'The Actual Star' by Monica Byrne
'How had she ever forgotten?—that it was just as much pleasure to disperse as be whole. '—Review #252
‘The Actual Star’ by Monica Byrne is the novel Books on GIF subscribers voted for me to review from among several that had been on my TBR for years. I sneakily had added it to the lineup hoping you’d pick it, because I read on the back cover that it was set in Belize, and Donna and I had a vacation coming up where we were going to:
I’m so happy you picked this book! It was a uniquely vivid and engaging vacation read.
Here’s the book’s cover:
The narrative follows three interconnected storylines that are headed toward the same sacred cave in western Belize (a real place called Actun Tunichil Muknal, or ATM), but are set apart by intervals of 1,000 years. In 1012, royal siblings—teenagers Ixul and her twin brother, Ajul, and their younger sister, Ket—rise to power in a Mayan city called Tzoyna. In 2012, 19-year-old Leah leaves frigid Minnesota to trace her Belizean roots amid the brief Y2K-esque hysteria in which the Mayan calendar had predicted the world was about to end (remember that?). And in 3012, Niloux and Tanaaj are religious zealots who practice a religion based both on the beliefs of the ancient Mayans as well as on events from Leah’s life—they square off in a future-defining clash. Each chapter occurs in a different era. In one chapter, for example, I’d get immersed in a scene where Ket begins to have visions that portend calamity for her kin and her city. In the next, I’d be wandering a ravaged Earth with Niloux or Tanaaj, so I’d have to remind myself:
Byrne’s future world is fascinating. There are only 8 million people left after climate change has wrecked everything, and they all live a solitary and nomadic existence, coming together only when necessary at way stations across the globe. To them, Leah is a messianic figure who connected to a spiritual world the Maya call Xibalba. In her lifetime, Leah meets two tour guides, twin brothers named Javier and Xander, who assist her—they also are revered in the future, and their love triangle is reenacted as a passion play. Xander also is an aspiring philosopher, and his writings about the perils of capitalism and tourism, among other things, inspire the future society to eschew personal possessions and attachments. For example, parents don’t raise children, the wandering community does. Future people have built-in AI (pronounced ‘eye’) and speak a hodgepodge language that the AI instantly translates in their heads. It also gives them night vision and provides augmented reality overlays on the landscape, like a mental Mapquest. They carry a 3-D printer that can make food and clothing. Everyone seems sexually liberated, too, and they’ve evolved into an amalgamated gender. They also can self-assign their appearance and identity, a description of which appears on the augmented reality of someone looking at them. The ultimate punishment for violence and other crimes is to be ‘blotted,’ or removed from the AI. Byrne’s world building is incredibly ambitious and prodigiously detailed—a hefty glossary at the back of the book is required reading. I often had to refer to it like:
But the modern-day and Mayan chapters were the real treat. On our vacation, Donna and I visited Mayan cities at Caracol in Belize and at Tikal in Guatemala where we had terrific guides who filled us in about the daily lives and the history of the people who once lived there. Then, back in our hotel room, as I read the book, I would revisit the places I had just been. I saw Ket, Ixul and Ajul towering over their subjects from a massive pyramid I had climbed, or playing the Mayan ball game on special courts I had seen, or practicing the ceremonial blood-letting a guide told us about. (It also was fun to think about our guides as saintly figures in some possible future like Javier and Xander.) I also saw Leah, Xander and Javier crossing the one-lane bridges over the Macal River that connect the twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena: Traffic flows one way over a suspension bridge and back the other way over a wooden causeway. But the scene that shook me was when a tourist in the ATM cave ignores his guide’s warnings, gets too close to the Mayan remains in a sacrificial burial chamber and drops his phone, cracking a skull. I thought, ‘that’s terrible, but no one could be that stupid and disrespectful.’ Then, over lunch, our guide at Caracol casually mentioned that something like this had really happened. I was like:
‘The Actual Star’ is an intriguing novel. It asks vital questions about the value and perils of tourism and about how religions are formed and the importance of faith. It also explores how the past, present and future connect. I can’t reveal too much about the plot, or about how the eras intertwine, because there’s too much to explain, and it would spoil things. There’s so much going on that occasionally the story gets bogged down in the details, but it didn’t distract me too much. Instead, I marveled at Byrne’s commitment and diligence in trying to vividly and accurately render the landscape and culture of ancient and modern Belize—seriously, her publishers need to get with the tourism board. Her settings feel respectful and lived in; I like how she includes dialogue in modern-day Belizean Kriol, as well as in Spanish and English, and trusts her readers to figure it out. I was like:
Donna and I loved our trip to Belize, but you don’t need to have visited the country to enjoy ‘The Actual Star.’ It’s a dense book, and it might not be for every reader (especially those looking for a light read). But if you’re looking to immerse yourself in a rich and detailed story, this novel gives you three of them. It’s definitely worth checking out.
