“Before everything that happened, before the towers, before the site plans, before the deeds, before the failing sports bar and two-bedroom apartment above it that often operated like another, more financially successful, unlicensed sports bar until the police shut it down after that one Polish kid got strangled with a pair of pink stockings behind the abandoned Shoppers Drug Mart a block or two south, there were trees here.“

That is the first sentence. Are you kidding me? I should have stopped reading right away.

Confusing story telling, long winded and verbose. Oddly directionless, episodic, not much of a plot. Bleak, grim, with a seemingly endless stream of characters and constantly changing POVs. It was all pretty sterile. I did not much care for any of the characters. The body horror was pretty limp as well and lacked tension.

What is it about? We are in a near future Toronto, post-climate disaster, plagued by mold spreading through a city that has been flooded repeatedly (I presume), with a crumbling infrastructure. It seems to be commentary on the current state of the city‘s political and administrative situation.

Plenty of social commentary. Actual story telling would have been nice. Instead there are snapshots, crab walking us along to a lackluster comedic interlude instead of a satisfying ending.

Characters are luckless freelance taxi drivers, bicycle messengers delivering food, failed business men, etc., moving around a building called The Marigold. Every few chapters we get a chapter named „Suite xyz“, set in one of the building‘s suites, where we meet its inhabitant. Those characters are have-beens, rich people, wannabes etc. reflecting on their lives, their plans, how the world works. Whatever.

Then there is the owner of the Marigold with his wife and entourage as the epitome of the horrible people and two female public health inspectors dealing with the mold-infestation in the city. The mold/fungus is destroying buildings, killing people and becoming more aware. Then there are mysterious sinkholes slowly destroying the city as well.

“This impressively bleak vision of the near future is as grotesquely amusing as it is grim.” — Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW

Bleak, very. Amusing, not so much. Mostly depressing and vaguely disgusting. The author seems to be trying hard to show us the ugly sides of humanity and all the characters are pretty despicable or defeated by life. Not my cup of tea.

“A bold dystopian novel that captivates with its dread and depth. The Marigold is unhinged literary horror that goes right to the source of decay.” — Iain Reid, award-winning author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Foe, and We Spread

I should have read the blurb more closely, “literary“ anything seldom leads to enjoyable experiences for me. This book didn‘t go right to anywhere.

“Weaving together disparate storylines and tapping into the realms of body horror, urban dystopia, and ecofiction, The Marigold explores the precarity of community and the fragile designs that bind us together.“

Besides the sporror and climate fic we also have a queer relationship, so all boxes are ticked.

Pretty cover.

Bottomline, I did not care for any of the characters. The story stayed on the surface, I lacked emotions and meaningful character development. It was all very episodic and the plot, as little as there was, moved glacially slow. Boring, bleak, depressing, with a silly ending. I hope the Toronto administrators and property developers will be forced to read this as punishment.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and ECW Press. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review. I am sorry I didn‘t like this.

This was just ok for me. I didn’t like the characters. The story was ok. I expected more and predicted the plot twists which made the reading not enjoyable for me.

"A naturally occurring biological weapon, one humans could never hope to control, designed by no one, and beholden to nothing but its own propagation. This is the Wet."

The Marigold is a dystopian horror narrative that places in a not-so-distant future, in Toronto. It uses the genre to create an effective social critique/commentary on Toronto, and the lack of accountability taken by public institutions and government, the corruption of democracy in favour or monetary gain and the expense, health and even lives of local citizens.

The narrative centres around the development of the rise condo tower The Marigold II, the residents, builders and investors, nearby residents, as well as The Wet and those who's job it is to contain and maintain the waterfront area of Downtown from the wet. Andrew's narrative was heavily inspired by the local municipal, provincial and federal governments response to the covid pandemic, and the general governmental corruption within the city. This book is a funny, dark and disgusting critique by Sullivan on the current state of affairs for both the government and the ways in which we as humans effectively create this sense of isolation and loneliness due to capitalist social structure. I loved this novel. It was one of my favourite new releases of 2023 and in my top 10 dystopian narratives.
Genres:
- Science Fiction
- Literary Fiction
-Canadian Fiction
- Horror Fiction
--Body Horror
- - EcoHorror
-Fantasy
- Urban Dystopia -
Viral/Fungal pandemic
- LBGTQIA+

Themes:
-Isolation (neg. consequences of being isolated) -capitalism- - prioritizing money over everything -progress vs nature -Blood money -lack of meaningful connections among people

Thank you ECW Press and Netgalley for my E-book arc copy. That you Andrew for the awesome book.

If Lost were a book (lack of payoff). Too much repetitive exposition. Too little characterization. Cabeza’s voice was irksome and hard to understand (I listened to the Audible version). The Sidewalk Labs arc wasn’t substantive enough. A missed opportunity.

