Leech

Written by Hiron Ennes

Narrated by Abigail Thorn

A surreal and horrifying debut, Hiron Ennes's Leech defies our understanding of identity, heredity, and bodily autonomy.

“A wonderful new entry to Gothic science fiction, impeccably clever and atmospheric. Think Wuthering Heights... with worms!”—Tamsyn Muir

MEET THE CURE FOR THE HUMAN DISEASE

In an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron’s doctor has died. The doctor’s replacement has a mystery to solve: discovering how the Institute lost track of one of its many bodies.

For hundreds of years the Interprovincial Medical Institute has grown by taking root in young minds and shaping them into doctors, replacing every human practitioner of medicine. The Institute is here to help humanity, to cure and to cut, to cradle and protect the species from the apocalyptic horrors their ancestors unleashed.

In the frozen north, the Institute's body will discover a competitor for its rung at the top of the evolutionary ladder. A parasite is spreading through the baron's castle, already a dark pit of secrets, lies, violence, and fear. The two will make war on the battlefield of the body. Whichever wins, humanity will lose again.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Sep 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781250870902

Hiron Ennes

Hiron Ennes is a writer, musician and student of medicine based in the Pacific Northwest. Their areas of interest include infectious disease, pathology and anticapitalist healthcare reform. When they’re not hunched over a microscope or Word document they can be found playing in the snow or playing the harp (though usually not at the same time). They’re queer in every sense of the word, and they really want to pet your dog. Leech is their first novel.

Reviews for Leech

[Nina Quartuccio · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The positive is the story is very well written and the narrator was the perfect choice. There was creepy vibe to it and a very unique point of view that added to the creepiness. The negative is, there were many times the author add so much unneeded subplot, taking away from the suspense and creepiness which could have been developed more without all the extra blah blah blah. It wasn't terrible but not great either.

[Billie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Leech
by Hiron Ennes
Science Fiction Dystopian
Scribd Audio

The Interprovincial Medical Institute is hundreds of years old, living in the minds of the young, molding their young human brains into doctors, and replacing the human versions so they alone can heal the ills of the humans. And in doing so, has eyes all over what is left of the world.

In the far north, there is a Baron, and after his doctor dies of mysterious circumstances, a new doctor is sent to replace him. After an autopsy, the new doctor finds a parasite behind the old doctor's eye, a parasite that just might be the Institute's replacement.

Even though this story is labeled as horror, I wouldn't call it that. It isn't scary. There is also really no time stamp on this story or a place, other than 'the far north', but it might have been the author's intention, though, without a place or time, I couldn't really connect with the world around the characters. The MC, I wasn't sure what sex she was until later in the story. I'm old school, so I need to know 'who' they are to be able to connect with them on a deeper level. I think the story takes place in the very far future on Earth, and I'm also not sure what kind of 'creatures' the characters were. Some were designated as human, but others...

The overall idea was interesting, but the execution wasn't that great. Without the who, what, where, and when explained, it made it hard to relate and get drawn into the story because I kept wondering what I missed.

And some of the filler, I felt was overly done. More background on the time and place, and how it ended up that way would've been a better use of the words. I'm always interested in what happened to create a world in this kind of distress. I think things like that give me a better connection to the characters.

Though, missing some tidbits could be on the narrator. She was good, and was able to create different voices for the characters, but her accents were too thick with some of them and that made it hard to understand what they were saying, and one did have a lot of stories to tell but I couldn't understand all of his words because of her accent.


2 Stars


SEMI SPOILER!


The LGBT/Queer genre tag, while it does have some relevance, I don't feel it's appropriate due to that relationship was rape.

[Rocio Salazar · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's an interesting story and at times disgusted me to imagine the things in this book because I know these type of things are real and they are horrifying. I just had a hard time getting through it due to it being a slow burn at least in my opinion. It was a bit confusing at times but toward the end it got better.

[David Riser · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

absolutely exquisite. horrifiying and intense in the best way: what if john carpenter's the thing was haunted by humanity?

[readundancies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was such a solid debut novel. For something rather short, it sure didn’t waste any time cultivating a chilling setting and still managed to pack so much emotional strife alongside some really well explored themes. And the narrator heightened the stakes with such a committed and rich voice that brought the story to life. Definitely recommend this audiobook as a part of a hybrid read, you won’t regret it!

[Stacey Richardson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately I wish it had been written and narrated by someone else. Felt a lot like a bait and switch of what would have been, imo, a more interesting and novel book. If you hate a Sci fi macguffin, skip it.

[Emerson Doerksen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Really loved the beginning, the mystery, the horror. There’s a turning point in the story towards the end and that’s where the book lost me. I struggled through the last few hours just because I didn’t want to give up. Wasn’t really worth it.