CONQUERGOOD & THE CENTER
OF THE INTELLIGIBLE
MYSTERY OF BEING
by
CG Fewston
Science Fiction / Dystopian / Steampunk
Date of Publication: October 17, 2023
Number of Pages: 381 pages
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One of resilience and transformation, Conquergood’s life-changing discovery explores the depths of family, memory, love, and the mysteries that lie at the heart of the universe.
In 2183, Jerome Conquergood is an outcast roaming the abandoned and crumbling skyscrapers of Old York City outside the Korporation’s seductive and dizzying headquarters, a post-apocalyptic security-city for the mega-rich. Despite his hatred for the techno-optimism and the Korporation, Conquergood is compelled to save his mysterious twin brother Vincent by joining the Korporation, a mega-corporate and governmental entity in a world oppressed to peace.
Dystopia can (and should!) be read as a cautionary tale. It’s that lens through which we can view the future from the current sociopolitical landscape. And CONQUERGOOD & THE CENTER OF INTELLIGIBLE MYSTERY OF BEING belongs squarely in this category.
World-building is the most distinct aspect of CONQUERGOOD. A mega-Korporation now rules the planet, owns all the businesses, controls all resources. There is also a clear distinction between the haves (members of the Korporation) and have-nots (everyone else). There’s a passage in the book where Fewston lists all the current businesses which become the Korporation (Alphabet\Google, Amazon, & BP Oil among them). All the big companies are in that list! Where the Korporation becomes the essence of dystopia (utopia gone wrong) is how it handles protestors, overpopulation, and anyone who questions its authority.
When I first started reading CONQUERGOOD, I found all of the world-building overwhelming. Like Jerome Conquergood, our main character, as he acquaints himself with his new position within the Koproration, it was all too much. But around the halfway mark, all the world-building starts to fit into place. I don’t know if I would have wanted to drop directly into the middle of the novel without the details but keep this in mind while reading!
Fewston’s writing is descriptive and realistic. The distinction between the clean and aseptic setting inside the Korporation against the gritty and dirty reality outside is vivid. While there isn’t a lot of action to move the plot forward, the unfolding of the secrets of the Korporation kept me turning pages. One aspect of the novel that I found intriguing was the amount of historical and cultural knowledge that Jerome holds. While the novel is set in 2183, Jerome’s favorite movie is Kasablanca. The are multiple references to the bible and religious practices. I was engrossed by discovering how this knowledge was passed down to Jerome with little formal education.
I know – you are thinking I’ve gone off the rails with the typos in my post with the spelling of Korporation. But no – that’s correct in this instance.
Some of the spellings have been purposely altered to reflect Ernst Vollert’s German book called Die Korporation Der Berliner Buchhäandler which was published July 1, 1898.
Most of the usual c’s one would expect are replaced by k’s. Not only k’s, but also italics for those words. The italics are used to contrast those words from the rest of the text, but this became eye-straining and distracting as I was reading on my phone.
If you are not too disturbed to read dystopia, check this one out. Or maybe if, like me, you find dystopia disquieting, check this one out anyway. You could be the one who stops that future Korporation from taking over everything!
Thanks to author CG Fewston and Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing this opportunity to review CONQUERGOOD & THE CENTER OF INTELLIGIBLE MYSTERY OF BEING. I received the novel free in exchange for my honest review.
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| Photo credit: Thor |
The American novelist CG FEWSTON has been a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome (Italy), a Visiting Fellow at Hong Kong’s CityU, & he’s been a member of the Hemingway Society, Americans for the Arts, PEN America, Club Med, & the Royal Society of Literature. He’s also been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) based in London. He has a B.A. in English, an M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership (honors), an M.A. in Literature (honors), and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Fiction. He was born in Texas in 1979.
Fewston is the author of several short stories and novels. His works include A Father’s Son, The New America: Collection, The Mystic’s Smile ~ A Play in 3 Acts, Vanity of Vanities, A Time to Love in Tehran, Little Hometown, America, A Time to Forget in East Berlin, and Conquergood & the Center of the Intelligible Mystery of Being.
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Thanks for sharing your review. Not knowing a thing about Vollert’s work, I find the K substitutions interesting as the words are recognizable concepts but the K signals they aren’t what we know. This sounds like a book to digest a little at a time, but it seems worth the time spent between pages.
Kristine Anne Hall recently posted…Porter & Midge: Paws and Playtime ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Book Blitz & Giveaway!
Thanks, Kristine! And Good thoughts on the letter K!