Synopsis:
Ruling as king does not suit a man like Mute. The boredom. The monotony. The permanent stagnation…
Until he arrived. The one with the Gift of Silence. The one wielding a dagger. The one who would mold Balewind into a temple to the Silent Almighty. Lord Deaf intends to be the scream that replaced a whisper, offering one final message to the realm before it never hears again:
Bestow upon me your pain, your illness, your sorrow. Silence will absolve them all.
Review:
The Whisper that Replaced God Part II: Silent Almighty is another stellar story from the mind of author Timothy Wolff. Not only does this novella continue the unreliable retelling of Mute’s life, but emphasizes the growth of a master wordsmith.
Picking up 5 years after the events of The Whisper that Replaced God (a finalist in the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship no less!), Silent Almighty shows us a different Mute, a bored Mute. Perhaps even a jaded Mute. With his reign being pretty much shit—cultists to the Silent God and drug addicts have run amok, bleeding the land dry and filling a ton of nooses—Mute’s kingdom and life are thrown into jeopardy when another of the Silent God’s faithfuls rises, Lord Deaf. In the most Mute-esque fashion, this novella skips a lot of the boring parts, showcasing Mute and Deaf in a power struggle and Mute eventually doing things of value. Finally.
As with Part I, this novella would be nothing if not for the amazing character that is Mute. Unreliable to a fault, bored out of his mind, definitely deranged, and, might I even call it, apathetic to living. Mute is such a compelling protagonist just because he’s so off the beaten path. I will say that this story’s older version of Mute isn’t as melodramatic as the one from Part I. He is a little wiser in some ways, but his humor is still on point, the humor being how oblivious and lost in his own world he truly is.
And in the same vein as Part I (again because Mute really doesn’t care too much about other characters), the rest of the cast is there. They are essentially plot movers with names, some of which Mute can never remember or care to. Lord Deaf obviously gets the most page time, and while he is a good foil for Mute, I do wish we would have seen him use the Silent God’s magic ala Mute. But that’s picking nits. We do get to see an important character in Mute’s life show up in this novella. It was an interesting scene to say the least.
“We are told that life is beautiful, though if that were the case, we wouldn’t have to lie to our children.”
The real standout of this novella is the writing. Wolff takes everything that made TWtRG work so well and kicked it up a level. The prose is just electric, practically a banger line in every paragraph. The man just has a gift for the written word! The meta jokes still exist, many hitting nicely. There is always a worry that a protagonist like Mute might overstay his welcome, but in Silent Almighty, that definitely is not the case and I think that stems from how Wolff handles his narration, propped up by the incredible turns of phrasing.
“The past is invincible. I have seen gods, monsters, all sorts of things in their glory. I have never seen yesterday crumble.”
The brevity of this story (all 75ish pages of it) makes it a palatable read in about an hour or two. The pace never slows because this story just stays as long as it is necessary. We do get two separate scenes of Mute using his “hush” magic, which I still think is super fun and unique. Again, with Mute’s distinct wit, when he uses his silence magic, the fun just funs.
And can we please give a GLORIOUS round of applause for this absolute fire cover??? The color scheme, the pose, the spread. Just dayum!
The Whisper that Replaced God Part II: Silent Almighty is just a great novella, one that can be read in a sitting and one that just makes you smile for silly reasons. I really do hope this isn’t the end of Mute’s journey (I know that he will return in a novel-length story decades later but it won’t be from his POV) as he is just fun to follow!
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