Zachary Jernigan's debut novel, No Return, was published by Night Shade Books in March 2013.
Information about Zachary Jernigan:
Zachary Jernigan lives in Arizona, where the weather is nice and the political decisions are horrifying. He writes science fiction and fantasy, both in the short and the long form. His first novel, No Return, came out from Night Shade Books in the spring of 2013. He wants you to know that he loves Mario Bros. games, riding around in a wheelchair as long as it doesn't insult a handicapped person, and ma po tofu.
Click here to visit Zachary Jernigan's official website and click here to visit his blog.
Information about No Return:
On Jeroun, there is no question as to whether God exists - only what his intentions are.
Under the looming judgment of Adrash and his ultimate weapon - a string of spinning spheres beside the moon known as The Needle - warring factions of white and black suits prove their opposition to the orbiting god with the great fighting tournament of Danoor, on the far side of Jeroun's only inhabitable continent.
From the Thirteenth Order of Black Suits comes Vedas, a young master of martial arts, laden with guilt over the death of one of his students. Traveling with him are Churls, a warrior woman and mercenary haunted by the ghost of her daughter, and Berun, a constructed man made of modular spheres possessed by the foul spirit of his creator. Together they must brave their own demons, as well as thieves, mages, beasts, dearth, and hardship on the perilous road to Danoor, and the bloody sectarian battle that is sure to follow.
On the other side of the world, unbeknownst to the travelers, Ebn and Pol of the Royal Outbound Mages (astronauts using Alchemical magic to achieve space flight) have formed a plan to appease Adrash and bring peace to the planet. But Ebn and Pol each have their own clandestine agendas - which may call down the wrath of the very god they hope to woo.
Who may know the mind of God? And who in their right mind would seek to defy him? Gritty, erotic, and fast-paced, author Zachary Jernigan takes you on a sensuous ride through a world at the knife-edge of salvation and destruction, in one of the year's most exciting fantasy epics.
A REVIEW OF ZACHARY JERNIGAN'S NO RETURN
Night Shade Books has done a big favour for fans of quality speculative fiction by publishing Zachary Jernigan's No Return. This genre-bending debut novel is a dream-come-true novel for readers who want pure quality from their speculative fiction.
Zachary Jernigan's No Return is probably the best and the most imaginative debut speculative fiction novel of 2013. Its pages are full of wonders, weirdness, sex and violence. It's a perfect example of what a talented speculative fiction author can achieve when he has enough imagination. It's difficult to imagine that other authors could achieve this kind of level of originality, style and depth with their debut novels this year.
Before I write more about No Return, I'll mention that it's a novel for adults. There are several gritty and sexually charged scenes, which are only suitable for adults.
I was very impressed by No Return (to be honest, it made a huge impression on me). This novel hooked me from the start with its characters, story, sexual content and grittiness. It was a pleasure to read it, because it was totally different from other novels on the market and it offered intelligent, immersive and fast-paced entertainment.
No Return defies easy categorization. It's difficult to categorize it under one genre, because it combines science fiction, fantasy and weird elements. When I read this book, I noticed that Zachary Jernigan has a bit similar kind of enthusiasm to combine different genres and elements as China Miéville and Anthony Huso. Because the author combines different genres, it's good to categorize this novel as science fantasy that contains weird elements.
Combining science ficton and fantasy can be difficult, but Zachary Jernigan has succeeded perfectly in it. All the science fiction elements blend perfectly with the fantasy elements. This kind of fusion of different elements feels refreshing.
Zachary Jernigan writes boldly about sex and doesn't censor the happenings (the sex scenes are explicit). It's nice that the author has courage to write about all kinds of things related to sex and sexuality (heterosexuality, homosexuality etc), because they spice up the story. I have to confess that it's been a while since I've read anything this sexually explicit.
The author also writes amazingly well about religion and religious fanaticism. The sectarian battles are gladiator-like battle tournaments in which the Black Suits and White Suits try to settle their differences over religious ideologies. This kind of an approach to religion and religious differences feels fresh.
The fight scenes are brutal and the author doesn't try to hide the fact that fighting is violent. He doesn't sugarcoat the fight scenes, but shows his readers what violence really is and how the characters feel about it and how it affects them. In this novel people may be injured badly during the fighting and they may even die from battle inflicted wounds.
Although there's plenty of action, fighting and violence in this novel, there's also quite a lot of hidden philosophy (and beauty) in it. The philosophical elements manifest themselves in the way the characters feel about the happenings and what kind of decisions they make. This kind of storytelling is highly addictive, because I've always enjoyed reading partly philosophical speculative fiction, which makes the reader use his brains.
The suits and armors that the characters wear (Vedas has a skintight suit made of elder skin and Adrash wears a divine armor) add a fantastic comic book like feel to the novel, because comic book heroes and bad guys usually wear armours and costumes. It was interesting to read that Vedas had a connection to his suit.
Zachary Jernigan has created an unforgettably vivid and lush world in No Return which will surprise and charm readers with its diversity and complexity. The worldbuilding is excellent, because the author writes about the different places of the planet beautifully. The planet of Jeroun is a beautiful and wondrous planet. Jeroun reminded me a bit of the desert planet Arrakis in Frank Herbert's Dune and the world of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun.
