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Book Review: Leech, Hiron Ennes, nar. Abigail Thorn
Title: Leech
Author: Hiron Ennes
Narrator Abigail Thorn
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2022
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 325
Total Page Count: 520,135
Text Number: 1894
Read Because: horror available now on audio—a totally blind pick! what a winner, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An instance of the Institute travels to the farthest reaches of the north to discover how one of its bodies died without its knowledge. This is layers within layers of worldbuilding, from a parasitic hivemind to a rising competitor to the post-apocalyptic, highly speculative world that spawned them, and I love the styling: larger than life, gothic, chilly, horror-touched as parasites ought to be, with a prickly cast & an extremely dynamic narrative voice, especially on audio—Thorn goes absolutely ham with voices; it may be the most vibrant audiobook I've ever read. I'm compromised by my love of/fascination with the Institute, so the later emotional beats, while thematically grounded, didn't grab me as strongly as they wanted to; I'll be interested to see if I like them better on reread. Because I'll certainly reread. I think this is missing some readers who expect sci-fi or horror and are getting both plus an experimental first person PoV, and definitely this is a weird book, but the total and thoughtful commitment to that weirdness is a delight, not a drawback; I loved the hell out of this book.
Author: Hiron Ennes
Narrator Abigail Thorn
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2022
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 325
Total Page Count: 520,135
Text Number: 1894
Read Because: horror available now on audio—a totally blind pick! what a winner, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An instance of the Institute travels to the farthest reaches of the north to discover how one of its bodies died without its knowledge. This is layers within layers of worldbuilding, from a parasitic hivemind to a rising competitor to the post-apocalyptic, highly speculative world that spawned them, and I love the styling: larger than life, gothic, chilly, horror-touched as parasites ought to be, with a prickly cast & an extremely dynamic narrative voice, especially on audio—Thorn goes absolutely ham with voices; it may be the most vibrant audiobook I've ever read. I'm compromised by my love of/fascination with the Institute, so the later emotional beats, while thematically grounded, didn't grab me as strongly as they wanted to; I'll be interested to see if I like them better on reread. Because I'll certainly reread. I think this is missing some readers who expect sci-fi or horror and are getting both plus an experimental first person PoV, and definitely this is a weird book, but the total and thoughtful commitment to that weirdness is a delight, not a drawback; I loved the hell out of this book.