Lessons in Birdwatching

Watson debuts with a disorienting and gruesome work of far-future science fiction set on the distant planet Apech, where five students take up temporary research positions in the midst of a civil war involving elusive god-magic and mysterious time distortions. As the group bears witness to the violence and surrealism of life on Apech, they take refuge in sex and drugs. Watson drops readers into the deep end of this wild worldbuilding with little explanation, expecting them to sink or swim. By the time it’s clear who all the characters are (many go by more than one name), readers may have missed important plot details. Adding to the confusion is the nature of the magic system itself: gods exist in this universe, and there’s talk of “deimancers” who can control or destroy them, but one particular god affects time, creating illusions of things that appear as if they’re about to happen and sometimes do, and sometimes don’t. It makes for a very slippery narrative punctuated by moments of gore and gross-out horror. Readers will need to be up for a challenge to get into this one. Agent: James Mustelier, Bent Agency. (Aug.)