Review: Dust of the Dead, by Michael R. Fletcher

Dust of the Dead
Michael R. Fletcher
398 pages
Release: August 3, 2026
ISBN 9798250489348
Publisher: MRF Books Corp.

I first met Michael R. Fletcher through Five Rivers Publishing, back in 2012 when the Earth was new and unicorns roamed the land. Then came Michael with his grimdark tales, and his captivating storytelling. The unicorns fled from the darkness. In their place came a character known as 88, and an eponymous novel I was thrilled to publish. But then Five Rivers Publishing went the way of the unicorns, and 88 escaped back to her progenitor, reintroduced as Ghosts of Tomorrow.

Since then, Michael has produced 12 other novels, and now in August 2026 yet another, Dust of the Dead (Tales from the Listening World).

The marketing blurb for Dust of the Dead:

In the peaceful decades since the Qalil War, Aakifah has gained a few pounds and taken a job as shairf of Basrah. Days from retirement, her plans for a quiet life are shattered when a local family is murdered, their daughters taken by pyumah, a race of ravenous predators.

Aakifah sets out with a handful of volunteers, including her lover, in what she knows to be a doomed rescue attempt. Even if the monsters haven’t already devoured their prey by the time she finds them, a handful of farmers will be no match for the terrifying creatures.

Young Khayrat studies to be a lumin, speaking to the listening world to bring light to civilization. When her father is assassinated, she volunteers to learn the dark art of the unraveller. Like any act of imploratory, her studies come with a price. With each unravelling, her mind fragments, her sanity fraying as she forgets the peaceful woman she once was.

Khayrat travels with a band of hardened killers, intent on assassinating the foreign royal family. Driven by her need for vengeance, she swears to reduce her king’s enemies to dust.

In the 14 years since I first read any of Fletcher’s work, it becomes clear to me he’s honed his craft to a very high standard. What he presents in Dust of the Dead is a darkly gorgeous tale populated with believable characters, reluctant heroes, hapless followers, and manipulative tyrants. His world-building is astonishing in its originality, complexity and realization, and how he presents new concepts, flora, and fauna is done with skill and ease, so that there’s rarely a moment the reader is left behind in this fast-paced, gritty, relentless epic. Frankly, not since reading N.K. Jemisin’s work have I been this impressed with a writer’s imagination and craftsmanship. Michael Fletcher is, in my opinion, top of his game, and despite not having a banner of Prix Auroras, Sunbursts, Hugos, Nebulas, or any other genre literary award, he is right up there with all the other current greats.

What he presents in Dust of the Dead is a story of the cost of service to a belief, to a country, to a discipline. He sets about demolishing ingrained prejudices by demonstrating the common ties of dedication to family, to friends, to a truth beyond rhetoric. Species who are apparently monstrous are, in fact, no different than any other being trying to survive, to make sense of a world and political situation in which they find themselves. And in defining this alien fantasy world, Fletcher peels back the layers of our own humanity and prejudices, and even our own monstrosities.

And you, dear reader, must realize I am a tough critic and editor. I do not offer praise lightly. Yet here was this critical reader weeping at the end of this dark tale, so moved was I. So, there, Michael R Fletcher. Well done!

And you, dear reader: if you’re of a mind to be darkly and helplessly captivated, I highly recommend you delve into Dust of the Dead, which releases in August 2026 in print, ebook, and audiobook.