3 out of 4 stars
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That Place of Knowledge is a unique short story told from the perspective of an autism service dog called Sabre. One day, Sabre follows his human Philip into a pool, which leads to a hidden city. The city can only be described as a utopia for Philip. Where Harry Potter has Hogwarts and the Shadowhunters have Idris, Philip has this place. He meets the philosopher Aristotle there, and they have intellectual conversations on many topics.
The story is divided between two trips to this city. If you like dialogue heavy reading, the first section, with a long conversation between Philip and Aristotle, could be for you. If not, there’s a good amount of exploration in the second section that might appeal to you more.
I really enjoyed reading this story, especially because I’ve never read anything like it before. It was light-hearted with themes of philosophy that bring up some thought-provoking topics. There were a lot of great quotes as well. At one point, Aristotle says, “Just because someone is different doesn’t mean they can’t think.” This is especially relevant because the author, Philip Shalka, is nonverbal and says that people tend to think that he is not intelligent based on that. Another quote I really liked was, “How can you be happy without knowing yourself?” I only wish that the story would have been longer or that the author would write more about Philip and Sabre because I loved the idea behind the story and I would be interested to see more of what the city holds.
There were a few errors in That Place of Knowledge and, although they didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the plot, they stood out in such a short story. My main criticism with That Place of Knowledge is that I thought the dialogue seemed stiff and somewhat repetitive in places which was noticeable enough to be a bit distracting for me. Had the dialogue been more natural sounding, I would have given this 4 stars. However, since I did fully enjoy the story, I am giving it 3 out of 4 stars.
That Place of Knowledge is an important story that will appeal to a wide variety of people. Anyone looking for a light read that gets you thinking should try this one out. In the author’s note, Shalka says his goal is “to create something that is interesting and different that will inspire people in the future.” With That Place of Knowledge, I believe he has done just that.
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That Place of Knowledge
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