Daniel Polansky is, for my money, one of the most innovative fantasy writers in the field today. He’s always writing stuff that feels fresh, takes an interesting approach to the genre, and draws in the reader with well-wrought characters and interesting worlds. Basically, I always look forward to reading his next work, because I never know what it’s going to be like, only that it’s unlikely to be similar to anything else, and it is likely to be very good.
And so it is with The Seventh Perfection, which is not like anything else I’ve read this year, but is, absolutely, very good indeed.

One of the most striking things about the story is the narrative structure. Told in the second person, each chapter is the other side of someone’s dialogue with our protagonist. That this all fits together naturally is, frankly, a triumph. We pick up on the questions our interlocutor asks, and construct an image of her based entirely on the perceptions of others. We understand her, not through her own eyes, but through theirs. And equally, we understand those she speaks to through their words, their silences, their pauses, what they fight not to answer and what they divulge freely. This is a world constructed entirely from dialogue. That the world built in this way is as richly drawn and real as any other is rather impressive, to put it mildly.

And what a world it is. One populated by god-kings and a militant priesthood. And by people just out for a pint and a quiet celebration. By strange, constructed people, and by technology whose workings are lost in time. Where books are burned, where the past is forbidden, where the story is at once eternal and perpetually changing. Where the national myth is also the national reality. It’s a rich, intriguing world, one not afraid of blood and bone and hurt, though also one with sparks of kindness and quiet joys.

This is also a book filled with mysteries. Our protagonist is searching for something, or someone. Why they’re doing so, and who or what they’re looking for becomes clearer as their questions are answered. Clearer to both us and, I think, themselves. The gradual unveiling of our “narrator” and their cause is skillfully done, the revelations at once inevitable and startling. It’s a book asking about the mutability of history, and truth. Whether the story we tell ourselves is what is true, or what we remember. Or if what we remember can change, and if that change is true. The seventh perfection is the perfection of memory, which is something, in a story where everyone’s memory of past events is different.

Speaking of which - given that each chapter is a dialogue between our silent protagonist and whoever they’re questioning, I want to note the marvellous diversity of voice. From old antiquity traders, to ex-lovers, to broken-down members of the old regime, each person sees differently, speaks differently, thinks differently. Each of these people come across as completely different, a snapshot of an individual, with their own needs, their own old wounds, and iceberg covered depths. That they draw around her the shape of our protagonist, with those wants and needs under a skein of words, shape our own views with the warp and weft of their stories - well, it’s fantastic.

Which is how I’ll leave this review, really. The Seventh Perfection is, in a word, fantastic; Polansky has done it again, and brought forth another innovative, intriguing, must-read work of fantasy. Go get it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an E-ARC. I have very mixed feelings about The Seventh Perfection by Daniel Polansky. It has such an interesting sounding premise, A woman with a perfect memory sets out to solve a riddle that could unravel society itself. But I feel like a portion of the story was missing. The whole story is told in second person, and you only hears answers to questions but never the question. The story itself was interesting once I vaguely figured out the plot, but most of the time I felt confused and wanted just a hint of backstory so that I could appreciate the story more. Polansky has an interesting writing style, but since I was confused for most of the story I did not really get to appreciate it. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

The Seventh Perfection was written in a not so usual second person point of view. I have to say it was a challenging read in the beginning because of it but that’s what makes it even more unique. In this novel not only Manet puts the pieces together but the reader as well.
It was an engrossing book after all and worse a try for all fantasy lovers.

The Seventh Perfection is a unique read due to the writing. The second person narration felt like a one sided conversation with myself and kind of made me feel a little confused as what was going on. If this was written differently I think I would've liked it more even though the writing is what makes it different. It makes for a different reading experience for sure but I think I would've liked more backstory and more answers. It was interesting enough and the ending was open-ended. I love the cover as well. Thanks so much for the advanced copy!

First of all, my thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book.

