Title: The Storm Beneath the World
Author: Michael R. Fletcher
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Format: Hardcover / Paperback / Ebook
Release Date: April 5, 2024
Star Rating: 9/10
The Storm Beneath the World by Michael R. Fletcher is something I come across rarely—it’s utterly unique!
I never thought I could care about “bugs”, but Fletcher managed to write this world and its characters so utterly captivating, I was hooked within moments.
The worldbuilding is freaking fabulous, with whole societies of insect like people living on giant floating islands, and two of them getting closer to each other promising a war to come. It is woven throughout all layers, from actual biology, to language, behaviours, setting, daily life, and everything like transportation or such.
The whole social structure, as well as the biology behind it all, was just so well written, and managed to both feel familiar enough to easily get into the story, but alien enough to be a very much needed breath of fresh air! I so love non-human main characters, who are actually different, and not just feel like humans, but with antennas or such.
This book might not have any humans, but the people are just as flawed, corrupt, naive or brave, and I was immediately invested in their fates and choices.
The way “insect society” works, this book has a natural matriarchy. So compared to our culture, all the sexist problems are turned on their head. This makes it a smooth and logical part of the book, which doesn’t feel like a moral pointer finger, but still makes you take notice and rethink some things.
This might be Fletcher’s least dark book, it’s still not a cozy read, and there is at least one pretty gory scene.
The end is quite a cliffhanger and worked very well for me. I already can’t wait for the sequel!
T. O. Munro