Review of “IMPOSSIBLE TALES” by Sury V.S.

​Score: 91/100 (9.1 out of 10)

IMPOSSIBLE TALES is an intelligent, mindbending collection of (mostly) short-stories by Sury V.S.!

Now, to be perfectly honest, this is a mixed bag in terms of entertainment (from the a reader's perspective) and writing quality.

What we can tell you is that every one of these stories, whether we enjoyed them or not, still demonstrated a degree of complexity, imagination, and outside-the-box thinking that we tend to admire.

Right off the bat, we were hit with the book's first story, “Wire Draw, Basic Needs.” Why the author chose to use this long, heavy-handed, uncomfortable story to kick off this book is beyond us. First and foremost, this story is SO much longer than any other story in the book (over 50 pages!). It's also slow, plodding, and somewhat formulaic. In other words, we didn't enjoy it as much as the author probably intended.

Why is that? Well, first of all, pretty much everyone in this first story is an unlikable @$#hole. The protagonist, Carl Matz, is a pompous, self-assured rich kid. Carl's friends are selfish, absent-minded, nonchalant, and seem to lack all compassion or sympathy. They might as well not be in the story at all. Then there are the supernatural/quantum characters: Beam Shane (the guide) and the angels, Anne, App, and Purina. All four of these characters are supposed to be benevolent, good, and well-meaning— protecting and taking care of Carl while teaching him basic morals. However, they come across as forceful, tyrannical, oppressive, and creepy.

In the process of trying to teach Carl to value food, clothes, shelter, humility, modesty, and moderation, they handcuff him to a chair (naked, at times) and force-feed him until he submits to their “lessons,” more so out of desperation than of having a genuine change of heart.

Yes, this is as uncomfortable to read about as it sounds. What's really strange is that no one in this book acts like an actual human being. That's probably our biggest gripe about it. Why on earth would someone say that all they need in life is food? What, we don't need oxygen and water too? Does this 22-year-old “kid” have an IQ of 50? The other thing that's weird is that he doesn't react to this situation the way that the grand majority of us would. He doesn't cry. He doesn't beg. He doesn't bargain. He doesn't plea. He just seems to sit there and take it. Why wouldn't you have conversations with your captors? Why wouldn't you try to convince them to let you go? It's bizarre.

The majority of the experience, he just sits there like some theater goer while a film is playing, barely emoting, barely reacting. Even when he's being mauled by mosquitoes or has a feeding tube forced down his throat, he just doesn't seem to react with the agony and discomfort you'd expect a human being to. In fact, he almost seems to invite the experience. He somehow—like a self-destructive idiot—finds himself in these predicaments again and again. How are we supposed to cheer for this guy? He's a dodo, and not in a cute way!

Just read this passage: “He sprang from the bed and began pacing again. Then he keenly became aware of the biting cold. Ha, ha, whether it was the cold or the insects, both were biting him. Damn, though the phrasing was appropriate, the timing was inappropriate. Darn, am I going off the rocker?”

But we digress. This story actually reminded us a bit of A Christmas Carol and mostly has the same formula. A man who is rough around the edges is taken on a supernatural journey with some spirits in an attempt to make him a better person.

There is a twist, however, that we found amusing. However, did this story really have to be this long? And did it have to start the whole book? Anyway, at least this story has some subtext and lessons about being grateful for what you have. It also provides a rather interesting critique satirizing the rules, laws, and moral codes of organized religions, governments, and societies. After all, it's not like the guide and angels (the people who are pushing these morality laws on Carl) are such great people. You could even make the argument that they're more despicable than the very wrongdoers they're trying to correct by virtue of being tyrannical and oppressive.

Thankfully, this book took a huge leap in our opinion with the next story, “Out of the Pages!” This is far and away the best story in the entire book. In fact, this story alone probably saved this book from falling into the 8.8-8.9 score territory.

