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A review by sipping_tea_with_ghosts
Leech by Hiron Ennes
2.0
I intend no hyperbole here when I say that the first half of this book would've easily warranted 4 stars or more from me. Two halves make a whole however and the last 50% of this parasitic horror story regrettably jumps off a cliff, leaving the intrigue, subtle worldbuilding and decent characters looking forlornly at the battered corpse on the ice below. Atop this viscera is a mess of a plot disposing of characters as quickly as possible and adopting a tone and resolution I'd expect from a disposable YA novel from the early 2010s.
World building falls beneath the par set beautifully by the first 150 pages, the key players all become different flavors of "can't shut up fast enough", character revelation is just blatant assassination, and rules are inconsistent throughout. The lead and their unique POV comes off as forced, displaying feelings and behaviors you'd expect from a 17 year old and not a 500 year old body snatcher. I could've misinterpreted what was going on by the end and what the true strife was, but I can live with that because the amount of surreal cuts and repetition of "I can't do this." and "I have to if I want to survive" became white noise after a while.
I really wanted to enjoy this book but the revelation that I was starting to hate it came quickly after chapter 15 or so. A gothic infection mystery that turns into an existential breakdown and saccharine vivisection of an ending.
World building falls beneath the par set beautifully by the first 150 pages, the key players all become different flavors of "can't shut up fast enough", character revelation is just blatant assassination, and rules are inconsistent throughout. The lead and their unique POV comes off as forced, displaying feelings and behaviors you'd expect from a 17 year old and not a 500 year old body snatcher. I could've misinterpreted what was going on by the end and what the true strife was, but I can live with that because the amount of surreal cuts and repetition of "I can't do this." and "I have to if I want to survive" became white noise after a while.
I really wanted to enjoy this book but the revelation that I was starting to hate it came quickly after chapter 15 or so. A gothic infection mystery that turns into an existential breakdown and saccharine vivisection of an ending.