Review: The Art of Saving the World

By Owen Michael.

Cover courtesy Amazon.

The Art of Saving the World was a birthday gift from my younger sister, who (accurately) thought a fantasy story with an asexual heroine and heavily featuring alternate universes was a concept that would appeal to me.

It's not quite alternate history as traditionally defined; only one alternate universe is depicted as having clear and major world differences, as opposed to clear differences for the main character and her family. But it explores a theme of how people are different (or not) based on their experiences – and, relevantly for Ace Week, one major one is the main character's sexuality.

Just after she was born, Hazel's home became the site of an inter-dimensional rift - one that becomes more agitated and dangerous the further she, specifically, is from it, so she can't go more than a mile from it. A Mysterious Government Agency (referred to jokingly by the family as the MGA) establishes a base on the property to keep an eye on the Rift, and Hazel spends her life coming up with reasons why she can't visit friends or family or meet up too far away.

Then, on her sixteenth birthday, it proceeds to go wild anyway. And then she meets herself…

Over the course of the rest of the book, it turns out that Hazel is the Chosen One to defend the world from the threat to it posed by the Rift, both from the damage it can do directly and the troll invasion it unleashes. Given Hazel's lack of interest in the Rift on her doorstep, the Powers That Be (who, it becomes increasingly clear, see the whole thing mainly as a game), brought in other versions of herself from different universes to move things along. Amongst themselves, they dub the viewpoint character Prime, and others - in the order we encounter them - Rainbow, Red (both after the colour of their dyed hair), Four and (after a spell as Five) Alpha.

Alpha's universe proves the most different. Whilst the others have grown up without Rifts, her world was invaded by trolls when she was very young so she already has experience of them. Having grown up in a world where society has largely broken down and humanity seems to consist of many small groups struggling not to be overwhelmed by the trolls, she views the others as soft, taking things for granted, and unprepared to do what must be done, and is thus much less willing to cooperate with even her other selves. In her world, their mother never met Hazel's Dad, and her younger sister Caro doesn't exist. She is the most expanded on, and really the only one where the differences themselves matter to the plot, which feels like a missed opportunity.

The initially obvious differences between Prime and the others meanwhile tend, of course, to come back to the Rift. Their experience of road trips (even rest stops), Disney World, and a favourite frozen yoghurt place in Philadelphia and so on are all things Hazel has dreamed of but only experienced vicariously through television or Caro. But we never seem to get that much sense of how different their lives have been from each other.

At one point, after Prime is made uncomfortable by a discussion about orientations, Red then wonders about other differences, first asking if she’s the only one with braces (the other three then present had them younger), and endometriosis (the others need clarifying what it is, so she initially assumes she is).

At another, Four asks Prime if she’s disappointed in her, and Prime admits to herself that whilst Rainbow has “her - her everything”, Red competence, and Alpha bravery, Four just has awkwardness and reminds her too much of herself, and notes that any disappointment the latter sees is thus more to do with herself than Four. This is perhaps the most interesting point about meeting different versions of yourself: the idea of being in awe of how one could be better, but upset with having the same problems you're upset by with your own self.

Later on, when Prime has a panic attack, Red helps her through it - she got a psychiatrist to help with the stress caused by endo. She's annoyed the MGA didn't get Hazel one, but not surprised - whilst Hazel's anxiety is under the surface throughout, it only really comes up explicitly at this point. Again this seems a bit of a missed opportunity.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, when Caro asks if it isn’t weird to have copies of herself running around, Hazel corrects her to “Versions”. She comes to think of them as different faces but all hers, and tries to imitate the ways she wants to be more like them, whilst still struggling to actually follow through.

Ultimately, whilst an interesting exploration of the differences the same person could have in different universes, in some ways these seem curiously detached from the plot. Whilst it matters that there are different versions of the same person, as said before, only in Alpha’s case does what the differences are really seem to be key to the events - and even then, a character who has spent significant time with both Prime and Alpha gets which is which wrong and refuses correction at a key moment.

And then there’s Hazel’s orientation. Early on we learn at the party that when it comes to her classmate Marybeth “I apparently could no longer talk to her without stammering. I had that in common with half the guys in our class, but Marybeth probably knew it wasn't the same thing.

"(I hoped she knew)

"(I didn't always know)”

So we find out early on she’s attracted to girls - and there is, in hindsight, maybe a hint of something else, but it's easy to overlook. And Prime, at least, is terrified enough of admitting that attraction to herself, even in the case of Marybeth, and agonising over whether this is a crush, admiration or friendship.

Later, in a discussion about how Prime alone knows anything about hunting (a neighbour goes on about it) it becomes clear Four is attracted to boys, and has a crush on a neighbour boy named Marcus in her class (Red also knowing his counterpart). She is then surprised by the stunned reaction from the others, noting when Rainbow jokes she didn't think she was subtle that she could have been bi - Prime then short circuiting on hearing a version of herself not just saying she likes girls, but that she is “gay as hell”. Rainbow wants to clarify if she is the “token lesbian” - Red says no, but she's only out to Caro. Whilst she doesn’t believe her parents are bigots or would ever kick her out, she's heard too much from them about it being “a trend” or kids being “too young to know” even though it’s fine if they really are to feel safe when gay books were removed from the library and there have been incidents of homophobic bullying at school she alludes to. Four nods along, and Prime panics over if her doing so too would be taken as her being a lesbian too. Whilst still not saying out loud she is a lesbian, Red wishes she had told her parents, with an unspoken “in case I never see them again”. Whilst she might come off as more defensive than her parents deserve, the feeling of some acceptance, but also uncertainty, is clear, and only reinforced by what follows.

