Customer Reviews

THE BEYOND

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I quite liked Jeffrey Ford's previous two novels in his "Physiognomist Cley" trilogy, _The Physiognomist_ and _Memoranda_. _The Beyond_ is the final novel in the trilogy. Although all three novels share the same main character, Cley, they are all quite different books. Cley is originally Physiognomist for the Well-Built City, and in the first book he helps overthrow that City, while in the second book he ventures into the brain of the former dictator of the City, searching for a cure to a disease which has ravaged the newly free residents of the new city Wenau.

In _The Beyond_, Cley has ventured into the eponymous wilderness of his strange world, in company with a tamed, intelligent, demon named Misrix. Cley is searching for the "true Wenau", and his lost victim/love Arla Beaton. The story is told on two tracks: in one, Misrix tells of his lonely life in the ruins of the Well-Built City, and the eventual discovery of him by the people of Wenau. In the other, Misrix narrates Cley's adventures in the Beyond, which he "remembers" by use of the drug Beauty.

In Misrix' tale, he befriends some of the residents of Wenau, but is feared and hated by others. Eventually he is accused of killing Cley, who has never returned from the Beyond. He yearns only to be treated as human, and only by submitting to justice and a trial can he maintain that status.

His tale of Cley's journey is very strange. After Misrix returns to the Well-Built City, fearing that the effects of the Beyond are making him forget his humanity, Cley continues on with his dog, Wood. He survives demon attacks, and a terrible winter, eventually discovering a cave and a mysterious dead person. He wanders through other environments: a desert, an inland ocean, a strange mountain, everywhere encountering strange people, some human, others different: fish people, plant people, huge lizards. He befriends a woman he finds in a besieged city, eventually settling with her in a lonely hut in the woods, but he has one more quest: hopefully to revitalize the dying Beyond.

To an extent some of this wild invention seems arbitrary. In the end, however, Ford redeems his vision, and the weird imaginative strands of the story make some sense, and they interweave with Misrix' own tale, as well. The conclusion is ambiguous and mostly sad, and rather striking. A fine novel.

The Beyond is the third book detailing the heartbreaking story of Cley, the former Physiognomist from the mythical and fantastic world of "The City". Please do not read this story without having read the previous two: The Physiognomy and Memoranda, if only for the fact that all three are wonderful stories, full of imagination and are unlike almost anything else you have ever read.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book. Cley's adventures through the Beyond are nicely juxtaposed with the parallel story of the Demon Misryx as he struggles to find his humanity and end his loneliness. Ford has a fantastic imagination and a beautiful writing style which hooks the reader in from the beginning and just keeps dragging you along. The books are almost impossible to put down and you totally lose yourself in this fantastic world.

Unlike most series you read now, I was sorry to see it end. However, that is how it should be (are you listening, Mr. Jordan?). The book ends, leaves you wanting more, yet wholly satisfied with what you have read. Why this book has not achieved more praise is beyond me (if I may use that word). The Fantasy genre needs more authors like Ford and Mieville and fewer Jordans and Goodkinds. This is fantasy for the intelligent, imaginative reader looking for an original story without the neverending wait for a conclusion. Keep up the good work, Mr. Ford.

The final book in the Well-Built city trilogy is a stunningly imaginative feast of a quest novel. Cley journeys into The Beyond, the surrealistic no man's land where people tend to disappear without a trace. But Cley needs to find out what happened to Arla, a woman he wronged in the first novel, and to seek her forgiveness. Will Cley finally find the forgiveness he has so ardently sought through these books? Will he find his purpose and solve the mysteries of the Beyond? Will he survive?

There aren't any easy answers for him or the readers. I find it impossible to reduce this book to a few paragraphs, but I will say that it needs to be read as the final chapter of the other two books. I'm not sure it would work as a stand alone, but taken as the culmination of the trilogy, the ending packed an emotional wallop that had me thinking about it for days on end.

I thought the first two installments of this trilogy were absolutely refreshing and compelling reads, so I pre-ordered The Beyond. I don't want to play the spoiler, so I'll just say that I was left wanting more. More resolution and more answers instead of more cryptic oddities whose purpose I still don't understand. But... if you loved the first two as I did, you're already ordering this, aren't you?

Anyway, I'm sure Mr. Ford wanted to avoid being overly formulaic in the conclusion, and I can't blame him, but in his efforts to do something different, he left this reader hungry and a little frustrated. It seems as if he started the final third of the book, his editor called, and he had to wrap it up in about ten pages. I hate for this to sound too negative, because these shortcomings aside, it's still very inventive and great fun. I know this is supposed to be the third and final book in the series, but I'll keep hoping for a fourth.

The writing of Jeffrey Ford, is in a word, genius. "The Beyond," his third book detailing the exploits of the one time Physiognomist and antihero, Cley, is beautifully written with vivid imagery and lyrical prose. I hope to one day hear that Ford's literature is being taught in schools, for the man is a modern day Kafka with a gift for words and the ability to create fantastic worlds in which his characters make the ultimate discovery - themselves.

If you enjoy reading Haruki Murakami, then this man is right up your alley. Hopefully, Ford's writings will one day be translated into Japanese for an audience I know would be hungry for his work.

The final (?) book in the trilogy is well written and certainly holds the reader's attention. People looking for the usual "they lived happily ever after" ending will be disappointed; not because the ending itself is disappointing, but because it is an enigmatic to ending to a character who himself is an enigma.

The book was a delight to read, and Ford raises many possibilities of other future subjects to explore.

Former Physiognomist Cley continues his quest to conquer his evil past with one last encounter left. Cley must travel to the center of the BEYOND to seek Arla Beaton, a woman he loved but who couldn't feel the same about him because of his malevolence. He scarred her face in an attempt to destroy her goodness. Still she taught him the horrors of his crime and now his quest to repair the damage he caused is nearing an end.

Accompanied by his dog Wood, Cley finds a new set of adventures as he nears his final destiny. Demons, wraiths, and other creatures like flesh hungry trees and invisible malevolent beings want Cley stopped. Misrix the demon observes the trek from a distance and tells the tale, even while waiting human condemnation for allegedly killing Cley.

Award winning Jeffrey Ford completes the Cley trilogy (see THE PHYSIOGNOMY and MEMORANDA) with the exciting adventure THE BEYOND. The story line continues the blending of fantasy and science fiction with Cley and a strong support cast making the trek itself fun to observe as the reader watches events through Misrix's distant observation. Although the lack of focus to Cley's final quest hurts the novel, THE BEYOND remains an exciting imaginative novel that will please readers who enjoy the intersection of science fiction and fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

The prose is indifferent and so are the situations. There's no ups or downs to the text--it's all a monotone. Cley is no longer a credible character. I think Ford was tired of the world he had created and will be much better off when he moves on to other things.