In THE MARIGOLD, Andrew Sullivan delivers a weird and bold if sprawling story about a dystopian future Toronto, where rich developers satiate the earth with blood before building and a sentient fungus appears intent on making the city and possibly all of humanity its own. I loved it.
The novel has an ensemble cast doomed to play their parts in multiple, sometimes intersecting storylines. Decadent developers engaging in an ancient blood rite to fuel their real estate empires, public health workers investigating the monstrous fungus, teens probing the underworld to find a lost friend, and more. Through their perspectives, we see a Toronto built on blood, haunted by its victims, and possibly careening toward destruction. The book is sprawling in its scope and struck some readers as slow and a bit bloated, but I didn’t mind. In fact, I loved it for its bold and original ideas, general weirdness, provocative writing, and overall integrity. Sullivan gave me something I hadn’t seen before, and for that alone, he won my respect.
Check it out if you’re into eco-horror and looking for something new and different.
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