Rainbow then admits her parents found out by accident, and felt guilty enough about her feeling she had to hide it to be supportive enough to let her dye her hair rainbow, but then that “I think the guilt's wearing off though. Now they're saying it's ok if I like girls but they wish I wouldn't change my hair or clothes or music for it. They think I'm trying to become someone I'm not. But it’s the opposite”.

She goes on to talk about how whilst “it's nice to not have to lie” she now fights more with her parents, and can’t discuss LGBT+ politics with them or what it's like to hear certain jokes, because they think she’s trying to make them feel bad.

Prime now thinks she can’t risk that, having caused enough problems with the Rift. She again wonders if she has a crush on Marybeth or just admires her, since she doesn't want to see her naked or have sex with her, just sit next to her “lean my head on her shoulders, toy with her hair, play video games with our legs touching and toes tickling and maybe kiss”. She still can't think any of the words looking at herself, but they fit Rainbow. She reflects that seeing her had been like being handed an answer “But then Four wasn't - But Red was, and -” and she's no closer. It's an interesting exploration of the sense of not quite matching up to the archetypes one is given - even, in this case, when they're also yourself.

Later on, after realising Rainbow’s girlfriend Tara has a counterpart who is Alpha’s girlfriend, Red notes she’s never had a girlfriend but at least Rainbow isn’t the token lesbian “at this rate, Four might be the token straight girl”. At which point, Four points out she never said she was straight and think she likes girls, but also boys like Marcus, and “maybe I’m bi. Or nothing at all” (another clue...).

Then, after meeting Prime’s world’s Tara and noting “she’s not my girlfriend… my girlfriend doesn’t have a problem looking me in the eye” and that she’s clearly not the same person even after being convinced of the truth because she still sees her as a stranger, Rainbow ends up discussing their similarities and differences with Prime. Whilst the latter still finds the former too “fierce” to imagine as herself and notes Red wears dresses and has endo, and Four is bisexual, the former notes that she also now knows she has endo symptoms, if “nowhere near as bad”, and Four is not bisexual, but seems to be biromantic. With Prime surprised by this distinction, she explains the split attraction model of romantic and sexual attraction potentially being different (not an idea restricted to or originating from asexual communities, but which seems to come up more in them for statistical reasons) and that whilst she has had sex with Tara, she isn’t sexually attracted to her - or to anyone - and Four thinks she’s the same. Prime immediately blurts out “me too”. After calling her an “asexual lesbian”, Rainbow clarifies that’s what it’s called and, that in a common experience for alloromantic asexuals, she assumed that sexual attraction would happen eventually, but since getting together with Tara, the two of them have been researching asexuality and the different ways people can be ace together. Prime admits she doesn’t do research like that because of her Internet use being monitored.

In some ways this is an allusion to a common asexuality coming of age story trope with Internet research but skipping over in favour of having another of it being explained by someone else asexual - with the twist being that in this case it’s also the same person.

As I said before, the differences between Hazels ultimately don’t seem to impact the plot much - and in some sense why should they? But it feels especially like a wasted opportunity that we mainly see Hazel Prime discussing her orientation in terms of how she is both similar and different to the others, and never with anyone else. It's not clear even if she ever comes out to Caro, and it's never even much discussed internally when it comes to her parents at the point when she is trying to move on from just being who they assume she is.

One might almost wonder if this was intended as setup for a sequel spending more time with people beyond themselves where asexuality (or endometriosis, or the fact that it’s briefly noted that Hazel’s family is mixed) would come more to the fore (without necessarily being part of the main plot) - but the main plot of being pawns in a game played by higher powers is resolved well here (I don't want to spoil how) and none has been announced since. I haven't read anything else by the author, and, honestly, the fact that she has also written books showcased for their disabled protagonists (I know she is also autistic, as I'm pretty sure I am) would make those stick out more than others to me, but I wasn't left desperate to seek them out either.

That asexuality (and romantic attraction to girls) seems to be a commonality between them all, even as total lack of attraction to boys isn't, in some ways feels positive - Rainbow in particular feels very different from the others in ways that go against the usual asexual stereotypes. But at the same time, the way it only comes up directly in discussion amongst a group who are all asexual (we don't even get to know what others in Rainbow's world think about it specifically, beyond her version of Tara presumably being accepting) and with occasional inferences, makes me wonder about making “asexual lesbians” so emphasised as a selling point for a book where it's not clear to me how much of it coming up will fly over the heads of those who don’t already know about it. As someone who has delivered training on asexuality and aromanticism that felt very basic, only to be reminded the next week how many people even that is beyond, I absolutely sympathise with not wanting aspec fiction to just be Asexuality 101 - but I'm not sure this is any more than that in practise. For that matter, we don't really see either Rainbow or Alpha’s relationships with their (or Prime’s) versions of Tara from Prime’s perspective.

From an alternate history perspective, we don't really learn about how different the courses of the others’ lives were besides Alpha (it's maybe hinted that Rainbow's apparent confidence is a product of having been outed accidentally and then finding it easier to push through more than anything else, but this is never made clear). Even just in terms of the Rift, Prime's Mum and Dad were seemingly mainly financially supported by the MGA - what difference did the lack of that make to their other selves?

And the depiction of the Mysterious Government Agency is probably the most interesting aspect of the rest of the plot. Often this kind of group are either straightforward heroes or villains, especially when protagonists aren't members. Here they are a fact, sometimes helpful, sometimes obstructive, one that is ultimately probably necessary, but clearly not all of whose actions are, not always as on top of things as they think, and composed of people with different views of their purpose, which lead them to different places on the hero/villain scale. Plotwise, I think this might be a stronger selling point to go along with having to team up with your doppelgangers, rather than where the book ultimately seems to promise more than it delivers.

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