Book Review: Beneath the Rising
Beneath the Rising was one of my “on a whim” buys (which I seem to be doing quite frequently of late). I do love cosmic horror, especially when I can get it outside Lovecraft (see also The City We Became), and this one also gave off some Middlegame vibes for me based on the blurb. That book was a top 10 2019 book for me (no review yet, because hiatus), so here we are.
Johnny and Nick are an unlikely pair of friends: Johnny the superstar genius who cured HIV as a girl, and Nick an average Joe who works hard to help keep his family afloat. As Nick wonders about his feelings for Johnny, she invents a clean energy source that unwittingly attracts the attention of ancient and malevolent beings outside our universe — and they want in. Johnny and Nick set off on a jaunt across the world, searching for half-forgotten rituals that might help them close the opening door to our reality. But Johnny is hiding a lot of secrets, and their relationship may not survive, even if the world does.
Woof, I have a lot of mixed feelings on this book. Instead of my usual characters/plot/world format, let’s start with what I liked.
Beneath the Rising is paced remarkably well. I ended up reading most of it in one sitting because I just could not put it down. There’s a tight ticking time frame, there is drama and danger throughout, and the chapters are just about the perfect length to make you think “hmmm, I can read one more.” The slowest part is the beginning, and that’s not even really slow.
Johnny and Nick’s friendship has some depth to it, even at the beginning, and they make good foils for each other. Nick never quite feels like he belongs with her, but his bravery and determination and willpower stand up again Johnny’s genius and total absorption in her work. He’s practical to her out-thereness. The dynamic works, and it works well.
The concept is very very strong, and I love the slow uncovering of the worldbuilding. Mohamed doesn’t bring Lovecraft in unchanged, but the bones are very similar and terrifying. I especially loved the tie-ins to lost civilizations like Atlantis, cities and peoples that were wiped out when these ancient beings previously broke into our reality. The fact that the book’s climax takes place in Iraq, with an ancient tomb crawl and a confrontation atop a ziggurat, just speaks to my soul, really. Not to mention the dangerous books, one of my favorite tropes.
Now, here’s the other side of the coin, the things I was less than thrilled with.
First off, be sure you like Johnny and Nick, because there’s more or less nobody else in the novel. Secondary characters flit in and out in the space of one to two chapters, and there’s no real development for any of them. On top of that, none of the secondary characters have much lasting impact, other than providing a temporary obstacle or a smidge of help. None of them have any direct impact on the finale, either — there’s no team-up, no allies helping out, nothing. I kept waiting for Mohamed to introduce a secondary character who hung around and did something, but no dice.
The plot, for all that the concept is strong and the pacing is fantastic, is too easy, and too much is hand-waved. Johnny is able to just magically acquire most of what they need knowledge-wise, and it’s never explained how they’re really closing the portal beyond a very high level acknowledgement that that’s what they’re doing. It feels like a book going through the motions — send characters here, quick montage in library, we got what we needed, next place — but without knowing what they’re getting and why it’s important, it can be hard to invest.
At the end of the day, it’s hard to rank this one. I liked it, but I definitely didn’t love it. It’s a quick read, and it does the cosmic horror bits well, but it’s both too tightly focused and oddly vague. Your mileage may vary.
3/5 stars
Memorable Quote:
““Listen, this thing, this watcher? Part of a cabal of things that have been invading Earth and other places for a long time. The first one was about seventy million years ago. Nothing had evolved that had keys or codes to keep invaders out. Whatever you want to call Them—I guess ‘the Ancient Ones’ is as good a shorthand as any, or the Watchful Ones, Those Who Live Outside—They’ve been locked out from Earth before, but They’re used to being able to leave and come back whenever They want. They open the doors and come in, and only evil follows, because They are nothing but evil. Only evil. All of Them. They don’t just want to occupy, They never have. That’s not enough. They want to conquer.””
