EYE IN THE BLUE BOX: BOOK ONE OF EYES OF AWAKENING

A young man spends his nights fighting in a menacing otherworldly realm in Kim’s debut fantasy novel and series-starter.

After falling asleep one evening, Korean American James Mun is seemingly transported to a surreal world. But this isn’t a dream; it’s “the Flowering,” a dimension some people access via sleep. After meeting Bloom, a giant, lovable blue wolf who instantly takes to him, James joins Bloom’s Crew Blue, consisting of E (the leader), Honey, and Lux. (While they’re all humans who visit the Flowering each night, Bloom is a native citizen.) The crew, armed with weapons the members can materialize (with certain limitations), helps to free “marked citizens” who must move on to other dimensions. Those marked who don’t leave become crazed “moulded” citizens, which the crew vows to take out. When things start to happen that even E, Honey, and Lux can’t explain, Crew Blue seeks a Shaman in the unpredictable City. Kim’s delightfully intricate, dreamlike world comes with copious rules; the most crucial one involves monitoring sleep-time with a tattoolike “watch” on the back of a hand. (The humans will die if they don’t get 56 hours in a given week, and if their mandatory quota of eight hours a night falls short, they must quickly make it up.) With the exception of the instantly irresistible Bloom, warming up to these characters takes time—James makes constant mistakes, Lux neglects to relay pertinent information, and E and Honey habitually glare and growl at “newborn” James and call him “moron” or “idiot.” The cast, however, ultimately forms a strong bond as they engage in exhilarating battles (“Massive coils of hard, segmented flesh followed, dropping like bags of sand and slithering aside”). Individual backstories further complicate both the plot and characters, and the sublime final act will leave readers itching for the sequel.

This extraordinary, energetic opening installment is not to be missed.