Variations of Brother War Reviewed at PANK

07/5/2012 Variations of a Brother War by J.A. Tyler
reviewed by Ryan Werner

Another great review for J. A. Tyler, from the first paragraph today over at the PANK blog:
“Fairness, love, and war are usually dealt with in that order. This says nothing of the truths found within the inversions, the war in love and the love of fairness and how it’s only a possibility that the fairness in war may be love. There are elements to this equation that have gone missing, and their cumulative void is left to simple, deep wonderment.

What this means is that the chaotic non-constraints of war and love are the only environments in which fairness can exist.

[…]

This stacking of dualities—of trialities, really, with each character being part fairness and part love and part war—allows Tyler to create depth in small pieces. By cutting up the story and characters into three 100-word sections each on multiple topics and then pasting them back together in the vicinity of their congruent parts, a straightforward love triangle set against the backdrop of the American Civil War gains a certain spongy quality that allows it to breathe and contract and, most importantly, to wander.”

and then later, a shout for our designer, Andrew Farris…

“(I’d be remiss in not mentioning the beautiful art and design of Andrew Farris, who I was previously unfamiliar with. Everything from the typeset to the layout encouraged me to not just pick the book up, but to turn page after page. This is a book worth judging by its cover.)”

Read Ryan Werner’s complete review at PANK now.

Buy Variations of a Brother War from Small Doggies Press now.