Dooley’s genre-blending series-starter combines aspects of SF and historical fiction to explore the sweeping history of Thailand. 

The story begins in December 1864 with a streak of light in the sky, followed by a crash in the Thai countryside. The craft’s ghostly, parasitic inhabitant escapes the crash and takes a passing Thai boy, Chanchai, as its host. The starving and sick 4-year-old, unaware of the alien’s presence, stumbles away from the crash, and his infirmities soon disappear. He then falls asleep in a boat that carries him to Bangkok. 

In a riverside market, Chanchai receives care and support from a band of fellow orphans, a local Chinese fruit seller, and eventually Prince Vajirañāṇa and King Chulalongkorn. The royals give Chanchai a last name and permit a British schoolteacher to teach him English, mentor him, and finally, in 1885, take him to King’s College in England for a university education. As he nears his 30s, he experiences a queer awakening that leaves him shaken; he’s also apparently the victim of a bizarre attack by Jack the Ripper himself. 

Chanchai eagerly fulfills his promise to return to Thailand, where he joins the royal government’s reformation efforts by becoming a monk and educating children. Because the monastery has no mirrors, Chanchai only learns that his body stopped aging in his 30s when Prince Vajirañāṇa visits him. After Chanchai leaves the monastery, he goes on a surprising and thoughtful journey through political history. 

Although he witnesses major world events, the narrative remains grounded and even poignant as readers experience Thailand’s nation-building and existential struggles in the 20th century. The speed of the narrative, which encompasses events from 1864 to 2005, leads to some oversimplifications and flattening of political perspectives. However, Chanchai’s decisions to follow or abandon political movements and leaders fit his character well. The SF side of the narrative is sometimes frustrating; Chanchai has multiple encounters with beings like himself, called threlphax, which are wiped from his memory. One hopes that more information will emerge as the Chronicles of the Threlphax continue. 

A fresh and well-researched saga that’s a pleasure to read.

~ Kirkus