Breakaway Books

Authored by George Saunders; Published September 2026; Fantasy

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️

Vigil is technically fantasy. How could it possibly be anything else, with the entire story narrated by a ghost? But, it is–and I cannot stress this enough–not the fun type of fantasy novel.

In Vigil, the ghost of a woman named Jill, who has been “elevated,” seeks to comfort those who are at the precipice of death. Her current subject is K.J. Boone, an oil executive who spent his life ensuring that fossil fuels would continue to burn, much to his own benefit. As ghost after ghost appears to K.J. to try to convince him to admit that he did great damage to the world, Jill tries to see him in a more compassionate light, even as she struggles with the memories of her own life and death, which she has not come to terms with. 

If you already have climate anxiety, stop right here. Do not read this novel; it will make your climate anxiety so much worse. And, it will add on top of that anxiety a nice soupçon of anger, as it details all the things that K.J. Boone and people like him have done to convince society that oil really isn’t causing all that damage after all. K.J. is, quite simply, not at all sympathetic as a character. Purposely so, I would assume. When confronted with such a person, Jill is comes off as remarkable for her ability to continually dredge up any sort of positive emotion toward him. Her philosophy is an interesting one to examine: He was shaped by his genetics and the events that happened to him. How could he have changed that and how could I punish him for that?

This is an extremely fatalistic point of view, and one that I can’t quite agree with. It does, however, make it easier to sympathize with just about anyone. By the time of K.J.’s death, his pride and his insistence at defending his actions seem more pathetic than evil. The instant that death actually takes him, he sees the error of his ways and moves on to try to warn others on the brink of death of the dangers of fossil fuels. This is where I became confused–what’s the point? Why was any ghost visiting K.J. on his deathbed, rather than in the prime of his life? What could K.J. possibly have done to change his impact on the world at that point in his life? Even a public recantation of what he had spent his whole life accomplishing would have limited effect. Perhaps this is the author’s point, that what we are doing is futile: too little, too late. It also means that in the novel,only Jill’s task remains as one of any importance, to comfort a man who is giving up on the last shreds of his life.

Vigil can hardly be deemed anything but fantasy–what with ghosts at every turn–but this is not a novel to read to escape from your troubles. It succeeds, instead, at reminding you of them.