Canon

Jul 24

About the book

Author: Paige Lewis
Publisher: Viking

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print or ebook) | Libro.fm (audio)

My review

Some things that I personally happen to love in a book: fantastical elements, smart absurdity, really voicey prose, retellings, social commentary, and humor that turns profound. Lucky for me, Canon happens to be an incredible blend of all those things.

Part Odyssey and part modern-day Bible story, Canon is about a neurodivergent nonbinary person named Yara who is just living their life when one day, they receive a visit from God (in a tracksuit) who tells them they are the chosen one to slay one the leader of the Bad Guys, Dominic. After getting him to agree to their price (which we do not learn about until the end), they set off on an epic journey to become ready for this fated task. That includes riding in the mouth of a friendly whale called HOWBIG!, magical island hopping, and more. Meanwhile, an actual prophet named Adrena is angry that she was not chosen and sets off on a mission of her own to infiltrate the army of the Good Guys and slay Dominic herself.

As you can tell from the synopsis, this book leans all the way in on the absurd, and its surface-level humor isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. For those who don’t inherently like that kind of thing, I could see the novelty wearing off quickly. But for those who do, Lewis manages to pull off that subtle shift from funny to profound, which will make you think, make you laugh, and tug on your heart all at once.

Truly, this book is just plain GOOD ART. Lewis is a genius and has written us a work that has so much to say about the tangled web of free will vs destiny, who controls the narrative, and how easy it is for us to be manipulated by the public story being presented. Plus so much more.

I especially enjoyed the structure of short chapters with funny titles (for example: “Of course the whale talks, he has a lot to say!”), which made the book fly by despite the page count. I was also pleasantly surprised by how well this one translated to the audiobook, especially once I had seen it on the page. I had no problem following the story, picking up on the humor (even if I didn’t initially realize that HOWBIG!’s name was written like that, lol), and grasping all the connective tissue that makes this book so smart and good.

If any part of this review calls to you, I encourage you to pick it up! I can already feel myself itching for a reread.