but I’m certainly interested to do so now.


(Assuming I can ever get Mount Readmore under control)


(Yeah, that’ll totally happen any day now)


Anyway, this book takes place over the course of three days (which is a setup I find I really love - ironic given my long standing love of epics like Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time). The main character has returned from training on a remote island to serve as a high ranking servant of the God-King. She was training to obtain the Seven Perfections - 7 physical and mental disciplines honed to perfection, and something very few are able to obtain.


Some time after arriving in the city, during a time of festival celebrating the anniversary of the God-King's ascension, she receives a gift from an unknown benefactor - a locket with the image of a woman. Hey attempts to figure out the truth behind the locket lead her into dangers and intrigues touching on the God-King himself.


It's a good premise for a book, and Polansky does a great job with the pace of the reveals. He teases things well and does a wonderful job raising the stakes and the tension.


What led to me comparing this book to a concept album? Each chapter is one encounter with someone the protagonist had over the course of the three days. Most people we see only once, though a handful pop up a few times.


All we ever get as readers - EVER - is the dialogue of these other people who aren't our protagonist. No description, no actions, and none of the protagonist's dialogue. Just half of each conversation. I'm dating myself here, but it kind of felt like the cutscenes from the Half-Life games.


It's weird. I can't think of any other book like it. But damn if it doesn't work and work very, very well.


Also: holy crap, this cover is gorgeous.


Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a hard one to review! I ended up DNFing this book after I had read quite a bit, because I realized that, while the narrative style was fascinating, the story and connection I could have to the characters felt clouded because of it. I absolutely applaud such a risky narration choice - the story is told in second person as one-sided conversations where you do not get to hear the POV's voice, only what is being said in return. And while I wanted so badly to love this, at this moment in time it just wasn't enough to keep me going, and I found myself dragging my feet to pick it up. However, if you're looking for a fascinating twist of the usual way to tell a fantastical mystery that does have some very compelling voices, pick this one up!

I am stunned. I don't think I've ever read a book quite like The Seventh Perfection. The amount and detail of world building in this book simply should not have been possible to pull off in a story this short. I spent an hour and a half reading this and felt like I just finished an epic fantasy series. Daniel Polansky has written a Hemingwayesque short story exercise on an epic scale. This is the story that I didn't know I needed to read.

Experimental storytelling is not something that I seek out in my reading choices. I grabbed an advance copy of this book off netgalley based almost entirely on it's earth toned cover art, and the quick synopsis sounded fine. Yeah, I'll read that (thumbsup emoji). I've since read other reviews calling the narration in this book "second person." That's not at all what this is. Y'all needs to go back to English classes! Every chapter in this book is presented as one side of an interrogation or conversation. For interesting second person perspective writing I strongly recommend NK Jemison's Broken Earth Trilogy. This isn't that, but that is second person. This is something else.

I'm still having trouble understanding how Polansky pulled off rapid, detailed, and complete world building in the same space that he revealed details of his characters at a slow crawl, but I found something unknown and unexpected to slap me in the mouth in nearly every chapter, and for such a short novel, there are a lot of chapters, and a lot of slaps. By the end I felt that I had lived in his city and struggled through the revolution alongside his single-chapter characters who told his story.

I normally try to write a short, spoiler-free synopsis of the plot in my reviews, but even a synopsis would spoil most of this story. All I can say is read it. If you like writing as a craft, and maximizing the effect of every word, this is your story. If you like slow reveals and something new and impactful in every chapter this is your story. The world was interesting, and the characters were interesting, but the telling of this story... the telling was masterful!

Ok, this book is a little screwey- in a good way. It takes a good couple of chapters before you understand what's going on, but hang in there because I promise it will be worth it. I've never read a novella written this way. It kept me on my toes the entire time. I might have to go back and reread it for the sole sake of having fantastic world building and characters.

4.4 / 5 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2020/09/22/the-seventh-perfection-by-daniel-polansky-review/

How long does it take for a lie to unravel? How long for an empire to fall? While it might be set in motion by a single rock falling, it might take ten thousand years for all the stones to fall.

Manet is having a rather bad day.

