Title: Delivering Virtue (The Epic of Didier Rain, #1)
Author: Brian Kindall
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Publication Date: November 7, 2015
Review Date: March 11, 2019
Number of Pages: 264
My Rating: 5.0/5
Didier Rain is broke, lovesick, and just off a three-day whiskey binge. And yet, The Church of the Restructured Truth has been told in a vision that he’s the man to fulfill their Holy Prophecy.
He must deliver Virtue – a blue-eyed infant – 1,000 miles along the western pioneer trail to their prophet’s stronghold as his child bride to be. Savages, zealots, and wildfire all stand in Rain’s way, not to mention a list of Thou-shalt-nots designed to thwart any man’s most basic comforts.
But, there’s something holy about the job – something, Rain suspects, that might just turn his sorry life toward a better path.
In Delivering Virtue – Book One of The Epic of Didier Rain – Brian Kindall takes the classic novel of the West and turns it on its head. Grandiloquent humor, pathos, and a cast of absurd and depraved characters all come together in an American Frontier world inspired by myth and legend, creating a surreal and disarmingly poignant adventure reviewers are calling a triumph of American Magical Realism. Book Review of Delivering Virtue: I really enjoyed this book I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this. Not even one that comes close. It’s…different. It’s well written, surreal, evocative, whimsical, and lovely. I loved the writing style and description, as well as the characterizations of every single soul, human and non-human alike.
Virtue seems like a wonderful person. I will intentionally not elaborate on this part because it’s best you read it for yourself. I obviously will not be doing a better job than the author, and anything I try to explain will take away from your enjoyment of the story, in my opinion.
Didier Rain is an amalgam of disparate characteristics. How this character was sketched out, I cannot imagine. But he is amazing. His story, personality and history slowly unfurls through the course of the book. His ‘visions’ are altogether a thing of joy. You will vacillate in your feelings towards him, but at the end of the day, what is he if not only human? As we all are. With our flaws and foibles and vices. With our desolation and insecurity and loneliness. With our moments of joy and gratitude and wonder. All that, and more, is what makes us. And makes Didier.
I had to put down the book for a while after the sequence with Delight. In fact, I had to put down the book for quite a few such instances. It is the kind of book you want to read fast because you love the story and the pacing, but it is also the kind of book that makes you slow down.
For me, there were two main reasons for slowing down (whenever I did). One, the writing was so beautiful, you have to slow down to soak it all in. Two, sometimes things happen where you just have to stop. Out of respect for what transpired and also to gather your bearings. Because that’s the kind of book it is. I will have to say that there were instances in the book where things were a bit too much for me, but that’s really subjective so I’m not going to let that change my rating.
The character development is phenomenal, as is the story arc. The pacing is perfect, and the plot progresses not just on the basis of their travels, but also how they develop as characters. The ending is poignant and once I read it, I could think of no better conclusion to this story.
I realise that the review is quite vague in terms of storyline and analysis and stuff like that. But that’s the thing. The book is just way more expansive than any review can be.
*A review copy was provided to Oh Just Books by the author in exchange for an honest review*
