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benegesserwitch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Body shaming, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Trafficking, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Ableism, Violence, Body horror, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Pregnancy, Addiction, Racial slurs, and Blood
scytheria's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, and Colonisation
Moderate: Racism, Gun violence, Stalking, Murder, Abortion, Child death, Torture, Suicide, Trafficking, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy, War, Vomit, and Sexism
sonia_panico's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This book fell a little bit flat for me. Even though the first third was a bit confusing at leasy It was intriguing. However, the remains two thirds of the book were lacking in many aspects, namely, of all the female characters were poorly written and only existed to serve the male characters. Moreover, the character of Eadweard Muybridge was totally unrelated to the overall plot. The only redeeming qualities of this book are its beautiful prose and interesting world building. Overally it's a beautiful world with an empty story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Sexual assault
maxineslittlenook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Misogyny, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Rape, and Medical trauma
Minor: Cannibalism, Confinement, Racial slurs, and Classism
talina's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
This book felt incredibly shallow. It’s filled with lofty, complex plots and ideas but never truly intersects with them except to say ‘look at me dealing with these complex plots and ideas.’ All the graphic sex and sexual abuse depictions are gratuitous and expose the fact that all the women in the book are simply vessels. This is to the extent that one of the creatures was created specifically for the sexual gratification of her charge. The only reason it didn’t get an even lower rating is because it does still have some interesting elements.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
acaskoftroutwine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Vorrh is about a massive forest in Africa that consumes memories. It's about a German city rebuilt brick by brick outside of it. It's about a misanthropic cyclops raised in the basement of a house. It's about the daughter of a deacon with insatiable curiosity attempting to build her own life. It's about a man on a quest through the forest, bound to a bow made from the bones of a prophetess. It's about an African rebel turned mercenary, hunting down someone he despises more than anyone. It's about a French poet trying to find some meaning in his life through drugs and travel. It's about the first nature photographer as he attempts to entrap moments of time.
It's about the Biblical Fall of Man, and how looking for understanding or knowledge often-times leads to disgrace and sin.
The Vorrh is a tough novel to talk about because it's difficult to anecdotalize. There are at any one time 5 or 6 different narrative threads that the book is moving between, and several sections that are more like self-contained vignettes or short stories. One of these narratives runs through the whole book and is completely disconnected from the rest, being connected more by theme. There isn't really a plot, more a series of events that follow the characters in the strange world they find themselves in. It's probably one of my favorite books.
The writing itself is really what shines here. Brian Catling was an artist by trade, and you can tell that by his use of vivid descriptions of the utterly bizarre and fantastical. Catling has an obvious love of the English language, and the book is just full of lavish, lyrical language and metaphors. In places, it reminds me of reading Peake's Gormenghast, which has a similar love of language and description. There are points, however, where the language can be a hindrance in understanding, and I had to go back and reread a section when I realized I hadn't understood what was going on, but overall I think the writing is strong, especially given that this is Catling's first novel.
The cast is composed of a combination of Dickensian grotesques, fantasy heroes, and characters who would seem more at home in literary fiction; from the misanthropic, solipsistic cyclops Ishmael, to the driven, mystical mercenary Tsungali (a personal favorite) or the deformed religious fanatic Sidrus of the order of Sidrus, to the curious and strong-willed Ghertrude Tulp. These characters all interact, and characters from one will end up mixing in the genre of another. The cast can seem flat, but I found them to be of surprising subtlety at times, and I never found any of them to be boring.
This brings me to my next point. The book gets marketed as fantasy, which kind of fits but doesn't really capture the tone of the story. It certainly has fantastical elements to it and a backdrop of biblical mythology, but I think Catling's own description of it as an 'Epic Surrealist Novel' (a term he admits is an oxymoron) does it far more justice. The book is far more interested in imagery and theme than it is in traditional narrative. There are parts of the book that draw from traditional fantasy i.e., there is a certain kind of quest narrative happening with the Bowman and his journey through the Vorrh, and the characters of Tsungali (who has a deep knowledge of magic and charms, and wields an enchanted rifle) and Sidrus (part of an ancient order dedicated to protecting the Vorrh) seem like they stepped right out of a more traditional fantasy narrative, but the book is full of what seem intentional narrative anticlimaxes, which affect not just the reader but the characters. Their attempts at development or change are stunted and frustrated, rather in a way that happens to people in real life. A sense that there is a greater understanding or purpose just out of reach, and the frustration that follows when it remains unreachable, or even revelations that lead to personal regression.
And this ties into what seems to be a lot of people's problems with the book. The Vorrh is filled with mysteries that go unexplained or aren't explored, but I think that's both intentional and one of the strengths of the book. The mysteries are there to add a sense of the unknown and unknowable, or to hint at a greater scope to the events of the book, and ultimately to bring a sense of wonder to the reader. They're to be contemplated rather than answered, and truth be told most of the time any answer that could be given wouldn't be as interesting as the mystery itself.