An opening excerpt:
Submission to the Tzoyna
from Niloux DeCayo
Yazd, Persia
7 Ajwal 3 Ch’en, Long Count 15.10.13.11.0
14 January, 3012As of 4:24 a.m. Persian Time, the last of the world’s ice is gone. This means the Diluvian Age is over. We have to decide what the new age will be.
Over the last thousand years, Laviaja has remade the world according to the belief that we don’t belong to this reality, and that our true and lasting reality is the Other World, Xibalba, which we can only reach through constant viaja.
But now I want to propose that Xibalba is not a real physical place at all. But rather, what we call Xibalba is just a shift in understanding of our lived reality. Also, I propose that Leah Oliveri never really disappeared. My guess is that, if we were to search the Great Cave, we’d just find her bones alongside all the others.
I understand what it means to say this. I understand it’ll upset a lot of people. But now that the ice has melted, the climate will begin to stabilize, and I think it’s the duty of any sofist to question whether the beliefs that have served us till now are still useful for a post-Diluvian era.
I’m requesting the standard discussion period of 36 hours. Thanks.
Who Monica Byrne thanked:
In what may be the longest and most detailed acknowledgements I’ve ever seen, Byrne thanks not only the family, friends (in Belize and elsewhere), editors, scholars, consultants, agents and others who helped her craft ‘The Actual Star,’ but she also names seemingly every single one of her supporters on Patreon. It’s a tremendous list, and I admire her meticulous attention to gratitude. We should all be so mindful of the bits of help we get along the way! She also thanks her artistic and literary influences, from C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, to the sci-fi novels of Ursula K. Le Guin, Frank Herbert and Kim Stanley Robinson, to Alfonso Curarón’s film Y Tu Mamá También. (I also was glad to know that she and I love the film adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar.) Byrne also lists several books about the ancient Mayans and other Mesoamerican cultures that she consulted in her research.
My rating:
‘The Actual Star’ by Monica Byrne was published by Harper Voyager in 2021 and 2022. 610 pages, including glossary, acknowledgements and discussion questions. $18.59 at Bookshop.org.
What’s next:
and I are doing a Slovej Balle read-along. She’s reading the first volume, and I’m going to try to read both. Join us! 
Before you go:
ICYMI: Review #251
Read this: As a Fish Book fanatic, I was all over this interview between Danielle Lazarin and Katya Apekina (subscription required, but a free unlock is available using the Substack app). Could there be a Fish Book film adaptation coming???
Hear this: Dirt’s newsletter recently included an excerpt of an interview with Edmund Lau, a ‘cultural strategist, designer and art director,’ about his recently coined term to describe our current moment: ‘dark mode shift.’ Lau says: ‘In some ways it's a period of grief. It's different responses to grief, whether it's anger, whether it's nihilism, whether it's just throwing caution to the wind. I think it's a collective reaction to things in the West not being the status quo, not being the same that they've always been.’ This sounds fascinating, and I look forward to hearing the full interview here.
If you enjoyed this review:
Thanks for reading, and thanks especially to Donna for editing this newsletter!
Until next time,
MPV
Sounds like such an interesting book (you had me at JC Superstar movie fans, lol). I'm really excited to hear your thoughts on Solvej Balle. I just finished book 1 and am waiting for a copy of book 2 from the library.
This novel sounds so cool - absolutely want to read it. I LOVE that you read it in tandem with your holiday, it makes the reading experience so much more special! If only we could all the time travel to the places the books we read are set... would be incredible.