“Out of the Pages” is a story that blends and blurs the lines between reality and fiction, which is almost always cool! This story emphasizes the power of creativity, imagination, and literature to encourage and inspire people including in bad, dangerous, and/or horrific ways. Imagine following the dangerous, dogmatic writings of a genocidal tyrant (i.e. Mein Kamf) or being inspired by violent stories to commit acts of violence. Well, the latter is what pretty much happens in this book, however with a meta twist. In this story, an author (“Imaginator”) of a story involving a serial-killer finds that his main character—the serial-killer herself—has come to life! Her name is Sarah Real, and she's easily the most compelling character in the entire book. Her name was inspired, rather simply, by the author trying to choose a name that sounded like “serial-killer.” Well, Sarah Real is both a surreal character and an actual serial-killer. Furthermore, like some kind of murder robot, she's programmed to follow the script set forth in the author's story. So, is she really evil or is it the author's fault for programming or writing her in such a way?

It's also interesting how she targets people who were involved, albeit indirectly, in her creation—going after the people from the fan site/forum who suggested the author write about a serial-killer. It's rather thought-provoking as the reader is forced to consider such things as: is this a form of brutal justice or just plain, cold-blooded savagery?

Many people are fans of horror and slasher films, works of fiction in which people are horribly maimed and mutilated. Well, it's all fun and games until all of that violence comes to your doorstep! What happens when a lover of gore & violence is directly confronted with ACTUAL gore & violence along with their own mortality?

Unfortunately, the book again dips in quality and enjoyability.

The “Nature's Experiments” stories, “One Atom” and “The Horizontal Planet,” are incredibly ambitious, mindbending, and—at times—fascinating. They're written almost poetically, likening Mother Nature to being like a mad scientist in a laboratory of the cosmos, creating such things as the titular Horizontal Planet with 2-foot-tall humans, 3-foot-tall giraffes, and birds that attack the humans when they get out of line and start building vertically (i.e towers). That may be analogous to how many deify or venerate a creator god who—perhaps from the author's perspective—isn't necessarily very benevolent, forgiving, or kind. Mother Nature (and the narrator) keep referring to the humans as “dear children” or “dear kids” right before she acts out of wrath or out of playful pettiness. This is apparent in the quote: “She wanted to teach her dear kids a dear lesson.”

The problem with these two stories is that, while they initially captivated us with their world-building and flowery, detailed descriptions, they just seemed to drone on and on and on. They overstayed their welcome, becoming overly complex, overly involved, and failing to get to the dang point.

Similar to how we felt about the relentless world-building in Codex Sohrakia by KM Taylor, it almost seemed to us like the author of IMPOSSIBLE TALES couldn't just move on at that point. It became plodding, circular, and, admittedly, a bit boring. It was like sitting in on three consecutive chemistry lectures.

At a certain point, the flowery, detailed language that we once adored about these stories started to become cloying and annoying.

The author has a rather peculiar and often irritating way of writing. They often mix up the phrasing of words or use the wrong word altogether. Here are some examples:

“...author extraordinary” should be “author extraordinaire.”

“...was he becoming a Dracula?” should be “...was he becoming a vampire?”
Reasoning: Dracula is a specific person, a proper noun. You can't be “a” Dracula.

“...the ring could be probably radioactive!” should be “...the ring could be radioactive!”

“What do you mean by, what do you mean?” should probably simply be “What do you mean by that?”

“...a few mountains there were” should be “...there were a few mountains” (unless you're Yoda... are you Yoda?)

“His acute brain suspected that some kind of virus was at work here. Most probably not the kind of viruses that throng the thoroughfares of the Internet”

HUUUUUH? We can't help you rewrite that.

“...portended no good news” should just be something like “did not bode well”

“Adding insult to injury, rubbing salt over the wound” are two separate idioms with similar meanings, but are redundant when paired together

“You boast you are a writer, and yet you are so dumb” sounds... dumb and awkward. Maybe it should be: “You claim to be a writer, yet you sound like an idiot.”

“I will delete the whole bloody whatever already written from my laptop” is a really messy passage. Maybe it could use some commas?

“...had employed a housemaid for cleaning his house” is redundant because the cleaning of a house is inherently implied by the title “housemaid” (i.e. a person who cleans a house).

“They danced exactly for one hour” should be “They danced for exactly one hour” or “They danced for an hour.”

“Enough of talk” should be “Enough talk.”

With that said, this is a book with a lot to offer. Check it out on Amazon!