This read was quite a ride for me and one of those rare books that I instantly want to reread after just having finished it.
In this book we are following a young girl, held in high esteem within this society for having perfected the seven skills, as she sets about uncovering the truth of the story behind the ascension of the God in her world.
But not only is she seaking the truth, we as a reader are only given half of the conversation. This story is told in second person narration, a difficult enough perspective to get right. Polansky pulls it off remarkably well and goes above and beyond by only giving us one side of the conversation. He leaves out everything uttered by our protagonist Manet herself. As a result the reader themself also has to puzzle together these answers and try and understand the questions and the overall story.
I was a bit worried at first that I wouldn't be able to put it all together as I'm not usually actively making conjectures while reading, but it worked brilliantly. We are offered enough strings throughout to be able to form a whole.
The brilliant narrative technique really helps drive the story forward as you are eager for more snippets of this origin story and of this world-building and the one downside might be that you don't get as acquainted with the world-building as some might like. But there is enough there to easily overcome that in my opinion.
The story talks very much about history telling, a subject I find very rewarding in books (think Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace). And not only delves into how history telling is very much shaped by the winners in history, but also how history telling also shapes our beliefs and our memories. If it is written to have gone down in a certain way, then that must have been the case, no?
An absolutely delightful surprise of a novella

No, The Seventh Perfection isn't named for Daniel Polansky's previous seven flawless books.

Instead it's the most imaginative book I've read all year. A second person POV fantastical mystery that's as enthralling as our Manet.

Manet bounces from person to person, we as the reader only get to see the interviewee's side of the conversation.

Slowly things begin to make a little sense, then a little more, and before you know it I'm drawing venn diagrams with all the character's names and how they relate and oh my god it's 3 AM and I've had 4 cups of coffee.

I'm left in awe with how Polansky wrote this story. My immediate impulse is to go back for an instant re-read. It is *that* good. And I can only imagine the clues I missed on a first read through.

100/5


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC ebook!

The Seventh Perfection is told all through one way conversations where the reader is only privilege to half the words spoken but as most of these conversations are more like monologues, this takes a few pages to adjust to but does not detract from the story. My main issue was behind the interesting worldbuilding and the one sided conversation, the plot itself was really straightforward and predictable. I do not want to have any spoilers but there really isn’t a plot to this book mind the young woman looking for her mother and fragments of conversations. It is hard to connect to any characters since each perspective is a new person and out main character is not very sympathetic. Still, the worldbuilding was quite interesting and some of the side characters seemed to have real potential for being unique and very interesting. All in all, I think there was not enough structure to support the writing style.

First of all: This is a really special, I‘d even say unique, book. I had a hard time getting into it because of the second-Person POV. I was not sure if I liked the single-sided conversations the book consists of. But they make the book special and after giving it some thought, it is a cool way to tell a story!
I would have loved to have learned more about the world and our main character. A lot of things are left unsaid. I am said that this is only a short novella.. All about the seven perfections would be predestined to be explored (and explained) more thorougly.
A special book, really entertaining but one has to read slowly and let it all sink in to savour it fully, I think. I am a fast reader and did not heed my own advice... Maybe that is why it was not entirely for me. I missed something.
I want to know so much more about Manet/the Amanuensis, the God-King and the White Isle. This book is an intriguing mystery!

The whole structure of the book was so interesting and it kept me engaged in the story. The ending was a bit too open-ended for my liking, but the whole experience reading the book was just so pleasant.

Okay, at novel length I probably would have hated this, but as a novella it's an intriguing piece of oblique storytelling that doesn't outstay it's welcome. The story itself is rather slight, but the fun is in the format. The book is essentially a series of... well, not really monologues, but rather halves of dialogues, where you only see responses to a question and not the questions themselves. It's a fun exercise to be forced to put the story together yourself, and this book is a good way to spend an afternoon.

Tenía muchísima curiosidad por leer la nueva obra de Daniel Polansky, un autor al que he leído en varios registros, como The Builders o Low Town. No obstante, he de reconocer que me he encontrado ante un obra que me ha sorprendido en el aspecto técnico, con uso de recursos de gran complejidad y repleta de huecos que el lector ha de intentar ir rellenando para desvelar qué pasó en realidad.

