Only Now We Are
Nathan Kato-Wallace
Independently Published (2025)
ISBN: 979-8999832009
Reviewed by Jordan Durfee for Reader Views (10/2025)
My thoughts on Only Now We Are by Nathan Kato-Wallace can be summed up in one sentence: I absolutely loved it! The novel follows the rise, development, and perhaps fall (I shall leave that up to other readers, to determine for themselves) of a commune-but-really-a-cult, called Isidora, although the cult started off with good intentions. But don’t most cults? Following a core group of five friends over the course of four years, we see them before they leave society behind, while they build their new society, and how they develop and change over time. Developed expertly over the course of three different parts, I can honestly say I was deeply invested in the narrative the entire time.
First of all, the novel is told as a recollection of events over the past four years, told from the perspective of the Omicron, our book’s protagonist. The prologue opens with the end of the novel, and the following three parts build up to that conclusion. I love novels of recollection, personally, especially when they include asides from the protagonist in their modern period – which this book does.
The Omicron, as well as a character dubbed the Mouth, interject over the course of the narrative, commenting on their past mistakes (in the case of the Omicron) or reiterating the importance of the cult’s endurance (in the case of the Mouth). I really loved the chosen voice of the Omicron. He was jaded and bitter, though reflective, speaking with the sort of wisdom and wariness one can only earn through hard-earned hindsight. He was a weighed-down narrator, for good reason.
The prologue itself truly sets the tone of the novel, revealing why the Omicron is so done with the life he has been leading and why he is reflecting on the path that led him there to begin with. Perhaps clouded by his modern feelings, even the younger version of the Omicron was jaded and bitter, unmoored and lost in the world. Seeing him find his purpose, only to eventually start to doubt it, was a really interesting journey. As the reader, being able to see the cracks in the foundation of Isidora – starting well before they ever arrived there, let alone dreamt of it – that he and the others could not see at the time, created a really interesting relationship to the Omicron and the other founders of Isidora. It was just truly well done.
The founding of Isidora was built on the idea of rejecting the failing, bogged-down, capitalist society that is Western society, though the novel takes place in the United States of America. The core group of five, called the Circle, all find one another in the capital. The Omicron is the last to join their group, but tied together by their shared worldview and philosophies, the group develops from a bunch of 20-somethings who just complain about everything as they suffer under the weight of the world, to a group that actually takes action. So, with all the bravado and determination only people so young could muster, they carve themselves a little pocket in what they call the figment world, removing themselves from the operations and happenings of figment (i.e., mainstream) society. They built their own society from the ground up, but they built it with cracks. It’s those cracks that cause the most interesting conflicts and elements of the story, breaking everything and building something new in equal measure. The end of the novel reaches its conclusion with those cracks in mind, forcing something new out of a broken foundation. This element reveals the simple TRUTH that life will always go on, regardless of what one does with it or how they try to change it. Ending the novel with this TRUTH, which had been woven and built throughout the narrative, was a powerful way to conclude what was already an incredibly strong novel.
Ultimately, Only Now We Are by Nathan Kato-Wallace was incredibly well written. I was truly hooked from the very beginning. The development of the narrative was expertly woven together, the characters were uniquely built and evolved in fascinating ways, and the entire book was a larger commentary on society and the way the world works. There are certain undeniable truths about our world and our society, but what you do with those truths and that information will determine the life you lead. Want to start a cult?
Go for it, just make sure you trust your fellow founders and that your heart is truly in it.