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imaginary_space's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Moderate: Rape and Body horror
Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury
avi_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Miscarriage and Child death
Moderate: Rape, Pedophilia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
cgbn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Xenophobia, Vomit, Torture, Body horror, Genocide, Violence, and Suicide attempt
gilroi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I think what I appreciate most about this novel is how much it trusts its readers, how confident it is with what it's trying to do. The twists aren't mindfucks, all reveals are telegraphed well in advance. Every change seems earned, all the dread is meaningful, and in the last sliver of the novel it goes from genre to literary, elegantly straddling both qualifiers to say something interesting, detailed, new, and worthwhile about identity, colonialism, gender, and medicine.
I cannot recommend it enough if you like a story bright with darkness, full of intention, inventive prose, lush worldbuilding, and smart narration.
Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Pregnancy, Classism, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Child abuse, Racism, Cursing, Death, Grief, Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Colonisation, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Dysphoria, War, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness
samsquanch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Rape, Child death, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
a1exander's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Medical content, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement
nsaphra's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
- body horror
- philosophical “what is the self” horror
- medical paranoia (who’s infected? Every detail feels like foreshadowing)
- unsettling nonhuman perspective
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Suicide, Body horror, and Chronic illness
xxoorbweaverxx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Leech by Hiron Ennes is a gothic sci-fi novel about a medical network of doctors all a part of a hive mind parasite that takes over the minds of young capable host children and grooms them into doctors who continue to spread and parasitize humanity through the guise of monopolizing the medical care industry. The setting is an incredibly wealthy winterlocked chateau and the neighboring town and indigenous people who have been subjugated by a cruel dying Baron, his deceivingly soft-spoken adult son, the son’s neglected pregnant wife, and their two twin daughters. As a doctor from The Institute arrives at the chateau to pick up where its predecessor left off (before mysteriously disappearing and disconnecting from the network) The Institute slowly begin to realize they are competing with an equally intelligent pathogen called Pseudomycota, and the struggle for power is fought within the body of the doctor and a young, mute servant boy who has been groomed and sexually assaulted for years by the Baron’s son (who was in love with the boy’s mother before he was born) with no way to speak up about his abuse. The hosts of these parasites struggle for bodily autonomy in a narrative that is riddled with many different voices ambiguously sharing the same minds. It is a beautiful and complex story about imperialism, generational trauma, pathology and infectious disease, and the difference between loving someone and wanting to possess them.
I believe that the Baron’s son Didier is the character who disturbed me the most. His coercive- relationships with two generations of the same family, a woman and a boy who’s heritage is indigenous to the land and on whose people, Didier’s father commit genocide. Didier disguises his abuse of Emile, the young servant boy, behind a veneer of politeness and a reputation for being a wimp, but behind closed doors he isn’t satisfied without tormenting the son of the woman he loved who his father murdered in cold blood.
Hiron Ennes captivated me and disturbed me in this nuanced and vivid nightmare. You will yearn for these characters freedom as much as you yearn for their vengeance. I promise all the spoilers in this review cannot prepare you for the contents of this amazing break out first novel. It took me months to write this review, yet the plot and characters stayed deeply written on my mind and I wanted to share how it touched me.
Moderate: Rape, Genocide, Child abuse, and Sexual violence
bleepbloop's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Body horror
Moderate: Rape
katiethequeen150's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, and Rape