The Unity Game by Leonora Meriel
The Unity Game is a complicated but intelligent book. It will challenge and test you as a reader. I would love to reread it after a couple of years. There is more substance in the book than you can grasp at one go.
The Unity Game
The Unity Game by Leonora Meriel is my second read by the author. You cannot miss the versatility and conviction in her writing. The ease with which she pulls off any complexity in the plot. She did that in The Woman Behind The Waterfall and was brilliant in The Unity Game as well.
The book The Unity Game belongs to the science fiction category but not the typical book in the genre. Like ET attacking the Earth and similar stuff. It is more of an unconventional storyline. There is a complex plot, many threads, dynamic characters, a quest, but none of them seems to have a connection.
There are three protagonists whose stories running in parallel. David, a competitive banker, who always wants to win. Alisdair, a supernatural being, in search of the meaning of life after death. Nooe-bouk, an extraterrestrial, was trying to give a new dimension to his life.
There is no clear or immediate connection between any of them. In the manner, their path intersected would leave you gobsmacked. The author brought alive three different worlds with the power of words.
Through these characters, the author Leonora Meriel ponders over a few questions. David's purpose in life is money and fame. Is this the only purpose of life? You will find Alistair on the quest to find an answer to this in his afterlife. An alien is determined to add more meaning to its life.
I like to look upon the stories of David, Alisdair, and Nooe-bouk as metaphors to three stages of life.
David's life is a metaphor for a young age. An age when people are running in the rat race at breakneck speed to earn more and more money and fame.
It is when they start losing the grip over their life, and at the brink of insanity, then they start thinking about the true purpose and meaning of life. Alisdair was found contemplating about it in his afterlife.
Nooe-bouk is at the last stage of its life and is wondering about life beyond its planet. Most of the people at the declining age think about life after death and how they can make the afterlife journey comfortable.
The book is also an amalgamation of many genres. It was no less than a psychological thriller when David was paranoid. Alisdair's thread brought a philosophical and spiritual touch to the story. A mysterious cloud was always hovering over Nooe-bouk. You can say it was a mixed genre book.
Leonora Meriel is a gifted writer. She is excellent at putting her imagination into words. Thus making complicated scenes easy to vision. She did it with ET thread. It was not easy to create an alien world which should be abstract yet vivid enough to visualize. But the author did it with flair. Though I have to reread up to the hilt to decipher Nooe-bouk, and what exactly was happening in its world.
The Verdict
You need a certain level of maturity as a reader, some patience to carry on until the story starts making sense. Once it does, the book is unputdownable. You will be at awe with the author Leonora Meriel's writing style and her creativity.
There are few gifted authors, who in real sense doesn't tell a story but takes you on a journey. And the journey will be both meaningful and engrossing.
