Thirteen Steps in the Underworld by Su-Yee Lin

Thirteen Steps in the Underworld by Su-Yee Lin
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (17 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Stories about mortals travelling into hell have been omnipresent in our literary canon for almost as long as weve had one, but young writer Su-Yee Lin has still managed to find modern resonance and new territory to explore in this lyrical and evocative vision of a trip to a place that is never quite what we expect it to be.

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It wasn’t very far into the first scene when I first realized that the main character was suffering from some sort of memory loss. He couldn’t remember simple things like his first name or more complicated facts like why he’d agreed to go to the underworld in the first place. Given these facts, I was pleasantly surprised by how well I got to know him as a person. His personality shone through all of his confusion, and I felt like I’d recognize him instantly if we were ever to be in the same room. This was quite the accomplishment for a character who could tell the readers so little about his past, and it made me want to read more from Ms. Lin soon.

As much as I liked it, there was a little too much exposition in the final scene. The protagonist’s mind had been deteriorating slowly but steadily in the beginning and middle of this tale. Due to this pattern, I was a little taken aback by how things ended. There had been a nice amount of foreshadowing earlier on, so I didn’t really see the need to explain things in quite as much detail as they were in the end. With that being said, I still enjoyed reading this and would say that my only criticism was definitely a minor one.

The descriptions of what hell was like in this universe were nothing at all what I was expecting. There was no gory content at all to my surprise, but that didn’t make it one bit less frightening than it would have been if it were part of the horror genre. I loved the fact that the author was able to write such a unique and creepy setting while also turning the audience’s expectations upside down. The vague references to this were what originally drew me to this story, and they turned out to be my favorite part of it in the end.

I’d heartily recommend Thirteen Steps in the Underworld to anyone who has ever had a word or memory on the tip of their tongue.