Shades of Forever - Chris Kluwe

SHADES OF FOREVER

CHRIS KLUWE

*****

In a heretofore calm pocket of a postapocalyptic world, a few survivors find they are not alone as they face a new reality rife with cosmic horrors.

In an isolated village at the edge of a forest, the last of humanity ekes out a spirited existence on an Earth that was ravaged by cataclysm generations ago. Here, Sky Memoriam prepares to assume the role of memory keeper, sole relator of the long-forgotten histories of the Old World. But Sky is in for a shock.

When a ship from somewhere out in space lands in the survivors’ clearing, its wisecracking AI interface, Box, quickly announces its intention to integrate Sky into what the visitor insists is the true reality. In order to withstand the forthcoming eldritch horrors—so soul-rippingly incomprehensible there are no words to describe them—it seems assimilation is essential. But creature-combat training aside, Sky’s greatest task will be making sense of everything the snarky bot has to impart about limitless imagination, the endless infinity of other worlds, and the dangers on this one.

Being torn between the wasteland Sky and the plucky village folk call home and the infinite multiverse proffered by Box is enough to drive anyone insane. But as our hero soon discovers—and as weird as it sounds—madness itself may be the key to surviving this wild ride.

At once violent, funny, and hopeful, Shades of Forever is a reality-shattering, mind-melting slice of dystopian fiction from author, activist, and former NFL punter Chris Kluwe.

MY REVIEW

*****

When I saw the tagline description for Shades of Forever as ‘An Eldritch Punk/Horror Comedy’, I knew I had to request to read it right away!

Sky lives as a memory keeper in her small village in the middle of the woods, but she dreams of flying into the sky. When a spaceship crashes down, she goes to investigate, and what she finds will change her world forever.

Being a lifelong gamer and finishing the Dungeon Crawler Carl series a few months ago, I am a new convert to LitFic and I hadn’t realised when I requested this book that it fits into that genre but with a lot of pretty big twists. Author Chris Kluwe describes it best in his acknowledgments – ‘the apocalypse, but emotionally balanced’. This is what Shades of Forever is all about at its heart – what makes us human and how community and working together should be at the centre of everything we do. Sky is a fantastic main character, having grown up in a post-apocalyptic world, in a village with routine and hierarchy, she is naïve to the world outside her boundaries and always wants to do the right thing – she’s the kind of role model we should all aspire to. Her morality is juxtaposed with the sarcastic AI Box who finds themselves inside her mind and trying to teach her about the wider world and level her up to become more of a killing machine.

It’s a very hard book to define - there’s a lot of elements of LitFic as Sky is levelled up and gains new abilities and items. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world with fantasy elements, but there’s also a lot of comedic moments, particularly in the relationship between Box and Sky. The enemy elements are eldritch horrors and there’s meters of insanity which pushes it gently into a horror category. There’s also a lot of sci-fi causality theories and alternate realities. Occasionally I found some of the sequences difficult to picture, but I do struggle with this in general as that’s just the way my imagination works. The ending also felt a tad abrupt – I watched the percentages ticking down to 100% and trying to work out how it was going to end. I loved every moment of it though, and although it is a little on the long side, it never felt like it dragged at any point.

Overall, Shades of Forever was a delight to read – a Kindig Gem for 2026 and I recommend it to anyone, regardless of what genres they enjoy. I think there’s something for everyone in here with a great message at its heart. Thank you to NetGalley & Podium Entertainment for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

LINKS TO BUY

Amazon UK