Niki C.'s Déjà Vu is a haunting, lyrical journey through trauma, memory, and identity, told in the fractured story of Zenia. Haunted by rejection and violence, Zenia escapes her unbearable life in a final act of despair when she takes her own life. The story follows Zenia as she wanders through dreamlike landscapes—abandoned shores, ruined cities, and plains, confronting the ghosts of her past, the brutality of her family and society, and herself. Memories of violence and betrayal pursue her, and she is judged by the mythic Persephone and the Chorus of society, and endures the trial of the Furies. In the end, Zenia finds a bittersweet reconciliation with her brother Theodore and a tentative acceptance of her own existence. Déjà Vu is a poetic odyssey through trauma and rebirth, blending Greek tragedy with modern themes of gender, identity, and the relentless struggle for self-acceptance.

I felt as though I was part of the dream as the dreamscapes are meticulously rendered in a world full of symbolic detail. Niki C.’s work inspires and provokes reflection, and Zenia is a character who is likable and relatable. The other characters are rendered with intensity and deep psychological acuity. Zenia is both an individual and an archetype: a survivor, an artist, a woman denied by fate and kin. Her brother Theodore is a haunting presence, complicit, passive, yet yearning for connection and redemption. Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld, becomes the judge and mirror, exemplifying condemnation from society and the possibility of transformation. The Chorus, drawing from Greek tragedy, represents the faceless judgment of society. Themes of gender, exile, memory, and the redemptive but painful power of art and self-creation are intelligently developed. Déjà Vu is a harrowing, beautiful, and immersive work that is lyrical in style and immersive.

Déjà Vu by Niki C. tells the story of Zenia, a woman driven by a life of violence. Zenia is a young woman whose life of pain and rejection drives her to take her own life. She thought her pain had stopped, but she awoke in a strange, dreamlike world shaped by her own art. Stripped of the memory of her death and stained by unseen guilt, Zenia finds herself face to face with Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld. When she refuses to surrender to her fate, Persephone condemns her to wander the depths of Hades as an unlawful soul. Along her journey, Zenia must confront ghosts of her past (her fearful brother, a deceitful friend, and the man who destroyed her innocence) to uncover the truth behind her death and seek a path to freedom.

Author Niki C. created an emotional story in which Zenia's struggles and torment don’t end. I loved the visually stunning narrative that blended Greek mythology, psychological drama, and self-reflection. The underworld Zenia navigates is both a literal and symbolic landscape, represented by her own paintings. Each part of the underworld represents the inner struggle of a soul burdened by shame and longing. The poetic prose and vivid imagery immerse readers in Zenia’s fractured mind, where reality and memory blur. Each encounter Zenia has feels like it is peeling back another layer of her trauma, revealing the quiet horror of what it means to live and die without forgiveness. Her story was emotionally charged and made me pity her. But I loved how she moved through each phase and learned to forgive herself. It was cathartic and freeing. I highly recommend this book!

In a world where pain seemed to be the only language spoken to Zenia, a painter, her art and dreams were her only refuge. It had been her habit since childhood to retreat to her dream world, her utopian escape, whenever the weight of her struggles became unbearable. However, when she awakens to bloodied hands, wounds, and scars on her body in her dream world, she realizes something is terribly wrong. It turns out she is dead and trapped in a liminal space. Soon, she encounters Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, who forces her to travel to the depths of the in-between world, where visions, manifestations, and lost souls await, and where she must confront her guilt, pain, and past to discover the truth behind her death. Find out more in Déjà Vu by Niki C.

Lovers of psychological fiction and LGBTQ novels blended with mythology and tragedy will find Déjà Vu by Niki C. an enthralling read. Using lyrical and poetic prose that feels dark and dreamy, Niki introduces readers to Zenia, an artistically gifted transgender woman. Her journey through the in-between is an intimate exploration of her emotional and psychological tapestry. It sheds light on the struggles transgender people face, including rejection, identity crisis, judgment, discrimination, violence, trauma, and isolation, and how these weigh on them. I could feel her pain and disappointment from betrayal by the people closest to her, and I understood her cynicism as she navigated a never-ending nightmare. She displays the power of resilience, as she moves on despite everything she is subjected to, with art as a catharsis.

Déjà Vu by Niki C. follows Zenia, bloodied on a storm-wracked shore, as Persephone drags her toward Hades to confront guilt and memory. The Hypocrites of a Chorus punish and transform her with fire, crowns, and ritual, while a guiding deer leads her through Little Paris, where her brother Theodore and the haunting presence of Ajor and Alexander force her to reckon with the past. She holds out against men in black and Hecate, and faces Charon at the river Acheron, clutching a golden coin that may decide her fate. Memories of Thessaloniki surface alongside Eleonore, offering fleeting shelter against storms, Furies, and shadowed crowds. Through myth and memory, suffering and survival, punishment and reclamation, Zenia fights to assert her body, her choices, and her right to exist beyond cruelty and the relentless judgment of gods and chorus alike.

"Have mercy on a soul that yearned only to breathe, not for glory, not for thrones, only for the breath of freedom." Déjà Vu by Niki C. is a darkly gorgeous story written with a nod to the classic muthoi, with the panache needed to settle comfortably with contemporary readers. The settings and landscape are cinematic, from a forest where shadows twist among tangled branches to a waiting, bloodstained gondola. Nearly every environment feels oppressive and charged with past violence, except for the presence of the nymphs, who bring care and ritual. These personifications of nature adorn survivors with flowers and guide them through renewal, offering moments of solidarity and protection. I absolutely adore that the author embeds the Spring of Mnemosyne, which is so perfectly suited here. There are a lot of chess pieces on a full storyboard, but these are deftly managed in a tale that transcends time once again. Recommended.