CAN WE SAY THE LAST OF US VIBES OR NAHHH?? Because hello this is just the aesthetic I was looking for to sop up my sorrows after The Last of Us hangover that I'm still currently feeling. I am so thankful to ECW press, Andrew F. Sullivan, and NetGalley for granting me advanced access to this gem of a horror book.

Sinkholes are opening up all over Toronto and a mysterious mold has taken over the city. "The Marigold" follows multiple storylines of characters living in this semi-apocalyptic world: two women who work for the city to monitor the mold, a group of teenagers whose friend disappears into a sinkhole, a real estate baron with questionable building practices, and a man and his conspiracy theorist father who just may be onto something.

I enjoyed this book! It was obviously making a statement about the rot of capitalism and I think it did that effectively. My one gripe would be that it just had one or two too many points of view, so it ended up feeling like it jumped around a little too much. That also made it hard to connect with the characters; just as you were getting into one person's POV, it would change to someone else and you wouldn't go back to that character for 4-5 chapters.

Overall, a solid book with a cool idea. If you're a sporror fan, definitely pick this one up!

DNF

The pacing of this is really slow and every chapter is told by a different character, and I’m finding that I’m more bored than I am interested to see where this goes. This promised to be an urban dystopian tale with body horror and ecofiction. So if you’re into that and you can get past the pacing, you might enjoy this.

Some books I will never forget. THE MARIGOLD is one of them. Penned by an extraordinary writer, Andrew F. Sullivan, about a Near Future, all too plausible, city in the throes of condemnation [not by decree, but by Nature and by the foul actions of the wealthy and powerful; by Weather; by human-intensified Climate Change; and by the insidious takeover of the Hive Mind (if only it was just Fungus) the characters herein name "the Wet"]: this City is Toronto, but certainly [one hopes] not the Toronto of today.

The Toronto that author Sullivan nightmare-envisions is a model also for the Near Future of this planet. [Certainly, when the Wet succeeds with its absorption of one city, it's not going to pause and rest on its laurels. Wherever are humans....]

Near Future Science Fiction, Dystopia, Diverse Rep, LGBTQ Rep, Classism, Occult [and its consequences], the human drive to "Belong," [the Wet has its own extraordinary riff to play on this concept], Hive Mind, Sentience. THE MARIGOLD is full to overflowing. I dare readers to swallow this novel and then try to forget it. Not happening.

First, thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eArc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This one might make me seem in the small segment of reviewers, but I actually enjoyed this one! Maybe it's because I've read similar books where there are so many POVs chapter to chapter, but I really enjoyed seeing these glimpses into an unfurling fungi-based, Toronto-zoned ecohorror. It was fun (which seems like a weird word to describe this one), and the entire time I was pretty excited to see what happens next! Of course, there are some things that were missing; we had so many characters to see through the eyes of, but very few were, pardon the pun, fleshed out enough to really connect with. Some of the characters that had more "air time" were horrible people, so being in their heads too long was icky. Overall, I really enjoyed this one, and I can't wait to buy a copy for my shelf!

5/5

“Wealth is always built in n bodies, on the sweat and blood and bones of others. Wealth comes from bodies. And bodies do not last.”

I really wanted to love this one. The cover is stunning. The plot sounds fascinating and has so much potential. Ultimately though, this one fell flat for me. More than once I planned on DNF-ing it, and then I’d read one more chapter. Then was over halfway through, so I forced myself to keep going.

The writing itself is really lovely and eerie, and I adored the chapters that detailed the lives of various residents of The Marigold. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough of them, and the mail cast just felt paper thin.

Like the rest of the book, all the characters have potential, but they’re never explored enough for us to care about what happens to them, making the stakes feel not just low but non-existent.

Here’s a little fact about my reading preferences…
I’m a freak for funky fungi fiction.

In a not-so-distant future Toronto, a city ravaged by environmental chaos & non-stop development, a new life form begins to take root underground. The Marigold, a multi-storied condo tower sits atop the surface, half-filled & deteriorating as a toxic mold infiltrates the dark recesses. Public health inspector Cathy Jin investigates the encroaching mold, while Sam “Soda” Dalipagic uncovers a secret cache of data during his ride share job, big businessman Stanley Marigold makes plans for his next tower, and 13 year-old Henrietta tries to find a friend who disappears into the depths of a sinkhole. Weaving together a multitude of storylines, Andrew F. Sullivan explores community, gentrification, and the human condition.

