Ghost of a Tired Universe by Jonas Samuelle

Synopsis: There are worlds where passion means more than action. There are places where time has no meaning, and anything is possible. When a heart-broken sculptor seeks them out, existence itself may crumble under the weight of his pain.

Review: This is very philosophical book outlining the journey of two friends, Dormius and Charles, although Charles is clearly the focal point of the book. Both men are artists, and as they say great pain breeds great art. Charles is in love with a woman named Mira, who is brutally raped and as a result of that assault loses her mind. This drives Charles into himself more than ever before.

Of course there is more to the story than that. Both Charles and Dormius are both gifted, Charles with the ability to see the universe both past and future, and Dormius is able to look into peoples minds. A man with Charles's talent and the kind of pain that he was in after what happened to Mira ends up being a recipe for the extreme.

I don't want to go into a lot of detail about the path that Charles ends up on, mainly because it would give away to much about the ending, and it would rob you as the reader from going on the journey of discovery that Samuelle takes you on to explain what has occurred. What I will say is the Charles spends a lot of his time exploring what makes the world what it is, and that his journey ends up being more of a philosophical journey for the reader.

I myself, tend not to enjoy books that get overly complicated, or that are hard to follow. This book had moments of being hard to follow, but I think that was intentional by the author, the confusion I felt as a reader was parallel to the confusion that Charles was going through, and when Charles made revelations so did I.

Samuelle has a lot to say about the world, and offers a lot of commentary to a wide range of topics, the greed of humans, organized religion, and so much more. Ever though Samuelle has a lot to say, it never comes off as preachy. There were times I agreed with what was on the page and times when I didn't, but I always understood where Samuelle was coming from and was able to make up my mind as to how I felt about the topics at hand.

The book is written very intelligently and the intricacies of how the plot is revealed are complex. There is no doubt that this is quality writing.  While there are some paranormal elements within the book (both Charles and Dormius have a power, as well as some other elements that are revealed as the story progresses) the book is primarily a philosophical one. If you are looking for a book that makes you think and makes you questions why the world is the way it is then this is most definitely your book. I can say I enjoyed the read and it really did make me think.