The Failures by Benjamin Liar
Review by Jordan S.
I finished Benjamin Liar’s The Failures on August 2nd, 2024, and this review has been rattling in my head ever since. The book is one of those strange masterpieces where, just when I think I’ve found a way to describe my feelings for it, I realize those thoughts probably aren’t accurate to the actual experience of reading it. I decided, ultimately, to live into that strangeness in this review. It’s an offering of some of the unfinished threads and ideas I have about this book. If you’re looking for a cogent, rational review, then stop here:
Benjamin Liar’s The Failures is one of the best books I read this year, and I loved every minute of it.
Okay.
If you’re still reading, this is an ode to The Failures through all my failed attempts to review it over the past few months.
August 4, 2024, Review Attempt
I thought this book would be another example of me trying to find that book to fill the hole in me—the one that longs for a story that perfectly evokes Elden Ring. I’m not sure the book accomplished that, but I think that’s for the better. Instead, it has me thinking about portal fantasies, Narnia, and what it would be like if Narnia were a Soulsborne game. I’m not quite sure what all that means or what to do with it, but somehow, it’s a good feeling. I really liked this book.
I then went on to write three more paragraphs of gibberish that will not be included.
September 18, 2024, Review Attempt
I’ve been banging my head against this review for a month. It’s a fantastic book, but gosh, is it hard to review. There are moments that feel like something out of Malazan Book of the Fallen, where you’re given nothing and just have to work with it. Except then it’s weirdly a portal fantasy, and Benjamin Liar is so good at what he’s doing that it works—even when it shouldn’t. And then it’s not a portal fantasy anymore? It’s a weird biopunk thing. And then it’s not that anymore. And then it’s a great homage to Soulsborne games. And then it’s not that anymore.
This book is the hardest book I’ve ever had to review, and I absolutely loved it.
October 11, 2024, Review Attempt
I’m just writing a haiku, darnit.
Very tall mountainInside a very dark spacePortal fantasy
Can I write a whole review in haiku format?
November 18, 2024, Review Attempt
This has been my attempt to finally review this book, and I’m not sure I pulled it off. It’s definitely not perfect (minus the haiku—I think that might have actually been the answer to reviewing this book, and I promise Benjamin Liar that if he gets me an ARC of the next one, I will write the whole review in haiku form). The problem is that the book is so disparate in its parts. There are elements of portal fantasy, parts that feel evocative of Elden Ring and other Soulsborne games, and then parts that are completely different from both of those. These reviews also do no justice to the quality of Liar’s character work. Every character in this book was brilliant. Utterly brilliant. I could have spent more time with every single one of them. I would have read books about these characters forever.
Let me just finally wrap this up with another simple statement of my main takeaway from this book:
Benjamin Liar’s The Failures is an absolute masterwork of the fantasy genre, and I will definitely be reading all future books set in this world. I might just need to reread The Failures first.
More haiku-Failures reviews, please!