Publishers Weekly
12/18/2023
Ryman (The Warrior Who Carried Life) does a remarkable job of telling anew the story of Jesus of Nazareth. The tale starts familiarly enough with Maryam announcing that she is with child “in an unusual way.” She’s married off to Yosef and the pair are exiled from Jerusalem. Ryman follows Maryam through her child’s life, much of which is familiar. Ryman’s Yehush, however, differs radically from the Jesus of the Gospels in two important respects. First, and more immediately startling, this Yehush was assigned female at birth, but begins identifying as a boy and calling himself Yehush after their older playmate by that same name dies. What follows may resonate with parents of trans children as Maryam comes to terms with the change. The second difference is that Ryman imagines the vastness of a Creator who willed into being not just a single planet but the entire spacetime continuum and the multiverse beyond. His Yehush attempts to simultaneously embody God and convey his and God’s broad view of time and space to the people of first-century Judea. Ryman does an impressive job portraying his protagonist’s arduous and complicated existence. Readers willing to have their preconceptions challenged will find much to savor and ponder in this unique work. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
"HIM feels like the real story at last. Ryman’s uncanny ability to get inside people makes this one of the greatest versions of the old story. The family drama, Yeshua’s parents and siblings—all the key moments seen as if by lightening—it comes alive in a supremely vivid way. This time for real. It’s unforgettable."
– Kim Stanley Robinson, award winning author of The Mars Trilogy
"Ryman does an impressive job portraying his protagonist’s arduous and complicated existence. Readers willing to have their preconceptions challenged will find much to savor and ponder in this unique work."
– Publishers Weekly
"Here is the Son of God you never knew. HIM is shocking, moving, profound and reverent. Only Geoff Ryman could have written this book. It is a masterpiece."
– Michael Swanwick, Nebula award-winning author of Stations of the Tide
"Ryman challenges his readers as he always has, with an enormous, defiant, heart. HIM is exhilarating and liberating to believer and non-believer alike."
– Paul Cornell, author and screenwriter
“Ryman offers an exceptional journey into the heart of human experience with this profoundly affecting story. Beautifully imagined. It has a transformative, compassionate power. I loved it.”
– Justina Robson, award nominated author Silver Screen
“Potentially blasphemous, definitely thought-provoking. Ryman asks a simple question and supplies a complex, multifaceted answer that stays with you long after you finish reading.”
– Antony Johnston, creator of Atomic Blonde
"Geoff Ryman has long been one of our finest writers, with no two books the same (or even similar). With Him, Ryman rewrites the Greatest Story Ever Told, using all the tools he has developed from his fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction to craft something new from material so familiar, giving an immediacy and a reality and a shocking sense that we have never encountered this story before, nor this prophet nor his teaching. It's the kind of novel that will win awards and reach hearts and minds and be burnt on bonfires too. A profoundly religious book, in such unexpected ways."
– Neil Gaiman
