Leech, by Hiron Ennes. Tom Doherty Associates, 2022

I am almost at a lost to review this book. There is a lot going on, a lot to unpack. Talking about a lot of it would put too many spoilers out there. Basically, it’s a post-apocalyptic, dystopian, steampunk, horror story There is a lot of different kinds of horror. Most of it is body horror. There are multiple kinds of body horror-sentient parasites, sexual violence, slavery, edible rocks, mind control, creepy twins with odd powers.

The first three quarters or so is really absorbing. We’re thrown into a strange world, where the narrator turns out to be not just one person in the body. The world is far in our future, a future where there was nuclear holocaust, asteroids falling from the sky, and mutations. The world is in autumn, verging on winter, which means the ancient chateau where the narrator will live is isolated for months, without the trains running to bring supplies or to allow people to leave. Nearly everyone in the chateau is pretty bad- the Baron is pure evil, his son and heir seems to try and be noble but is really a complete bastard, the daughter-in-law exists to pump out mutated and still born babies. And something has come out of the mines, and is making its way to the chateau… and may even be there already.

Sadly, the book kind of falls apart near the end. Then there is the problem I had with the by the book having only one person who is really likable- and it isn’t our narrator. Of course, she’s a victim of her own upbringing and the abuse she suffered- as are they all (and us, really). The one likable person is presented as a sort of noble savage- non-verbal and preferring the company of dogs to humans.

 Even though it’s a very grim world, I loved the world building. There are so many different forces at play. And the prose is lovely- it  put me in mind of older horror, like Frankenstein or Fall of the House of Usher. Four stars.

This Census Taker, by China Mieville. Del Ray, 2016

A young boy lives in a dystopian future; he and his parents live on a lonely hill outside of town. The mother scavenges things and grows vegetables that she trades for other foods in the run down town where a pack of feral children run. The father is a key maker; his keys are magical and can bring money or love to the purchaser. The father also occasionally kills animals- and maybe more- and throws the bodies down a pit in a cave. One day, the boy runs into town in a panic: he has seen his father kill his mother. Or vice versa. He’s not really sure. But the townspeople rule that he must be returned to his father- there is no proof the mother didn’t just leave. So he lives in constant fear of his father. Is the father a killer, or did the mother leave?

There are no answers in this book. There is no answer to the disappearance, there is no answer as to why the world is so broken, there is no answer to why the boy, now grown, is in prison, writing his memoir. Nor is there much depth to any characters; even the boy whose eyes we see the story through (changing from first to third person constantly) is not a person but bundle of fear, tension, and despair. The book is almost nothing but atmosphere. This is not a world any reader would want to live in. It’s a world without hope.

It was a kind of interesting read- I kept reading, trying to find some answers- but not one I’d put in the same class as Mieville’s other work. It’s a tone poem of despair, not a novel.

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