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The Islanders

[embraidery]

The Islanders is a 340 page novel by Christopher Priest (author of the The Prestige, turned into a Christopher Nolan movie), though you could certainly read any of the chapters alone since it's framed as a travel guide and each chapter looks at a different island.

It's technically classified as science fiction, but I wouldn't really call it that. It's mostly just realism but slightly to the left. You can't trust what you read; further chapters undermine what you think you know about the islands and the people who live on them.

It's a fascinating book framed as a travel guide to a fictional world, most of which is taken up by a massive ocean filled with tens of thousands of islands called the Dream Archipelago. Each chapter details a different island: the climate, notable inhabitants, etc. Recurring famous people include Esphoven Muy, a nomadic artist-philosopher who was interested in wind; Dryd Bathurst, a charismatic and extremely talented painter who often fled islands after sleeping with the wrong man's wife; and Jordenn Yo, a sculptural artist who carves tunnels through islands to create interesting whistling winds and tides (who often flees islands after the authorities realise it kind of sucks to have tunnels drilled in your islands). Through letters, personal accounts, and official investigations, you learn more about the mysterious death of a famous actor during a performance and the man who was accused of the crime.

Content notes (feel free to comment and I can tell you which chapter contains what warning, if you'd prefer to avoid that chapter): discussions of war and its repercussions (including death, sexual assault), murder/suicide/execution/death, detailed description of painful death by insect bite, miscarriage of justice, sexual content. Other than the insect bite, it's mostly pretty brief and/or zoomed out and I didn't feel like it was gratuitous or very disturbing. There is at least one island (Winho) whose entry is mostly about the effect of the war, but it's easily skipped.


You can read it for free here (https://www.readanybook.com/online/604698).