The Fall is All There Is
By C.M. Caplan
The Fall is All There Is tells the story of Petre Mercy, a young man who just wants to be left alone, do his own thing, and not get drawn into the intrigues and machinations of his siblings.
When the book begins, the first thing that happens is that Petre gets drawn into the intrigues and machinations of his siblings. Then, as they say, there are complications.
No one trusts anyone. Everyone expects everyone else to screw them over. No one ever speaks the whole truth. It’s a messed up situation, filled with messed up people making a mess of things – and it’s awesome.
It’s gory, complicated, and stupid, and everything could probably have been worked out if people just sat down and talked things over in a civilised manner. Only, it’s much too late for talking. The knives have come out, drawn blood, and been discarded in favour of heavy ordnance, or whatever the corresponding thing would be in this post apocalyptic steam-punk, necromancy, biotech nightmare of a world. No one’s going to trust anyone not to backstab everyone else.
The Fall is All There Is is dark, violent, and bloody. It’s queer, autistic, and deeply personal.
This story is a lot of things, but perhaps most of all it’s a story about a young man reconnecting with his estranged and highly dysfunctional family. Also consider that Petre is a prince. When the royal family has issues, the entire nation has issues.
And yet, even as Petre’s siblings takes every opportunity to scheme and plot, it seems they still love each other, deep down, maybe. Perhaps.
What I’ll whine about
Kindness. No one’s ever nice in this book, or so it felt. Not the main character, not his siblings, nor his mother. They all deceive, betray, and exploit each other, and everyone carries so much baggage from past encounters that they can’t help but lash out whenever something goes wrong – and things go wrong all the time.
What I’ll gush about
Autism. Petre, our main character, is autistic, and it’s portrayed really well. The way his mind races away chasing stray thoughts at the worst of times really works in this book. Rather than being distracting, it adds to the experience and turns this into a very personal story.
The autism also plays into a lot of the social interactions. Things get complicated, and more than once, I found myself wondering if what I’m reading is Petre’s experience of not understanding the situation, or if it’s me who missed something and who doesn’t understand. Now, that might sound like a complaint, but somehow, it made Petre’s experience even more real and relatable to me.
In fact, there’s a slight sense of confusion over the entire story, as if everything’s very fragile, hanging together by a thread, and about to come apart at any moment. It’s intense.
Final Words
The Fall is All There Is tells a deeply personal story about wanting to be useful without being used.
