Ros Hill’s fantastical superhero tale SKETCH: A Novel opens with the creation of a magical ink blessed by the god of the sun, Ra. The magical ink can create immortal beings when used by chosen artists. In ancient Egypt, the ink allowed the first chosen artist to create the first immortal beings: Queen Heba and her dog Khaldun. Centuries later, Charles creates a superhuman named Sketch. Shortly afterwards, tragedy strikes and Sketch loses his superpowers. With the help of Heba, Sketch must find a way to regain his superpowers while protecting the secret of the magic ink from the ultimate evil.
Hill creates a superhero tale that's well-rooted in the elements of magical realism. The language is beautiful but restrained; there is an imaginative flow to it without being overly descriptive: “Beneath the Egyptian sun, three falcons circled in the sky, riding the thermal updrafts that lifted them over a thousand feet above a temple. Below, Khepri, an artist of average build, wearing a loincloth and sandals, carried a small clay bowl of black ink as he walked through the courtyard.” In these opening lines of the book, the author not only establishes the surroundings but also provides a balanced introduction of the character in just a few lines.
The non-linear narrative is structured with well-paced, sharp temporal shifts. Some of the characters have believable chemistry between them, such as Charles and Sketch, Sergeant Perkins and Sketch, and Charles and Heba. The portrayal of a superhero as an ordinary human being is comically existential and relatable. The book portrays everyday evil as the biggest threat to humanity, as an abusive husband is just as detrimental to his partner as a warmongering leader is to his people.
However, the book doesn't trust its audience and suffers from pacing issues. The narrative is dense, with events being described in detail from three different points of view. The characters are black and white, and their arcs are not fully justified. For example, the supervillain is portrayed to be a global threat, but he's dependent on common thievery and petty crimes to fund his operations—which makes him feel underwhelming rather than immediately threatening. The superhero, meanwhile, possesses extraordinary strength and powers, yet the readers don't see him achieve much with them. The plot doesn't progress consistently, either; it moves slowly in the middle, and the final act feels rushed.
As a whole, though, SKETCH still succeeds as a novel worth diving into for fans of the genre.
In SKETCH: A Novel, Ros Hill's fluid, descriptive prose and structured non-linear narrative outshine the book's pacing issues.
~ Maria Zafar for IndieReader