Interesting little interlude of a book. I think I'll enjoy mulling it over than I did actually reading it. Not a bad trade, the book was short and time is long. ( )

I read this as part of [b:Ghostways: Two Journeys in Unquiet Places|50489381|Ghostways Two Journeys in Unquiet Places|Robert Macfarlane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1605025984l/50489381._SY75_.jpg|75461251]. It is probably my least favorite of Macfarlane's work that I have read. (Normally, I love his stuff.)

Unusual, expressive, and beautifully illustrated prose/poem, paean to nature’s world spirit in the end times. ( )

On a shingle island, a figure called the Armourer is at work. He is standing in the Green chapel and is assisted by the Engineer, the botanist the physicist and the ornithologist. He is invoking the Firing song, a dark ceremony that will bring destruction. Five human-like forms are converging on the Green Chapel and are intent on stopping him.

She makes green & green fills the air around her & warps hard into objects within her radiance.

There is Drift, who is a world shaper, He who is water, She who is earth, They who are rock and As who is the very air around. They are moving through land, sea, time and space to the Green Chapel where they will become one, where they will become Ness. They want their island back.

Listen. Listen now. Listen to Ness

This is a stunning if slender book. It is part story and part poem, with taut writing that writhes with dark metaphor. Macfarlane takes familiar tropes from folk horror, dystopia, science fiction and drapes them over this unreal landscape to make a thriller that is as troubling as it is surreal. A hagstone allowing a glimpse of the future and the past separate each section. This unreal landscape of shifting shingle and harsh military structures is bought to chilling life by the stunning art from Donwood that captures the eeriness of the place. Very highly recommended. ( )

A stunning and vivid prose poem from an author who weaves words into depictions of nature, dystopia, beauty, and terror. Aligned with the skillful and deceptively simple pen drawings from Stanley Donwood, we are left with feelings of exploration, hope, and despair in equal measure and reaching out to feel was life is worth under our present climatic circumstances. A masterpiece of modern literary fiction. If you liked 'Lanny' by Max Porter or 'Annihilation' by Jeff Vandermeer then this is for you.