So if the book isn't interested in answers or in a traditional three-act structure, what does it want to do? Besides the language and characters, I feel that the book is at its strongest when it's focusing on vignettes. While most of them connect back to the story, chapters of the book are almost self-contained short stories following side elements or characters that connect thematically to the main narrative. Catling just has this ability to create these fascinating little stories that make me wish for a short story collection by him. Whether it's following a group of Erstwhile (not fallen but forgotten angels) and the consequences of their invasion of a small church, or the city of Essenwalds supernatural slave labor force and how their overseer and the cities doctor form an unlikely alliance to control them, these parts are just interesting and bizarre. They don't feel too out of place with the already large cast of POVs, and introduce important elements or break up the flow of the story at just the right times.
It is important to mention though that there are definitely parts of this book that aren't for everyone. There are a few scenes of sexual violence against both genders in this book that are fully depicted, and the book opens with a rather detailed scene of someone following a woman's instructions to make a bow out of her bones. I feel these parts make sense for the book, but still it's something I think potential readers should be warned about.
Some might also have issues with how race is portrayed in the novel, and there is some merit to that. There is only one native African POV in the book, Tsungali, with the rest being European, and the book belongs to a long tradition of portraying a fantastical version of Africa rooted in an idea of 'otherness' in its relation to Europe. However, I will say that the book is anti-colonial. The absurd horror of the city of Essenwald, a German city literally disassembled and reassembled in Africa brick by brick for the purpose of resource extraction, is a major plot point, along with Tsungali's backstory of European's attempted eradication and co-opting of his culture for profit. The book is very unsympathetic to European ideas of superiority towards Africans and portrays those beliefs as simply hateful, pathetic arrogance. How well it's handled overall is of course for everyone to decide for themselves.
The book is obviously not for everyone, but I think that it works more than it doesn't. The book is constantly moving forward and introducing more and more elements. It is a breathtaking work of imagination and I applaud it for that. I couldn't put the book down and still have a part of me that wants to go back and reread it. While there are parts that could be stronger, it was a good enough book to get me to go and buy the rest of Brian Catlings' work.
Overall 9.5/10.
It's about the Biblical Fall of Man, and how looking for understanding or knowledge often-times leads to disgrace and sin.
The Vorrh is a tough novel to talk about because it's difficult to anecdotalize. There are at any one time 5 or 6 different narrative threads that the book is moving between, and several sections that are more like self-contained vignettes or short stories. One of these narratives runs through the whole book and is completely disconnected from the rest, being connected more by theme. There isn't really a plot, more a series of events that follow the characters in the strange world they find themselves in. It's probably one of my favorite books.
The writing itself is really what shines here. Brian Catling was an artist by trade, and you can tell that by his use of vivid descriptions of the utterly bizarre and fantastical. Catling has an obvious love of the English language, and the book is just full of lavish, lyrical language and metaphors. In places, it reminds me of reading Peake's Gormenghast, which has a similar love of language and description. There are points, however, where the language can be a hindrance in understanding, and I had to go back and reread a section when I realized I hadn't understood what was going on, but overall I think the writing is strong, especially given that this is Catling's first novel.
The cast is composed of a combination of Dickensian grotesques, fantasy heroes, and characters who would seem more at home in literary fiction; from the misanthropic, solipsistic cyclops Ishmael, to the driven, mystical mercenary Tsungali (a personal favorite) or the deformed religious fanatic Sidrus of the order of Sidrus, to the curious and strong-willed Ghertrude Tulp. These characters all interact, and characters from one will end up mixing in the genre of another. The cast can seem flat, but I found them to be of surprising subtlety at times, and I never found any of them to be boring.
This brings me to my next point. The book gets marketed as fantasy, which kind of fits but doesn't really capture the tone of the story. It certainly has fantastical elements to it and a backdrop of biblical mythology, but I think Catling's own description of it as an 'Epic Surrealist Novel' (a term he admits is an oxymoron) does it far more justice. The book is far more interested in imagery and theme than it is in traditional narrative. There are parts of the book that draw from traditional fantasy i.e., there is a certain kind of quest narrative happening with the Bowman and his journey through the Vorrh, and the characters of Tsungali (who has a deep knowledge of magic and charms, and wields an enchanted rifle) and Sidrus (part of an ancient order dedicated to protecting the Vorrh) seem like they stepped right out of a more traditional fantasy narrative, but the book is full of what seem intentional narrative anticlimaxes, which affect not just the reader but the characters. Their attempts at development or change are stunted and frustrated, rather in a way that happens to people in real life. A sense that there is a greater understanding or purpose just out of reach, and the frustration that follows when it remains unreachable, or even revelations that lead to personal regression.
And this ties into what seems to be a lot of people's problems with the book. The Vorrh is filled with mysteries that go unexplained or aren't explored, but I think that's both intentional and one of the strengths of the book. The mysteries are there to add a sense of the unknown and unknowable, or to hint at a greater scope to the events of the book, and ultimately to bring a sense of wonder to the reader. They're to be contemplated rather than answered, and truth be told most of the time any answer that could be given wouldn't be as interesting as the mystery itself.
