Fiction First Take - 'Answering the Human Question' by The Brothers K

An epic fantasy story about humanity. Also, yet another fantasy fiction-writing brother-duo.

Before my weeklong trip to Thailand, I made the bold decision to leave my laptop behind in Jakarta. And you know what? It’s good to unplug every now and then. For more of my time in Siam, you can check out my Indonesian and American Chat. But for this post, I want to talk about something else.

To make up for my lack of computer, I instead brought my Kindle which had been gathering dust. And with it, I’ve picked up the various books I’ve put down - or in this case, a book I have yet to even pick up after I bought it. Thus, bringing us to the topic of this post…

I read this book, Answering the Human Question: A Gnome’s Essays on Mankind, from start to finish during my Thailand trip. The authors - The Brothers K - are not to be mistaken for

The Brothers Krynn

. I mentioned this tidbit because I bought this book under the impression that this novel was written by Substack’s resident French-Canadian fantasy writer duo. But as it turns out, The Brothers K are yet another pair of fantasy fiction writing brothers. Though these brothers - Kevin James & Kyle Jacob Ferraren - are actually based in the Philippines.

Just how many fantasy fiction-writing brother-duos are there?

Anyways, if the Ferraren brothers are reading this: please be sure to thank the other Brothers K for this, because otherwise I wouldn’t have bought (and read) your book.

But let us move on…

I found the title of the book, Answering the Human Question, to be very interesting. It’s reminiscent of real-world political issues like ‘The Irish Question” or “The Jewish Question”. In other words, a complicated dilemma with no easy solution in sight.

As for the second part of the title, A Gnome’s Essays on Mankind, this is a reference to the narrator of the story. But before we can get into that, it’s time for me to explore the novel’s setting. As the name suggests, this is a fantasy story in the vein of J.R.R. Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, and Warhammer Fantasy, meaning that this world is rich with various races other than mankind, creatures like elves, dwarves, orcs, and even Eastern-inspired races like the dragonborn.

Now I can already see the eyerolling from a lot of people. “Sounds cliche”, some might say. Understandable, except that the authors had skillfully weaved in an interesting twist into what seems to be a generic fantasy setting. First was the narrator: a gnome, but not your garden-variety gnome. In the universe of The Human Question, gnomes are diminutive creatures who preferred to stay in their isolated realm and not get involved in geopolitics. So they’re basically the hobbits, only they live very… very long lives. Keep this in mind, this is an important plot point in the novel.

As for our narrator gnome, it was clear that he was not the average gnome. For one thing, he went out on an adventure. This un-gnomish action was how he ran into our heroes. Now let us get into the plot, and I promise to keep spoilers to a minimum.

Written as a series of in-universe essays by our gnomish narrator, Answering The Human Question is not a personal story per se. Rather, this is a story of humanity, centered on a country known as the Barroch. Or at least, that was its name by the end of the novel. Keep in mind that the plot spanned thousands of years; as the millennia passed, the place went through various name changes due to historical circumstances. And throughout the generations, our narrator encountered humanity - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Such characters include:

• Baruk, Jhalyah, and Abeel: a hunter-gatherer family who eventually settled in the area. They are also the first humans who met our narrator. The family’s chance encounter and friendship with the gnome would be the foundation upon which the story rests. Everyone listed below are their descendants.

• Karyol: Abeel’s great-great grandson and the chief of the village founded by Baruk. His presence is a lesson, one that our gnome narrator learned the hard way, on the fleeting nature of human life.

• Varr the Conqueror: a barbaric warlord who behave more like orcs than the kindly humans who befriended our narrator. He is symbolic of humanity’s capability for great violence, a foreshadowing of things to come.

• King Andrwyn the Great: Varr’s grandson. Unlike his predecessors he sought to emulate the civilized ways of the elves, having been taught the Elvish language by our narrator. His reign saw humanity and his kingdom, Vardor, earning the respect of the so-called ‘Elderkin’ (the elder races in the story, their ranks include elves, dwarves, dragonborn, and gnomes).

• King Lothan the Lout: As the name suggests, he was not an admirable character. Yet when the Armies of the Dark Lord threatened the entire world, it fell to him to defend his kingdom and his people.

• Elsbeth the Witch-Queen: The first Queen-Regnant of Vardor and a woman highly gifted in the magical arts, a rarity for humans. Her reign saw the building of schools as humanity began to learn science.

• James Barshireford T. ‘J.B.’ Ableson: A “Captain of Industry” whose wealth and inventions made him a prominent figure in the Republic of the Barroch (the successor state to the Kingdom of Vardor). By his time, humanity had carved for themselves a distinct identity of their own - one based on industry and technology. Of course, this industrialism meant that humanity was now a legitimate threat to the Elderkin, if not the entire world. Hence, “The Human Question”.

I’ll leave the character analysis at that. I feel like I’m already giving away too much as it is.

But before I can end this post, I want to address the elephant in the room. Based on what I’ve said about Ableson, readers may suspect that this is not your ordinary fantasy world…

And they would be right. In fact, the way the world unfolds is easily the best part of the novel. From hunter-gatherers to a humble village to the Medieval Age, the Renaissance, and finally the Modern Era. Reading this book is like playing Civilization, except with elves, dwarves, and gnomes in the mix.

I understand that genre mixing is not everyone’s cup of tea. But as for me, I love it. Love it, love it, love it.

I can’t even be mad that I bought this book under a false understanding of the authors’ identity. In fact, I’m happy to be able to add the Philippines to my “Books Read World Map”. Also, I find the situation kind of funny:

Here’s an Indonesian reading a book written by Filipinos while in Thailand, finally finishing it during a flight to Malaysia (I had a transit in Kuala Lumpur on the way back to Jakarta).

Us ASEANians just have to stick together, you know.

So what are you waiting for? Get the book on Amazon. It has the Germanicus Stamp of Approval.

Until next time,



Michael P. Marpaung

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Before you go…

If you like gripping fantasy narratives like Answering the Human Question, check out my novel: The Santara Commentaries. Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other platforms. Click below 👇👇👇