The Seventh Perfection es una obra escrita en segunda persona, de forma que el propio lector parece el protagonista, pero utilizando unos diálogos de los que solo conoceremos una parte, la del interlocutor de la protagonista. He leído por ahí una metáfora muy acertada para describirlo, leer el libro es como asistir a una conversación telefónica en la que solo oímos una parte.
Esta extraña disposición de los capítulos, unidos a comenzar la acción in media res hace que sean necesarias varias páginas para empezar a entender lo que el escritor nos está narrando, así como lo que oculta. Nos encontramos en un mundo fantástico regido por un Dios que hace relativamente poco tiempo asumió el poder. La protagonista es Manet, una muchacha que ha conseguido dominar las siete perfecciones que suponen el mayor logro para el servicio de este Dios, pero que se encuentra sumergida en un mar de dudas por un objeto que ha recibido que hace que se tambalee todo su sistema de creencias.
Manet irá siguiendo las pistas que se van desplegando ante nuestros ojos con un gran sacrificio personal y un objetivo que no siempre estará claro. Como digo, lo más interesante queda merced a la disposición del lector para ir atando cabos e intentar entender toda la historia. Aparecen referencias a animales fantásticos, a robots… pero esto no es más que un poco de aderezo para seguir extrañándonos con el mundo creado por Daniel Polansky.
No negaré que hace falta una disposición de ánimo algo especial para entrar en el juego de Polansky, pero también es cierto que la escasa longitud de la obra, hace que el reto sea asumible. Os recomiendo su lectura, aunque solo sea para ver qué otras cosas puede ofrecer la fantasía moderna.

The writing style of this book is really bizarre! It’s like a recording of the people talking with the protagonist without ever hearing her voice. No actions, no descriptions, even the thoughts of the protagonist are absent. It delivers really well the concept of the protagonist’s ability of being able to recall perfectly everything she heard.
It gives a particular sensation, like a puzzle where the reader slowly discover new pieces by continuing to read. It’s interesting in the beginning but with time it starts to become burdensome.

At first I thought it was taking place in a kind of Arabic fantasy setting, but then it seemed more toward a steampunk / Sci-Fi genre; There elements of both genre.

The story totally didn’t get me and, for how it was written, it seemed to me that lacked the elements for suspense and action that I feel important to keep the reader entertained.
I found difficult in finding the will to continue reading and I struggled to finish the book.

I'm not quite sure what to make of THE SEVENTH PERFECTION. While not necessarily for me, it is certainly an interesting, difficult read. Extremely effective as a novella. If there ever was a genre mash of "experimental fantasy noir," this would probably fit the bill. Would recommend if you like books like THE RAVEN TOWER by Ann Leckie or THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone for their experimental styles, or A CONSPIRACY OF TRUTHS by Alexandra Rowland for sheer voicey-ness.

There's a mystery at the heart of this novella, told through a series of one-sided conversations between various characters and Manet, our silent protagonist, a high-ranking servant of the God-King. Because of this, she is in a precarious position as she investigates the origins of a locket that was anonymously sent to her. As she digs deeper into the mystery of who the woman in the locket is, she uncovers things about the city, its God-King, and her own past that could very well lead to treason—and even blasphemy.

That's a very loose interpretation of the plot, at least. The book itself is rather more vague due to the style that Polansky chose to write it in. Because you never get to hear Manet speak or get insight into her thoughts, there is a definite distance that took away from any sort of tension that readers might have felt otherwise. Still, Polansky did a remarkable job at character building through these one-sided conversations. You get as full a picture of Manet as you can in a story this short: her motivations, her personality, a little of her history.

I think the most interesting thing about this book is probably the idea of mythmaking—who controls history, who benefits from it, and what are the consequences of pursuing truth to its bitter end.

This is definitely unlike any book I ever read. Most obviously, it is entirely told as only one side of multiple conversations. Manet, our protagonist, is solving a mystery by following a trail of spoken crumbs she finds by asking people questions. The reader does not get to hear the questions at all, as the narrative is entirely composed of the answers, and when I say 'entirely' I really do mean it - there are no reactions, no descriptions, it is all a one-sided conversation. She is assisted in this task by having achieved the "7th perfection" - a perfect recall.

At first I was quite taken aback about the storytelling format, hoping it's just a prologue, an unusual introduction to get the story going. In short order, I realized that I will have to "put up" with this format throughout. I am using quotation marks around the phrase 'put up' because I quickly adapted to the format, and even began to enjoy it. You have to be a detective yourself to build in your mind a picture of this world, its history, and to understand the circumstances that Manet has found herself in. As I said, there are no descriptions, thus no "info dumps", no world building other than what you are able to suss-out by yourself.

