A review by siriuschico
Sisyphean by Dempow Torishima

5.0

Sisyphean is the weirdest of the New Weird. It is a collection of four interconnected stories which tell us the story of humanity's bleak future. Dempow Torishima is a brilliant storyteller - he describes a future so different from ours that there is minimal overlap with the current world. The author uses many new, made-up words, so it can be tough to really know what the hell is going on right now. But the world that which author built is something else. Weird flash walls all around us, undersea living castles or ruthless nanodust deserts slowly devouring the last few surviving humans, Dempow is just throwing ideas at readers. Similarly to some of the best Lovecraft work - the atmosphere is a major drive here, the story is interesting, but in the end, it is just a canvas to paint the bleak atmosphere of a crazy future.
I especially loved Castellum Natatorius (or, The castle in the Mudsea) story. It is a hard-boiled detective story with insect humanoids. Just let that sentence sink in - hard-boiled detective story with insect humanoids.
This is definitely not a book for beginners, but if you dabbled in the new weird and liked it - give it a chance.