On June 2, 2016, a jogger in Central Park discovers a mass of stone in the reservoir, which soon transforms into a towering stratovolcano. This bizarre occurrence aligns with a surge of strange global phenomena. The narrative weaves mythic elements with stark realism, capturing the sensation of living in a world on fire. A diverse cast experiences personal and collective upheavals: an eight-year-old boy in Mexico City travels back 500 years to witness the fall of the Aztec Empire; a folktale scholar in Tokyo investigates a tale of a woman descending a mountain to wreak havoc; a white trans writer in Jersey City struggles to craft a sci-fi novel about an impossible civilization; a nurse with Doctors Without Borders aids Syrian refugees in Greece while grappling with the trauma of surviving a bombing in Afghanistan; and a nomadic herder in Mongolia transforms into a green, flowering creature determined to cleanse the planet's pollution. With its audacious structure and poetic prose, this novel presents a fiery tapestry of interconnected stories. Critics have praised it as a contemporary folktale that captures the tumultuous present, blending history, myth, and vision in a way that is both gripping and haunting.
