What makes a great book is hard to describe without mentioning how that book makes someone feel: when an author’s words seem to reach off the page and capture both a reader’s attention and a reader’s heart. No number of pretty words in clever arrangements can make up for a text in which the soul is lacking. With MANCALA MOON, Asa Bowers manages to marry both the dressing and the sustenance to craft a story that sticks. The emotional heart beats heavy, but with a growing thread of hope that the main character follows—taking the reader along with him.

There should be more novels willing to focus on what comes after the “coming of age” story, particularly if everything doesn’t go according to plan. It can be a lonely experience to see the rest of a similar age group fully evolving into their adult forms and truly thriving in their lives while being the black sheep that never blossoms. Whether by choice, by circumstance, or because of both, some boats don’t launch easily. The main character in MANCALA MOON is one of those boats, the latest branch of a family tree to start withering early. Grief and generations of example help shape a narrative unafraid to tackle the harder concepts. That it's a male perspective used as a lens when focusing on mental health and emotional vulnerability feels incredibly refreshing.

The diction here is hauntingly beautiful. Many lines resonate as well as this one from early in the main character’s journey: “A lifetime of small surrenders that had led him here, to a forest that seemed determined to show him exactly who he was.” The presentation makes the story, cleverly riding the line between the magical and the metaphysical. Despite its fantastical elements, this novel stays anchored in deeply relevant realism. Ancient redwood mazes and animal spirit guides are underpinned by grief, expectation, and the burden of choice.

MANCALA MOON will linger after reading, crafting what feels like a real bridge between defeat and moving on that few works of fiction are able to achieve. The path isn’t easy, though, and some themes might be too much for certain readers. Hunger to the point of emaciation is described in multiple scenes. Religion and faith are also more thematically central to the story than the blurb or genre might suggest. However, those willing to engage with the material will be moved by it.

Magical realism greets generational trauma in Asa Bowers's MANCALA MOON, a mind-bending journey of grief and choice.

~ Lisbeth Ivies for IndieReader