Eric Syrdal’s Pantheon is a true tour de force of a novel. This epic free verse narrative transcends everything you know and expect a novel to be, and leaves you forever changed. I was captivated by the underlying themes this novel chooses to explore. More importantly, I was entranced by the artistry behind Syrdal’s execution of this story. The beauty behind this novel lies within the author’s ability to isolate so many intimate moments between the narrators and those they interact with.Â
Syrdal’s narrative is a story told from multiple perspectives, and aims to explore the messy and complicated make up of human existence. Readers are immediately introduced to a poet interacting with a pantheon of goddesses that embody the emotions for which they are named. Our heroic poet’s encounters with Karma, Grace, Fate, Hope, and many others render a resemblance to Homer’s epic hero Odysseus, and his many run-ins with the pantheon of Ancient Greece. However, this poet’s story is not the only narrative within this novel. Syrdal enlightens readers with multiple overlapping perspectives, and allows characters from each section of this book to matter in someone else’s story. Narratives from a super futuristic space setting merge with moments from an ancient battlefield, and make perfect sense. This is no easy undertaking for any author, and Syrdal seems to execute it with ease. This novel transcends the boundaries of time as much as it does genre.
Pantheon is a tale told in free verse, and the form of this novel is as fluid and messy as the human emotions Syrdal captures in his story. The author allows the story to tell itself, and doesn’t limit his narrative just to the lines of poetry. We see the story fade in and out of prose-like dialogue between human and goddess, and between goddesses themselves, almost as if these powerful deities command the narrative on their own terms. From a structural standpoint, it is one of the many artistic elements that make this novel extraordinary. The integration of sensory imagery and the chosen entry points to the narrative are so intricate and well-thought out, as a reader you feel like you’re a part of something bigger. It’s almost as if the story is trying to communicate through the realizations the human characters reach, with the goddesses help, of course. Â
Syrdal creates a myriad of powerfully intimate moments within his narrative. It not only calls the readers to contemplate the higher powers at work outside of their individual worlds, but it grants readers a new appreciation of life itself. Human beings are messy creatures, and this novel attempts to wrestle with the extent of the mess human emotions bring to the table. How do you explain love to goddesses that aren’t supposed to feel it? How do you conquer fears of the unknown the world can throw your way (in the novel’s case, how do you conquer your dragons)? Do you have control over your actions in life? Or does someone determine your destiny? Erid Syrdal invites his readers to think about all of these questions throughout the story’s journey.Â
What makes this novel so special, is that it can be read again and readers will reach a new conclusion, think about something completely different, and maybe formulate an answer to the many questions left behind in the story.Â
The richness of this story, and the stylistically unique approach of telling it will not only make this book popular, but it will ensure this book is remembered by anyone who journeys through its pages.
