Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paige Lewis is an American poet and the author of the collection Space Struck, which was named one of the Best Books of 2019 by Entropy and Book Riot. Lewis's debut novel, Canon, was published by Viking Press / Penguin in May 2026.

Publisher: Viking (May 19, 2026) Page count: 480 Formats: audiobook, ebook, HC

I’m still not entirely sure what to make of Canon. I liked it. I read it ridiculously fast. I had fun with it more often than not. But there were also moments when I felt that not every clever idea needs to announce itself quite so loudly.

The premise is great. God is real, walks around in physical form, and behaves less like an all-knowing cosmic being and more like a powerful, slightly insecure manager trying to improve declining engagement metrics. He picks Yara, a nonbinary teenager with OCD and a long list of personal problems, to kill Dominic, leader of the Bad Guys. Meanwhile Adrena, a prophet who feels she got passed over for the starring role, decides she might as well save the world herself.

From there the book turns into a very strange quest filled with talking whales, shopping malls treated like mythic landscapes, and biblical references. Also, Homeric references, pop culture references, and references to references. At times it felt like Paige Lewis had every story ever written spread across a giant table and was happily grabbing pieces from all of them.

Sometimes it works nicely, but sometimes it feels self-indulgent and rather impressed with how nicely it works. That's probably my biggest criticism. Canon is constantly commenting on itself, winking at the reader, pulling apart heroic narratives, discussing storytelling while telling a story. I enjoyed a lot of it, but there were moments where I felt the novel was getting slightly too high on its own supply. Very clever. Very aware that it's clever.

Still, I can't deny that I kept turning pages.

Partly because the structure makes it almost impossible not to. Most chapters are only a page or two long. Some are barely a paragraph. A few feel like punchlines. The result is that the book flies. I also genuinely liked the characters. Yara and Adrena are both dealing with loneliness, faith, identity, and the feeling that somebody else may have already written the script for their lives. Underneath all the jokes and absurdity, there's something surprisingly sincere going on. Despite all the meta tricks, the book is often very funny. 

I don't think Canon completely worked for me. It's self-indulgent, and chaotic. Occasionally it disappears down its own intellectual rabbit holes. But it's also original in a way that very few books are. I'd much rather read an ambitious book that occasionally gets carried away than a safe one I'll forget a week later.

And there's absolutely no chance I'll forget this one anytime soon.