This book is a wild & profoundly dark ride. Sullivan takes readers into the depths of a multitude of characters’ psyches, into the complexities of toxic traits like obsession, greed, biases, and hatred. The prose is eerily poignant & sheds light on uncomfortable topics. I’ll admit, I read a chunk & had to restart (mostly cause it was just cover pick for me & I hadn’t read the synopsis), but by the end I was highlighting almost entire pages. It’s definitely one for my forever shelf.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read & review this new favorite.

I gave this a four out of five stars, I really enjoyed this story. I like the mystery and the different POVs. I totally recommend this book, I want to add it to my collection once I get the chance to.

Disaffection, gentrification, sinkholes, halted construction, slum landlords, unaffordable housing, heavy traffic, overworked city workers and underfunded departments, failing social services...these all make up Toronto in Andrew F. Sullivan’s latest novel. This could be the present day city, except for the regular bad storms and flooding, and a weird fungal growth called The Wet that appears in some city buildings. It’s hard to deal with, and dangerous if inhaled. There is little understanding of where it came from, and other than spraying it with an anti-fungal spray when it appears, no idea how to prevent it.

Sullivan presents a city ready to fall apart through a huge range of characters, some living in the buildings owned by the Marigold corporation, various corporation heads, including the Marigold's, a rideshare driver, kids living next to a halted Marigold construction project, and a mysterious figure known only as the gardener.

We find out that the fungal infection is spreading to more buildings, people are disappearing, absorbed by the Wet, corporate heads are engaging in weird rituals supposedly designed to ensure the health of their profits and influence in the city, the gardener is performing the actual rituals to ensure the health of buildings, and, there also appears to be a disembodied voice goading or chastising some of the people featured in the story.

There are lots of shocking moments, including the revelation that The Wet is sentient, and seemingly growing. Also, the overall picture Sullivan presents of Toronto is grim and disheartening.

The huge cast makes it hard to at times to care about any one person, especially as there is a fair amount of jumping from person to person. Sullivan also includes lots of grimy, goopy yuckiness, as well as a nice tie back to ancient practices.

I found this a slow read, and as already stated, pretty grim. I didn't enjoy it, but I appreciated it.

Thank you to Netgalley and to ECW Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I requested this book strictly for the sporror. I missed The Last of Us and wanted another story that took me into.

The story is told through many different viewpoints but there are around four main characters which is a lot for me to handle. Every one of these character’s stories felt necessary to progress the story. We revisited them regularly and it worked for me. There were however like 3 or 4 additional characters that you only met once and then they were never spoken about again. Those storylines I really could’ve done without. Overall I thought it was an interesting story, I love a fungal horror, but I would’ve enjoyed a different execution.

A worthy read for sure if you're into stories that unfold through the eyes of many over time. It would probably be better on re-read for this reason. The mold/spore concept is definitely creepy and the dystopian Toronto setting is wonderfully described throughout.

I sadly couldn't get into this one-- the concept was very cool, but I just couldn't get invested in all the different POVs. I'm sure there are plenty out there who will love this story

2023 is the year of fungi and Eco horror and I am here for it!!

The Marigold takes place in Toronto of the future where fungus is among us and sinkholes are everywhere and anywhere. It's treacherous out there!

It's a liminal novel with lots going on, but it's all happening at a glacial pace. Very fantasy-meets-scifi. It was a tad long and slow for me, but I enjoyed it---even if I'm confused by what eventually happened

If you read the Rivers of London fungus subplot and thought, or played one of the apocalyptic scenarios of the old World of Darkness (you know which one, Tzimisces!), or enjoyed Mexican Gothic and thought... "I WANT MORE OF THIS!" then The Marigold will be your cup of mushroom tea.

Follow a diverse cast of characters in an only slightly dystopian Toronto set 15 minutes into the future, where gigs have taken oper people's economies just like The Wet is taking over Toronto's overpriced and ultra-fragile homes.

If you are subject to Toronto's real estate market, the less disturbing part of the book is the body horror. Frankly, it felt like a welcome sublimation of the the experience of trying to attain a modicum of stability in this city. Read The Marigold to put a face to this horror, Stanley is the perfect villain for our zeitgeist and we are all here for the ride.

I really enjoyed The Marigold! I love the combination of existential horror and body horror with scenes that feel like they're straight-out of a corporate espionage or action-adventure movie. "The Wet" is a creeping, terrifying presence. Sullivan has a real talent for juggling multiple characters and plotlines. He uses them to build a sense of dread and make the world his characters inhabit stranger and scarier than it would be with a narrower cast. The world he presents, a near-future, dysfunctional, nightmare of a city, feels entirely too possible given the direction of climate change and rampant, corporate greed.

Unfortunately I ended up DNF'ing this book. It has such a great premise and I like that it's told from different POV's. I just found myself zoning out during most of the POV's. And the ones that were the most exciting where seemed represented less in the story.
If you like a really slow burn, this may be for you. I just wanted more excitement.