IKONA is so much more than just a story. I had a sense of this during the first few introductory chapters, but the more the story unfolded, the more I realised that I had it all backwards. IKONA is not a truth embedded in a story but rather a story woven through a truth. In other words, IKONA is a Truth (with a capital T) to be received through the vehicle of brilliant storytelling.
I felt something reading IKONA – something deep and inexplicable, like an awakening, and it only grew and intensified as the story unravelled and surfaced to its own awakening. I bawled my eyes out reading the last few chapters. I was overcome by a mixture of grief, love, relief, and something else I cannot put words to.
It is a love letter to humankind, better yet, spirit-kind. IKONA held up a mirror which reflected back my humanness yet transcended it all the same. Maybe that’s why I can’t quite articulate what Ikona left me with, because the gift it gave to me was directly to my soul.
And at the very least, IKONA is an exceptional story. I can’t choose a character I loved more than another. They are all unique and important in their own way, and each one completely relatable. It’s not like seeing yourself mirrored inside a fictional hero, rather seeing yourself mirrored inside a fictional human, and understanding that it’s their very humanness which makes them the heroes.
The writing lands in your mind like poetry. The way Dixon describe emotion, such as Finley’s fear or Wallace’s grief, reads as though you can feel it in your very own hands. And although the story is brilliantly heartwarming and equally heartbreaking, it is also funny in the right moments. Each character possess a depth which begs of your investment, and quirks which can only endear you and make you love them all the more.
IKONA is a kaleidoscope of love and adventure – it takes you to so many places in time, and so many places in yourself. I implore you, as someone who adores stories, and as an artist and storyteller herself, please read IKONA.
As Gutov says, read it with your heart, and not your head.