Michael Barnes
Lucy Nield at the fantasy hive describes it well "a novel riddled with body horror, erotica, and repulsion. Snyder has stitched together the darkest most disturbing thoughts a person might have, religious doomsday prophecies as well as left over anxieties related to covid-19. Within this novel, Snyder doesn’t just ask the question “what if…?” when it comes to the end of the world… she answers it, in the most horrific possible way". A disease has broken out, stabbing everyone with familiar pangs of nostalgia to the corona virus. If you are still suffering trauma from the period of significant social impact during the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic then steer clear as this is full of evocative imagery.
The narrative is driven around the deadly—and thankfully fictional—PVG virus (polymorphic viral gastroencephalitis), and over the same time period is structured as three different perspectives. Erin, Savannah and Mareva, which do not match the order of the title honestly each character could wear a name tag embossed with a messy, bloodstained identification that embodies all three. Though there is little to connect Erin, Savannah and Mareva in their day to day lives, they’re all infected with PVG. It’s not long before their symptoms start manifesting in vastly different, horrifying ways. Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brain. “I could smell Betty. Not her perfume. Her. And she smelled fucking delicious.” Savannah, a professional BDSM switch, discovers a new turn-on: committing brutal murders for her eldritch masters, and Mareva, plagued with chronic tumours, is too horrified to acknowledge her divine role in the coming apocalypse, and as her growths multiply, so too does her desperation.
Whilst the apocolypse is the focus, it’s the very contempory real grounded world, when we listen to the conversations that Erin has about her fears of what could happen now when going to meet someone for a sexual hook up she points out that those are fears she as a women has always had in our society. The conversation between Erin and Mareva both having completed university degrees, well-educated having to take any work rather than pursuing post graduate studies for those subject they are passionate about, they bond over cephalopods - after all who wouldn't? I also enjoyed the medical/science aspects of the pandemic with the different types of infections classified from 0 to 5 which we uncover throughout the book.
Also this book has supported my poorly considered but strongly held belief that as long as I don't eat octopus then they will spare me when the inevitably rise.
Inspired by her Bram Stoker Award-winning story “Magdala Amygdala,” Lucy A. Snyder delivers a cosmic tale about the planet’s disastrous transformation … and what we become after.
Lucy Nield at the fantasy hive describes it well "a novel riddled with body horror, erotica, and repulsion. Snyder has stitched together the darkest most disturbing thoughts a person might have, religious doomsday prophecies as well as left over anxieties related to covid-19. Within this novel, Snyder doesn’t just ask the question “what if…?” when it comes to the end of the world… she answers it, in the most horrific possible way". A disease has broken out, stabbing everyone with familiar pangs of nostalgia to the corona virus. If you are still suffering trauma from the period of significant social impact during the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic then steer clear as this is full of evocative imagery.
The narrative is driven around the deadly—and thankfully fictional—PVG virus (polymorphic viral gastroencephalitis), and over the same time period is structured as three different perspectives. Erin, Savannah and Mareva, which do not match the order of the title honestly each character could wear a name tag embossed with a messy, bloodstained identification that embodies all three. Though there is little to connect Erin, Savannah and Mareva in their day to day lives, they’re all infected with PVG. It’s not long before their symptoms start manifesting in vastly different, horrifying ways. Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brain. “I could smell Betty. Not her perfume. Her. And she smelled fucking delicious.” Savannah, a professional BDSM switch, discovers a new turn-on: committing brutal murders for her eldritch masters, and Mareva, plagued with chronic tumours, is too horrified to acknowledge her divine role in the coming apocalypse, and as her growths multiply, so too does her desperation.
Whilst the apocolypse is the focus, it’s the very contempory real grounded world, when we listen to the conversations that Erin has about her fears of what could happen now when going to meet someone for a sexual hook up she points out that those are fears she as a women has always had in our society. The conversation between Erin and Mareva both having completed university degrees, well-educated having to take any work rather than pursuing post graduate studies for those subject they are passionate about, they bond over cephalopods - after all who wouldn't? I also enjoyed the medical/science aspects of the pandemic with the different types of infections classified from 0 to 5 which we uncover throughout the book.
Also this book has supported my poorly considered but strongly held belief that as long as I don't eat octopus then they will spare me when the inevitably rise.
Inspired by her Bram Stoker Award-winning story “Magdala Amygdala,” Lucy A. Snyder delivers a cosmic tale about the planet’s disastrous transformation … and what we become after.