The Marigold was an incredibly well crafted and beautifully written literary, eco-horror novel! As I was reading, I could not help to be drawn in by the prosaic satire and the structure of the story!

Unfortunately for me, I did not find the characters to be compelling enough to carry the story. There were six POVs, and the author split time among them equally. This means, however, that you must be invested in a majority of the perspectives in order to fully enjoy the story. I found most of the perspectives initially interesting, but only a few held my attention through the entire novel.

The stand-out perspective for me was Soda, a temporary ride-share driver who has been unable to find an office job and whose father is a conspiracy theorist. I found this character and his life situation to be realistic (excluding the speculative parts of the story).

I would recommend this book to those looking for satire on capitalism, corporate greed, landlord-ship, and development at the expense of quality. Thematically, this book reminded me a lot of The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (plus the eco-horror speculative elements that are more prevalent in this story.)

Thank you to NetGalley ECW press for a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review!

Real estate satire should be a bigger genre. But outside of High Rise I can't think of anything that really grabs the lapels of property developers and shakes as hard as it should. The Marigold gives it a go, taking the idea of a high-end high rise, its inhabitants, the shady business around putting them up and selling units and then blending that with a fungal zombie horror. That sounds like a big swing, and sadly The Marigold mainly missed for me but not due to lack of ambition.

The Marigold tries to play both ends against the middle with its format. On the one side there are a collection of vignettes, various people living in different units of the Marigold 1, and their own lives which are broadly unsatisfactory (hint, buying a high end unit in a swanky but failing building does not bring the happiness it deserves). There are a few storylines and plot threads that the book returns to though. There is a line around a man who makes human sacrifices - seeds - for new building projects, dumping corpses into foundations for cash to ensure good luck in the development. Then there are the public health team investigating a fungal disease called The Wet, which starts as damp patches but soon seems to suck individuals into its hive mentality embrace. The problem is the allegory on both of those storylines is painfully thin, and add that to the other recurring throughline of the second-generation developer not appreciating "the old ways" and the foundations of the books are actually a bit shaky. These take over as the book gets to the end, and at least have recurring characters who are worth following, but by this point the vignettes start to lose any force (partially an issue because they start so strong).

The Marigold works best as broad satire. The actual emotional engagement with the characters is quite thin (I think I probably connected with one, who is probably the only "good" person in the book). But the problem is the scenario becomes so outlandish by the end, the fungus and the ritual murders, that having deviated from any sense of reality its satire is diluted. Picking one or the other of those satirical lines and it would probably have worked a little better.

Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Marigold is a chilling eco-horror told through the perspectives of multiple characters from different walks of life. Each of the characters are unique and well developed, but my favorite POV’s were the single chapter stories told from the perspectives of The Marigold’s tenants. These chapters help to weave a more complex tale about The Wet and its behavior as it preys on its victims. It reminded me of the Southern Reach Rrilogy by Jeff VanderMeer in some ways! Would definitely recommend it to those who enjoy eerie and suspenseful sci-fi!

I think this was had a very interesting concept and even more interesting conversations. For me though, I struggled to get in and finish this story. There were a few too many characters that I didn't care to follow and the ones I did, didn't have the time allotted for me to get invested.

I wish I would have liked this but it really wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

This was a dark take, focusing on a slowly spreading fungal infestation in Toronto. The imagery was strong and horrific, an upsetting embodiment of greed and selfishness. At times, the different points of view were challenging to distinguish, but it was an overall compelling read that portrays the worst aspects of society.

his is a crazy read about the city of Toronto in a dystopian future where there’s random sinkholes opening up and a sentient fungus coming up through the car parks and drainpipes of apartment buildings. There’s a range of characters from all sectors of society but it centres around ‘The Wet’ and the health department can’t keep up with it. It’s quite a chaotic read but I enjoyed it.

The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan
⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press for an eARC copy to read and write an honest review.

This book is about the Marigold, a hotel that was built quickly and not at all the way a building should. Stanley's grandfather had the building built, and now they have plans to build the Marigold II. But it's built on rituals, and it crumbles around the tenants that currently live there. Should the Marigold II be built, or should the original Marigold just be destroyed?

