Books by Month: February

The Towers of February is the diary of a boy who finds himself in a strange world with no memories of who he is or where he comes from. He finds himself on the shore of a beach with a small notebook in his pocket. Some of the pages in the back of the notebook are filled with strange writings he cannot decipher. As he walks higher into the dunes, he comes across a couple of towers which seems out of place here but also somehow familiar to him. He goes to them, thus starts his journey of uncovering his past and deciding his future.

I enjoyed the simplicity and sincerity of this story. Some books and movies that center around alternate realities and travel between dimensions go to deep into the science of it and end up lacking in the humanity of the characters. This book does discuss the scientific theory briefly but focuses more on the effects of such travel on our main character as well as the original inhabitants of the world he traveled to. In a way, it feels akin to H.G. Wells’ First Man in the Moon. It centers around a peaceful, happy community who has begun to experience suspicion and fear and therefore developed defensive actions for possibly the first time in their history because of these strange invasions. It hearkens back to colonizers encountering Indigenous peoples. The question is, are such meetings destined to always end the same? With one side conquering another, completely changing the other side’s way of life? Even if there isn’t a complete domination, wouldn’t even a mingling of the two change things, perhaps not for better or for worse but a change regardless? And wouldn’t there always be people resistant to any form of change?

I think this book may be out of print as it is an older one, but if you are able to get your hands on it, I would definitely recommend you do so! I was able to borrow one through an Interlibrary Loan system.