I wasn’t sure what to expect from “Only Human: Act 1…”; the blurb is a
little mysterious, hinting at a humorous, perhaps satirical journey with an
ambiguous protagonist. In reality, the book is actually quite a bit
darker than I expected – though this is always welcome for my tastes – playing
on themes of demonology, Hell on Earth and the Devil. The concept is that
a strange, shape-shifting mythological creature called a “Twyleth Teg” (I still
don’t know what that is) is being held captive by a priest in rural Wales,
while the latter ascertains the creature’s intentions for good or evil.
To help the priest make his decision, the Teg narrates a selection of dark,
supernatural tales, the subliminal message within them supposedly the key to
the priest deciphering the answer to his question.
“Only Human…” really is as entertaining as it sounds, and I couldn’t put
it down, reading from cover to cover in just a couple of hours; the stories are
both atmospheric and surprisingly chilling – more so than the tongue-in-cheek
dialogue of the opening chapter might suggest. There is a degree of
humour from the off, but this is subsequently dropped in favour of a more
menacing undertone. As one reads on, it soon becomes apparent that the
stand-alone stories are actually directly connected parts of the same sum,
creating a time-spanning story which crosses dimensions, not dissimilar in structure
to “Cloud Atlas”, if a great deal more contemporary. The further it
progresses, the more profound and philosophical this book becomes; what begins
with the suggestion of a 70s Hammer horror-style anthology gradually evolves
into a hellish kind of sci-fi fusion, until the Underworld dimension in the
book becomes a metaphorical reflection of our own corrupt, Dystopian,
oligarchic future.
This is a very intelligent and imaginative book - highly enjoyable and
genuinely thought-provoking - but only if you’ve the determination to unravel
the metaphor. Unfortunately, the reader is required to think a lot more
than I believe the author intended, because it is necessary to unravel Leigh
Holland’s writing to some extent. While she is a very professional author
with a good technical knowledge and grammatical ability, I do feel this book
suffered badly simply because it is so confusing to read; Leigh’s explanation
of events and timelines is not necessarily clear, and I did find it necessary
to go back a couple of times to check where (and when) I was at. Natural
breaks in the text and story are fragmented and disjointed, and scenes are
often not coherently discerned from each other – it felt as though the author
is picturing the events in her mind, but foggily articulating them onto the
page; unfortunately, this does leave the reader, in my view, with too much work
to do. It is a shame this was such a prominent issue, as I otherwise
believe “Only Human…” is a book I would have scored with a significantly higher
star-rating.
An ambient read this is probably not, but intriguing and fun it
certainly is. If you are willing to put in the brainpower, and are
perhaps a little more laterally-minded than myself, I think you will enjoy it a
great deal.