Amanuensis to the God-King, she had to master all seven perfections, developing her body and evolving her mind into something past the point of humanity. Something approaching perfection. She remembers everything that has happened to her since arriving ashore the White Isle. She can sing, play the harp—perfectly—she can keep numbers and translate; she can serve her God—perfectly.

What Manet cannot do, however, is forget.

When a locket with a certain photo appears on her doorstep, it reveals a secret from her childhood that Manet hadn’t remembered. A secret that she just can’t forget. A secret that rips a gargantuan hole in the story of the God-King’s ascension, a story that she has taken as gospel her entire life. But when Manet goes down the rabbit-hole to follow this thread, she soon learns that doing so is a step she can never untake. But Manet will learn the truth, no matter the cost to her life—and that of the world itself.

This one was a bit of a slow build, to be honest. I actually thought of abandoning it—twice—prior to reaching the quarter mark. Glad I continued!

I could never really figure out what Age this story took place in. Some parts seemed to indicate an alchemical, maybe industrializing fantasy world, others a more science fiction, advanced dystopia. I’m pretty sure it was intended this way, however, as you’ll find out.

The story is told entirely through the viewpoints of others, with no input from Manet herself. This took some getting used to. We don’t hear (or see) what Manet has to say, what she thinks, what she knows, her wants, her desires, her dreams—not exactly, at least. At first this drove me crazy (yes, to the point where I considered stopping), but around the quarter mark something changed. And I began to read between the lines. I started to read Manet’s questions and responses in precisely how the narrator (whomever it happened to be at the time) responded. And then Manet took on a life of her own. A life, directly affected by my depiction of her.

Even though I couldn’t see her exact words, I got the gist of them—and then my imagination took hold. See, in my story she was both sarcastic and passionate. She used sarcasm to cope with her life unraveling but was passionate about discovering the truth. Once I got a feel for Manet—once my imagination began to fill in the gaps the author had left—the story took off. And I didn’t even think of abandoning it again.

While it’s possible that this was a terrible way to write a story, I’m chalking this up as an innovative idea. Now, I’m not sure it would’ve made an effective novel (being a bit vague and out there), but for a day’s read, I’d say it worked. It could certainly come across as a lazy way to tell a story, or a hard way that didn’t work; but it worked for me. And my version of Manet wouldn’t’ve been the same as everyone else’s. The main plot is written—but how you arrive there changes depending on how your opinion of who exactly Manet is. Does that make any sense?

TL;DR

Though it’s a bit of a slow build and the writing style takes some getting used to, the Seventh Perfection was one of my favorite novellas of the year thus far. With a lead that never speaks—but is only spoken to, told entirely through the words of the people she converses with—it is up to the reader to read between the lines, using hints and clues, along with their own bias and preference, to determine Manet’s very words. In my version she was passionate but sarcastic (which might tell you something about me), but in someone else’s version she might be cold and dismissive, or warm but skeptical. While the Seventh Perfection is very much something of Daniel Polansky’s creation, and he tells a complete tale—I felt something of myself in the story at the end, and I could not help but wondering where the story went from there.

Hopefully this (more or less) makes sense. If not, I guess you’ll have to read it to find out more!

Content warnings: Cutting off a finger, removal of an eye

The structure of this novella is absolutely fascinating. Manet, Amanuensis to the God King, is trying to solve the riddle of her origin and the secret of the king himself. She also has the seventh perfection, a condition which grants her perfect memory.

Which leads seamlessly explains why and how each chapter of this book is told via dialogue from an intriguing character. It reads to me like the dialogue from an RPG, except we don't have the visuals and interiority of the main character to ground us in a story. It's all told from the perspectives of essentially NPCs. But the tone, pacing, and sense of a larger world are all there. The history and aesthetics of the land simply shines. It's a magic-techno world where a discussion unfolds about mythology and the veracity of epic tales that become more legend than historical account, even if contemporaries still exist in the present.

The journey to having the curtains pulled on god's truths is a wild ride, and The Seventh Perfection is highly recommended for those wanting to read experimental novels or novellas.

The Seventh Perfection is a reading challenge. A very welcome, and an extremely rewarding one, I might add. It’s written exclusively in the second person perspective, and each chapter presents a new point of view (there are very few recurring characters) – which might be overwhelming, but is also immensely enjoyable: all characters have their own peculiarities and their own unique voices, and, most importantly, their own agendas.

