Have you ever read a book that didn’t just tell a story, but opened a portal? Lucio Pascua’s KOAN is exactly that kind of literary wonder. It feels less like fiction and more like a waking dream—a transcendent stroll through an unseen dimension where guardians shimmer at the edge of perception, and peace is not just a state of mind but a cosmic particle.

From the very first lines, Pascua introduces us to guardians who don’t exist in our ordinary visual world. They’re not cloaked in shadow or glory, but in presence—spiritual textures moving through space like silken threads of starlight. The language is hypnotic: “amorphous active quanta of hope and peace.” Imagine if you could see hope. Feel peace on your skin like sunlight. That’s the magic Pascua conjures.

And then he goes deeper.

In Pascua’s universe, science and mysticism aren’t opposites—they’re lovers in a cosmic dance. He proposes a mind-bending idea: what if peace were a particle? Like photons for light or gluons for force? In KOAN, peace is a force. A real one. And it’s everywhere. It pulses through people, through creatures, through reality itself. With each quantum of peace, bonds form. And with bonds, comes strength.

This isn’t just beautiful—it’s revolutionary. It takes us out of the chaos of the everyday and suggests something quieter, more eternal. It flips the script on how we understand existence. Suddenly, it’s not about struggle or domination. It’s about resonance. Harmony. Vibration. Peace as presence.

The idea that the world emerges from the mind of “the Enlightened One” sleeping in perfect tranquility—that is where the magic of KOAN truly settles in. It’s a gorgeous call back to ancient philosophies: the dream of Brahman, the meditative flow of the Dao, or the Zen mysteries of satori. Pascua doesn’t explain this dreamer in detail—he doesn’t need to. It’s enough that this is dreaming us all into being. And somehow, that dream is peaceful.

Reading KOAN feels like walking into a temple made of metaphors. It’s quiet. Sacred. You leave changed, like your inner compass has shifted a few degrees closer to stillness.

So, if you’re a lover of literary fiction with a philosophical, magical realism vibe, KOAN is a book you have to sit with. Not just read, but experience. It’s a whisper in the ear of your soul, a reminder that beneath all the noise, there is always—always—peace. You just have to learn how to feel it.