So if the book isn't interested in answers or in a traditional three-act structure, what does it want to do? Besides the language and characters, I feel that the book is at its strongest when it's focusing on vignettes. While most of them connect back to the story, chapters of the book are almost self-contained short stories following side elements or characters that connect thematically to the main narrative. Catling just has this ability to create these fascinating little stories that make me wish for a short story collection by him. Whether it's following a group of Erstwhile (not fallen but forgotten angels) and the consequences of their invasion of a small church, or the city of Essenwalds supernatural slave labor force and how their overseer and the cities doctor form an unlikely alliance to control them, these parts are just interesting and bizarre. They don't feel too out of place with the already large cast of POVs, and introduce important elements or break up the flow of the story at just the right times.
It is important to mention though that there are definitely parts of this book that aren't for everyone. There are a few scenes of sexual violence against both genders in this book that are fully depicted, and the book opens with a rather detailed scene of someone following a woman's instructions to make a bow out of her bones. I feel these parts make sense for the book, but still it's something I think potential readers should be warned about.
Some might also have issues with how race is portrayed in the novel, and there is some merit to that. There is only one native African POV in the book, Tsungali, with the rest being European, and the book belongs to a long tradition of portraying a fantastical version of Africa rooted in an idea of 'otherness' in its relation to Europe. However, I will say that the book is anti-colonial. The absurd horror of the city of Essenwald, a German city literally disassembled and reassembled in Africa brick by brick for the purpose of resource extraction, is a major plot point, along with Tsungali's backstory of European's attempted eradication and co-opting of his culture for profit. The book is very unsympathetic to European ideas of superiority towards Africans and portrays those beliefs as simply hateful, pathetic arrogance. How well it's handled overall is of course for everyone to decide for themselves.
The book is obviously not for everyone, but I think that it works more than it doesn't. The book is constantly moving forward and introducing more and more elements. It is a breathtaking work of imagination and I applaud it for that. I couldn't put the book down and still have a part of me that wants to go back and reread it. While there are parts that could be stronger, it was a good enough book to get me to go and buy the rest of Brian Catlings' work.
Overall 9.5/10.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Violence
sometimes_samantha_reads's review against another edition
I was intrigued by the concept on the back cover but early on it was evident this was not the book for me. Too much casual racism, sexism, and misogyny. It would be one thing if those themes were mentioned and then there was something done about them, but they were just there and did absolutely nothing to advance the plot. Just seemed that they were there for shock value if anything. I wanted to like this books but I couldn't get past the firsg five chapters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, and War
zgriptsuroica's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual assault
bigcheese's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Undoubtedly original. This is the first time I’m reading some out-there-Fantasy - out of the mainstream, non-household name type sh*t (Hobbit, Harry Potter etc.), and mature too. There is imagination running wild amongst the living pages of ‘The Vorrh.’ Maybe it is original because of all the picking and choosing Catling has done with the world’s available technologies and science, but also the supernatural and magic that exist alongside each other chapter to chapter quite seamlessly.
In my first two attempts at reading this beast I couldn’t get past the first two chapters. It was so bizarre and foreign a thing to be reading that I couldn’t comprehend what I read. I have had an attempt at another such fantasy in the past, ‘Chung Kuo: Middle Kingdom.’ ‘The Vorrh’ has a poetic, and sometimes hard to understand quality about it’s style, whereas ‘Chung Kuo’ was very straightforward - when you’ve taken in the landscape. For more than the first half of ‘The Vorrh’ the tale manifested in a hazy fever-dream vision which was hardly stimulating in the long term, only some sequences sticking easily, but in this last couple hundred pages from the past week or two have moulded into a normal lens view of the dramas of a fantasy narrative - I understand! Most notably vivid and fun was a sequence between a character named Sidrus and a character named Nebsuel that felt like something right out of the film version of ‘The Princess Bride.’
With my newfound comprehension of “The Fantasy” I just re read a couple chapters worth of stuff and fixed some loose connections and man, this is a good book. Totally interesting stuff going on - the least interesting being the stuff with the babies and Maclish. I have the plot, pray it sticks. On to the next one.
In my first two attempts at reading this beast I couldn’t get past the first two chapters. It was so bizarre and foreign a thing to be reading that I couldn’t comprehend what I read. I have had an attempt at another such fantasy in the past, ‘Chung Kuo: Middle Kingdom.’ ‘The Vorrh’ has a poetic, and sometimes hard to understand quality about it’s style, whereas ‘Chung Kuo’ was very straightforward - when you’ve taken in the landscape. For more than the first half of ‘The Vorrh’ the tale manifested in a hazy fever-dream vision which was hardly stimulating in the long term, only some sequences sticking easily, but in this last couple hundred pages from the past week or two have moulded into a normal lens view of the dramas of a fantasy narrative - I understand! Most notably vivid and fun was a sequence between a character named Sidrus and a character named Nebsuel that felt like something right out of the film version of ‘The Princess Bride.’
With my newfound comprehension of “The Fantasy” I just re read a couple chapters worth of stuff and fixed some loose connections and man, this is a good book. Totally interesting stuff going on - the least interesting being the stuff with the babies and Maclish. I have the plot, pray it sticks. On to the next one.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault, Violence, and Body horror
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