The Seventh Perfection is a fantasy mystery. Set in a city still remembering the throes of popular revolution which dramatically altered its physical, ideological and spiritual landscape two decades prior, the novella follows Manet – a young woman gifted with an eidetic memory and rigorously trained to become God-King’s Amanuensis. Amanuensis is a sort of a glorified portable memory/bodyguard/entertainment center slave, and the titular seven perfections refer to seven disciplines of mind and body that an adept must master before they are deemed worthy of entering the presence of the God-King. Manet has finished her training, attaining all seven perfections; but before she assumes the position of Amanuensis, she needs to solve a mystery surrounding her past. That obsession drives her through the city like a honed knife, and The Seventh Perfection is the recording of her quest: we travel with Manet from one person to another, listening to their answers, searching for clues, teasing apart the conspiracy of silence surrounding the events of the revolution. Polansky lets the readers become Manet, in a manner peculiarly reminiscent of video games: the text of The Seventh Perfection consists only of responses of the people Manet meets along the way; and her unrecorded, unwritten questions become ours as we must ask them ourselves while slowly learning about the city’s history, Manet’s quest and its real stakes.

There are so many aspects of this novella that I loved, and ironically enough the fantasy elements are at the end of the list. Both the exalted God-King living in his magic tower, and the Amanuenses and their seven perfections are necessary here, but as a prop: without them, particularly without the eidetic memory of our protagonist, this novella wouldn’t make much sense. But these elements are absolutely secondary in the development of the story and its protagonist; the more important aspects are hidden deep within the pages, patiently waiting to be found. On the surface, The Seventh Perfection is a mystery set in a fantastical world. But when you dig deeper, it turns into a fascinating reflection on power, truth, and sacrifice. It’s a very political novella and more than once while reading I had flashes of historic events in mind: various popular revolutions, from Europe and South America. The Seventh Perfection asks many incredibly pertinent questions regarding not only our political and ideological systems, but also regarding the way societies shape their identities and institutions. Polansky slyly analyses the very real chasm between the worldviews of people representing the old world and the new; the shaping of history by the victors and the slow dissolution and diminishing of those ground beneath the inexorable wheel of events; and the role of individual heroes within popular social movements – are they catalysts, instigators, or simply convenient symbols? He even manages to cram in these 170-odd pages a short impression of the curious way in which for many people even the bloodiest, most radical political change in fact changes nothing.

Polansky’s writing is impeccable here; there are no empty runs, no red herrings. Each character has their unique voice and agency, and we meet an astounding variety of them, from the lowest to the highest echelons of the city. The action runs smoothly and linearly, out of necessity streamlined into a form of an interrogation, of a series of meetings, more or less accidental, that shape not only one life, but, in the end, the lives of all. Could it have been a bit less simple, a bit less like an artistic, highly ambitious video game? I’m pretty sure the answer’s yes; but I’m not at all certain it would make The Seventh Perfection any better. Polansky’s novella is a very quick, slick and immersive read; an open invitation for a truly wild ride. But beware: it puts a lot of weight on the shoulders of its readers, going off the deep end and not caring if they can swim – it offers no explanations and no shortcuts to easy answers, and yet in return for a bit of goodwill it delivers a very satisfying, highly rewarding reading experience.

I promised I wouldn’t put any spoilers here, and I won’t, though I’m jumping inside with the urgent need to discuss this wonderfully mind-bending ending, which twists the whole trope of the Chosen One inside out in a very Kafkian way. So, instead of spoilers, I’ll just misquote the Latin poet Juvenal (whose words inspired Alan Moore’s unforgettable Watchmen) on purpose: Who Chooses the Chosen? 😀 What makes the heroes, yes – but more importantly: Who makes the heroes? I love Polansky’s answers here, whether they be called anti-romantic, cynical, or realistic, or just very postmodern.

Enough of the gushing. I’ll finish this review by saying that The Seventh Perfection is for me one the best reads of 2020. Short, slick, brutal, challenging, mind-bending and thought-provoking – what else would you need? 😀

I received a copy of this novella from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!