The novel is also extraordinarily short, I was even wondering if - under 175 pages- it should be perhaps qualified as a novella. As such, it was an extremely quick read, completed in several hours. Indeed, I enjoyed this world so much that a part of me wished that we were given a larger, more detailed, more encompassing story.

An unusual and bravely tackled approach to SFF from Polanski. The MC Manet can remember everything with perfect clarity which takes a strain on her psyche, meanwhile she is determined to become the God-King’s emanuensis by perfecting herself. Stylistically this will not be for everyone – 2nd person pov and told in a series of one sided conversations. I found it stunning, beautiful and literary. Like a magic eye picture or a Japanese puzzle box. Try it if you like more challenging SFF

Polansky uses a method here that works well and is entirely unique. All of the dialogue in this short story is told from the perspective of those speaking to the main character. The main character's communication is inferred from the conversations and I was led through a city on a wonderful adventure of mystery.

There is a lot added into this short story and much of it is confusing due to little or no context. I loved many of the characters, including the Captain and the halflings. It was an enjoyable read and far too short. My only inhibitions to it were how confusing it became at times and for all the times I had to read back to remember if characters had been mentioned before.

This was such an interesting story to read! I haven't read a story written in second person POV in such a long time so the beginning took some time to get adjusted but after a while, it adds to the atmospheric feel of the book. We follow different character conversations and this omnipresent voiceless narrator, Manet. The coolest thing was how the author managed to develop Manet's character through the perspective of those around her - she doesn't feel flat or uninteresting at all. The plot was well organized and supported by the world. Despite some moments lacking full development, it was still enjoyable to read.

I've never read a book written in second person perspective before, and found it challenging for the first few pages, however, the secret to The Seventh Perfection is that you feel maybe the next conversation will be the one that sheds light on what the heck is going on, and thus you keep reading - and before you know it, you're completely absorbed.
Polansky cleverly makes you re read each conversation to try and figure out what questions Manet is asking each person she interrogates.
Manet, who starts off as a mystery, becomes more and more characterised and '3D' the further we go - indeed, she's sometimes not very likeable at all, but she's determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, and so are you.
Some accounts are a little difficult to parse - I would have avoided the whole 'tram' chapter as it felt unnecessary, and of course, we cannot be sure any of the information is true, so that also adds an element of confusion.
Some further illumination of the whys and how's of the world Manet inhabits would also not have gone amiss, as intriguing as she was, I still wanted to know a bit more about the world, but this is hard to learn in pointed conversations.
Recommended for fantasy fans who want to stretch their horizons.

With compelling mystery and wonderful execution of second person point of view, The Seventh Perfection is one of the most interesting fantasy books I've ever read. It's not like your typical choose-your-own-adventure that most of books with second person PoV often use; The Seventh Perfection is more one-sided and less interactive. But that's what makes this amazing because Polansky is still able to include us the readers to be the main characters of his novella. The writing is great and all the qualities above make me unable to stop reading it.

This little novel is thoroughly unique and incredibly bold. Not only does Polansky tackle s second-person POV, he tells the story in a series of one-sided conversations between various characters and our mysterious, voiceless protagonist. As another reviewer put it, it reads like you‘re in the room of someone else on a phone call: you get one half of the conversation and have to interpret from the context from there.

This is a challenging way to write a story. Polansky has given himself the task of creating a world and a plot with only one-sided dialogue, and he still somehow manages to make it (mostly) work. The plot starts out somewhat confusing, but you slowly start to understand more and more about Manet, the God-King, and situation of his rise. Futhurmore, I found the Polansky was able to give Manet, his silent protagonist, somewhat of a personality just through the lens of others and the way they react to her and her unseen dialogue.

It doesn’t always work. There are times where explanations and world-building feel artificially created, and there are times when I got frustrated by the lack of explanation in certain aspects of the story telling (the Kelp stirrers? Sweetness? The spire? There is a lot that goes frustratingly unexplained). Still, I can’t help but feel that the parts that do work are so cleverly done that they outweigh the parts that are more foggy.

This won’t be a story for everyone. It’s a tale for lovers of the genre, yes, but it’s also a tale for lovers of truly innovative storytelling. What Polansky has accomplished is a feat, and even with its shortcomings I really enjoyed the novelty of this read.