Who Knew We Needed More Gothic Steampunk Horror?
I am admittedly not a big gothic horror fan -- at least, not yet.
By and large I find myself getting bored with the trope of an old haunted house. But if you throw a little fantasy in there, you've got my attention. Last month I reviewed Nathan Ballingrud's "Crypt of the Moon Spider," which blew my socks off. Today I'm turning my attention to another steampunk sci-fi horror winner.
"Leech" by Hiron Ennes carves out its own unique niche between genres. If you enjoy fantasy world-building, isolated winter settings, and ruined Gothic mansions--with a splattering of medical mystery and steampunk technology--this is the one for you.
This book is so innovative that it's challenging to even describe what it's about. For starters, imagine a gentler riff on the movie "The Thing." A mind parasite is spreading among living hosts in an arctic village town, and a physician/detective is dispatched to this village to get to the bottom of some mysterious murders. The pace convolutes plenty from there, but the book maintains a fascinating narrative tone. The protagonist isn't human. It's an alien organism that exists in a "hive mind" of human hosts. It both understands and rejects human feelings and emotions--and it shares more in common with its parasitic enemy than it would believe.
The novel's pace dips in several spots, but author's prose was impressive enough to keep me hooked even on slower sections. Ennes writes with a fluidity of words that left me, frankly, deeply envious. The world-building is fascinating. The book is set in a kind of post-apocalyptic Western European country, complete with crumbling baronies, malfunctioning druids, and a society of medical geniuses. Ennes spools out tiny tidbits of lore in a piecemeal fashion, making it easy to draw parallels to an old world that we're familiar with.
The biggest drawback for horror afficionados may be a lack of a violent, bloody climax. I desperately did want this to be "The Thing," but alas, the book drags out its finale without a clear conclusion. The slow plot pacing and detailed world-building may also be a turn-off for readers who aren't looking explicitly for that.
All in all, though, I've never read something quite like "Leech." If you're a curious (or jaded) reader hungry for something new, pick this one up.
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