Review: The Great Work - Sheldon Costa

Genre: Historical fantasy, Western Published: Quirk Books, November 2025

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“Romantic love was a clear-cut institution, bolstered by orthodoxy and ritual. When a man lost his wife, it was expected that his world would unravel. But friendship… friendship was a wilderness with no guide. There were no courting rituals one might follow to pursue it, and little sympathy for the gut-wrenching horror of its loss.”

Who would have thought that I could enjoy a western as much as I enjoyed this one! Honestly, I went in with mixed expectations, but wonderfully surprised by this imaginative, original and immersive genre-bender. Historical fiction meets fantasy/alchemy on the Northwest American Frontier, and it somehow works. Perhaps more character-driven and philosophical than you’d first think, but exactly my cup of tea because of it!

The Story:

Alone in a frontier town in the nineteenth-century Northwest, Gentle Montgomery is grieving his best friend. Liam was an alchemist, killed when he tried to capture a creature that shouldn’t exist: a giant salamander that drives men mad. When Gentle’s teenage nephew Kitt arrives at his doorstep, the two set out together to track the monster down, so they can use its blood in an alchemical formula that will bring Liam back to life. What follows is an incredible journey of friendship and adventure, through a landscape speckled with myths and legends, doomsday cults and unexpected alliances.

What I loved:

Sheldon Costa proves to be a bit of a literary alchemist himself with this debut novel. He mixes so many themes and elements that seemingly shouldn’t work together, and somehow transformed it into gold.

From page one, I was drawn in by the vivid atmosphere and setting of the American wild-west with a light fantasy-twist. The promise of an epic adventure was there immediately and already after the first chapter, and although it delivers on that promise, it does so in a way that’s different enough from your classic “hero’s-journey” to feel completely original.

Gentle is far from your classic fantasy-hero. He’s a surly older man; trialed and seasoned by the harsh conditions of life on the frontier, and still actively grieving the loss of his best friend. Through his character, we explore deeply human themes of depression, addiction, the loneliness of grief, and the questions of “the meaning of it all” in the face of overwhelming adversity. I love how Costa doesn’t shy away from the uglier sides of these themes, but simultaneously balances them out with the warmer themes of friendship, trust and the caring-bond he builds with his nephew over the course of the story. By the end of the story, Kitt, Gentle and his mule Abe felt like a small (found-) family I truly came to care about, which made me even more invested in the trials and tribulations they face.

The world of The Great Work isn’t a friendly one and its exploration of moral (and religious) corruption, futility of war and the disillusionment of progress can hit even harder for it. Contrasted against it, the moments of true friendship, cooperation and companionship, shine even brighter. It’s rare to see friendship – rather than romantic love - take center-stage in a fantasy, but this book does it beautifully. Because of that, it created a cast and story that will stick with me for a long time to come.

What you might not love:

Personally, this was the exact story wished for, but I can see how it isn’t a book for everyone. Maybe reconsider picking this one up if:

- you’re looking for a pistol-blazing, action packed monster-hunting-western. This definitely has element of that, but leans far more to the character-driven and psychological side.

- you like your protagonists to be easily likable. Although I ended up loving them as layered characters, Gentle and Kitt definitely need some warming up to.

- you’re sensitive to themes of addiction, depression/suicidal thoughts, or violence and suffering (both towards humans and animals).

Thanks to Quirk Books and Dreamscape Media for providing me with an (audio-)ARC in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend the fantastically narrated audio-version for an extra layer of immersion. All opinions are my own.

You can find this book here on Goodreads.