The events take place on The Continent of Knoori. One of the most interesting things about The Continent of Knoori is that it feels like a traditional fantasy world that has been spiced with science fiction elements.
The author reveals information about the planet and its inhabitants bit by bit. He writes fascinatingly about the cultures, ethnic groups and religion, and he also writes about alchemical magic and astronauts, dead races, suits made of eldes skins, sexual situations and fighting etc, so there are lots of things to like in this novel.
No Return is a novel that has been made of several different elements and themes - it's a surprisingly complex, well written and fascinating story about honour, guilt, morality, identity, companionship and religion. If I had to choose only one theme for this novel, I'd probably say that its main theme is morality, because the characters think about their actions.
It's easy to see that the author loves both science fiction and fantasy, and wants to write about different characters and their lives. There aren't many novels in which the cast of characters is as diverse as in this novel.
The characterization works flawlessly and the character interaction is perfect. In my opinion the character development is simply superb, because the author tells the story through his characters and lets his characters develop during the story. The different viewpoints add depth to the storyline, because each character has his/her own opinions about things.
Here's a bit of information about the characters:
Adrash is a mighty God, who watches over the planet of Jeroun and its inhabitants. He isn't pleased with mankind's development. His intentions are unclear to the humankind. He has created the Needle which is a visible threat to the inhabitants of the planet.
Vedas is a skilled and experienced fighter, master of martial arts and a member of the Thirteenth Order of the Black Suits. He feels guilty over the death of his student. He has conflicting thoughts about killing foes.
Churls is a warrior and mercenary woman, who is haunted by the ghost of her dead daughter. Her daughter appears to her every now and then and talks to her. Churls has a lot of emotions to deal with.
Berun is a constructed man, who is possessed by the spirit of his creator. He feels that he has to obey his creator and do what he wants him to do. He is strong and his eyes glow blue.
Ebn and Pol, who are Royal Outbound Mages, try to appease Adrash and bring peace to the planet. They share a common purpose, but have different opinions about things.
All of these characters are wonderfully three-dimensional and have their own feelings and problems (it's amazing that the author has managed to create so many different characters with realistic feelings). Zachary Jernigan manages to bring his characters to life, because at first he introduces them to the reader and then gradually deepens them. Vedas, Churls and Berun are complex characters, because the author has added layers of depth to each of them and slowly reveals who they are. Reading about the inner struggles of the characters added depth to them and made them feel realistic.
Reading about Vedas' guilt and feelings was fascinating. I also enjoyed reading about Churls' and her dead daugher, Fyra. Berun, the constructed man, was also an interesting character, because constructs are totally different from humans and do certain things in a different way. When Vedas, Churls and Berun travelled together, it was nice to read about their thoughts about each other.
The magic system in No Return is truly original, so here's information about it. Mages craft spells from the ground up corpses of the elders (mages use bonedust to fly in space etc). The elders, whose corpses are being used to all kinds of magical purposes, have long since vanished from the world, but their descendants (eldermen and elderwomen) live in the world and have deformed bodies and mutations. The elder corpses are used to create powerful and potent magic (bonedust is also used as a currency). The use of ground up corpses adds a charming touch of dark fantasy to the story.
Zachary Jernigan writes good and fluent prose. I was amazed at how good his prose is, because it's a bit difficult to find literary prose in science fantasy novels. It's quite an achievement from a debut author to write this kind of compelling literary prose which is full of nuanced descriptions about the happenings, places and characters.
If somebody is wondering if No Return is a standalone novel or part of a series, I can mention that it can be read as a standalone novel. According to the author's website, he may write a companion novel to No Return. I hope this companion novel will be written soon, because it would be nice to read more about the planet of Jeroun.
I think it's good to mention that this novel has a good and well drawn map of The Continent of Knoori. I'll also mention that the cover art painting by Robbie Trevino looks great, because it's an appropriately gritty painting. The glossary of terms at the end of the novel is useful to the readers who want to check the meanings of certain terms.
It's a bit difficult to compare No Return to other novels, because it stands out as an original piece of speculative fiction, so I won't try to compare it with other novels. I'll just mention that I think that fans of Roger Zelazny, Frank Herbert's Dune, Matthew Stover's The Acts of Caine, Richad K. Morgan's A Land fit for Heroes and Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun will be delighted to read it. It's likely that this novel may also appeal to fans of Ken Scholes' The Psalms of Isaak and Martha Wells' Books of the Raksura.
No Return may not be to everybody's liking because of its erotic, sexual and violent scenes, but readers who are familiar with adult material and expect depth from their novels will love it. I think it's great that there are novels like No Return that bring much needed freshness and originality to modern speculative fiction, because readers need different kinds of science fiction and fantasy novels. I strongly believe that literary novels like No Return will increase the popularity of speculative fiction and make readers appreciate what speculative fiction can offer to them.
Several authors (Elizabeth Hand, J. M. McDermott, James Patrick Kelly, Martha Wells and David Anthony Durham) have praised this novel in their reviews. I agree with everything that they've said about it, because No Return is a damn good novel and it deserves to be praised by authors and readers alike.
I highly recommend No Return to science fiction and fantasy readers, because it will appeal to both readerships. No Return is an exceptionally good and original speculative fiction novel with plenty of depth, style, sex and grittiness, so make sure that you'll read it. It's literary speculative fiction at its best!
Highly recommended!