Interview with Death, Tales from the Afterworld By V. K. Pasanen

Where do we go when we die? It’s a question that many people agonise over – the concept of is riddled with fear for many. Fear of the pain that we associate with death, fear of the unknown, and fear for the loss of control. V.K. Pasanen tackles this incredibly confronting matter in Interview with Death, the first book of his newly revised Tales from the Afterworld series.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary

Pasanen walks us through the transformation of Nathan Miller into Nathan Reaper. It’s a rollercoaster ride through the mortal experiences of tragedy, suffering, death, addiction, love, hope, and healing.

Nathan’s early life is stained by a survivor’s guilt that can only be born of an early exposure to traumatic deaths. It is at the scene of one of these calamitous events that Nathan first meets the Man in Black – a Johnny Cash lookalike in a Stetson hat, dressed from head to toe in, you guessed it, black. The feeling of knowing he shouldn’t have survived to adulthood pushes him into a world of foreign affairs reporting in war-torn countries.

Nathan is first blessed, and then plagued, by what appears to be untouchable good luck, surviving countless scenarios that should have seen him in an early grave. However, this supposed good luck is actually the touch of another Eternal… the Man in White. And Nathan’s survival is all a part of the gods’ games.

Nathan’s story takes twists and turns that make him question what is good, what is bad, and what is real. Interactions with the Eternals lead him down terrible paths of destruction, addiction, adulteration, and through the Afterworld – where he learns where we go after we die and what happens to the people he loved most. In his journey, Nathan learns that nothing is as clear cut as we believe it to be – nothing is black and white, so much as many shades of grey. This journey allows Nathan to evolve into Nathan Reaper, and finally achieve enlightenment, redemption, and happiness.

My Take on Interview with Death

Pasanen works an incredible magic with Interview with Death. Every character that ventures into the plot has an incredible depth because of their history – from Uncle Frank, a Vietnam War veteran who is an early influence in Nathan’s life, to the Eternals who influence Nathan’s story from a different plain of reality. Characters have excellent dimensions because of the attention to detail Pasanen paid to their individual stories and how they are incorporated into that of the main character.

I enjoyed how the Eternals are all familiar gods from well disseminated mythologies, but Pasanen manufactures a new Genesis creation narrative with them. Their familiarity mixed with the new details Pasanen introduces makes for a morish read. The Eternals are flawed and emotional, reflecting the humans that they are programmed to influence, and have their own struggles and tragedies that govern their personalities and actions throughout Nathan’s stories.

Like in traditional mythology, the Eternals have the tone of a dysfunctional family who could probably use some therapy, with many of them having grown bitter in their roles and prone to jealousy of one another or the humans they watch over. Their addition to the story comes a little later, so it’s almost unexpected after the first third of the story revolves around Nathan’s recounting of war and writing career success.

I enjoyed that the Man in Black turns out to be a soft-hearted, American football loving, cookie favouring character – not something one would traditionally envision for Death. Meanwhile, the Man in White is a narcissistic, man-child who is used to getting his way and taking his friends for granted, whilst ironically lacking the understanding that treating people this way is the source of his loneliness.

There’s an interesting intersection between fantasy and technology with the Eternals and the Afterworld. When they talk about their purpose, they speak of “programming”, which alludes to the notion that they are almost like sentient AI. Additionally, the Light and Dark Ethereal is sourced from the Afterworld and is used for incredible medical and technological advancements amongst mankind but is also a source of incredible destruction. Many of these details come later in the book and add to the captivation and surprise of the narrative.

Naturally, readers should expect to have to sift through a heavy load of detailed world building and rules of the Afterworld and other realities. Pasanen does an amazing job reconstructing the Genesis story (Creationists may be offended) and creating a new and volatile hierarchy of gods with the Eternals.

“The Black and White Rule” informs who goes to Paradise (Heaven), the Prison of Homicide (Hell), and who ends up at the whims of Karma, to be reincarnated or doomed to the Asylum of Silence. At times, the level of detailing became a bit overwhelming, particularly when it came to explaining alternate realities, and I found myself re-reading sections trying to understand these concepts. These sections are quite cerebral and require a reader’s full attention.

Interview with Death was an engaging and fascinating read, and well worth the time.

Rating and Content Warnings

Please note that this is an adult only read, as it contains horror themes, sex scenes, graphic depictions of death and war, and adult themes around death and the afterlife.

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