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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
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
harpybuns'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
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Infertility
Minor: Animal cruelty, Grief, Vomit, and Gun violence
s_teichman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror and Medical content
Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, and Sexual assault
Minor: Suicide and Miscarriage
aerolich'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
4.75
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Gore, Medical content, Rape, Body horror, Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage
luthienslibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, and Sexual assault
apiecalypsejen's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse
Minor: Grief, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Violence, Suicide, Miscarriage, Child death, Animal death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Pregnancy, Murder, and Abandonment
thayerbowen's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Death, Gore, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage
maimy_santiago99'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
A nice twist on the latest trend in Gothic horror, I found some of the more esoteric bits of world building a bit too puzzling to be creepy. I think the normally of people with their organs outside their bodies and with mechanical replacements, for example, could have been established as being completely ordinary and not unusual a bit earlier, though I don't know how without it becoming tedious and ruining that lovely opening. The mysteries abound and few are explored, though, and that pulled me out of the story a bit as things continued to tangle but very few threads came loose.
The queerness in the story is simultaneously entirely incidental and completely pervasive- a character with he/him pronouns who lactates and acted as a wet nurse presented and seen as just another person rather than a trans person or a genetic anomaly (I assume the former, but in the world of the novel it could easily be the latter), the androgyny of the narrator for the first half of the book, the almost neglectful acceptance of physical differences... It's clear that in this world, queerness of any stripe isn't a huge deal to anyone who doesn't desperately want heirs, to the point where it is ubiquitous and almost blasé in its presentation, but it still feels revolutionary in the world we live in.
The twins were a highlight for me, and I'd happily have read a version of this novel that centered on them instead of the doctor/narrator (which is not to say I didn't enjoy this version!)
All in all, an enjoyable debut. I'll keep an eye out for their sophomore effort.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Blood
Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Confinement