This book has a unique storyline that I am unsure if I understand correctly. There is a weird ritual that helps keep the Marigold…alive?... and I didn't really understand the ritual as a whole. There's a monster living under the hotel that takes people and infects them, going as far as killing them as well. This book plays with the aspect of body horror, and that's really not my thing, but I didn't realize that going into this book.

There were also a fair number of perspectives in this story. With a building that has a lot of tenants, I understand the want to add many different perspectives to show the life throughout the building. But some of the points of view didn't seem necessary toward the story, and all of the many different perspectives seemed to slow the pacing of the story down toward the middle of the book. I also couldn't connect with many of the characters because of how many characters P.O.V. we get.

The ending was a little disappointing for me. It seemed to only give a couple chapters to end the story in a really quick way, and we don't get a lot about what happened to some of the characters. This story definitely was not for me. I think the author has a great mind for imagination, and their writing style is even easy to read, but the pacing and all of the perspectives really threw me off.

The great thing about books is that not every book is for everyone. I may not be the targeted audience for this book, but I know there are others out there who will really enjoy this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes dark stories with body horror, but please read any trigger warnings for this story.

In a near-future Toronto buffeted by environmental chaos and unfettered development, an unsettling new lifeform begins to grow beneath the surface, feeding off the past.

I found The Marigold to be a very interesting and entertaining dystopian read! Although the storyline dragged at times, the concept was completely original to me. I had never read "body horror" or "eco fiction" prior to this book and it was compelling.

What I enjoyed most were the completely separate, individual stories that acted as mini novellas, dispersed throughout the book. They helped break-up the sometimes slow moving plot. Overall, I would recommend The Marigold for fans of dystopian novels.

Thank you to @netgalley and @ecwpress for letting me preview The Marigold.

“No one wanted to admit a building could fail, not unless there was something bigger and better to replace it. The world of towers didn’t allow for failure. … A tower that fell removed itself from the skyline. A tower that fell was a judgement.”

My thanks to ECW Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Marigold’ by Andrew F. Sullivan.

I am a fan of fungus based science fiction and horror and so this dystopian novel set in a near-future Toronto definitely appealed to me.

It features an ‘unsettling new life form’ that is growing below the surface. Add to the cover art and yeah it’s pretty clear that there’s an evil mould on the loose in The Marigold, a gleaming condo tower.

The actions of a group of characters are followed throughout the novel. While there were parts that held my attention, unfortunately I found the jumping about between characters left me feeling rather disconnected from both them and the plot. I also found the body horror off putting, though I know that it is meant to be.

Overall, I concluded that ‘The Marigold’ was just not my cup of tea though I expect that it will appeal to readers more into this style of weird horror fiction.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Such an unusual but timely dystopian story. Reminiscent of The Last of Us but more focused. The “wet” team is a necessary but much maligned job in this world. It’s basically there to clean up the filthiest of remnants of the fungal infection sweeping the world. Once infected a location is a lost cause. This enters The Marigold…

At times disturbing but also fascinating I was really compelled by this one. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publishers and Andrew F.Sullivan for giving me the opportunity to read this book, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Firstly I want to say how much I love a good dystopian. And when I read the blurb, I knew this book was going to be interesting and unexpected. I wasn't wrong. I think Sullivan has an incredible imagination.

The Marigold is a hotel in dystopian Toronto that now resides below the ground after a fungal type entity/lifeform has taken over people and buildings from underground.
Stanley Marigold, our Villian, is attempting to open a second Marigold and great cost. What a fascinating and nasty character he is!

We see different characters who live in The Marigold and chapters alternate between the characters lives and perspectives. For me, I think the book would have worked better with less characters. Sullivan did a nice job at making sure the story didn't become disjointed because of alternating characters but I just found it a bit hard to connect with them when we were jumping around.

I'm glad I got the opportunity to read this story, however I'm ready to pick up a light hearted romance after this read. It was a little too dark and depressing for my likes. The body horror was BODY 👏 HORROR 👏

If I am honest, I was disappointment with the pacing. It was quite slow in the middle and then the ended felt rushed. I feel like it could have been paced slightly better, so that it kept interesting throughout.

I would recommend this but I'd say go in prepared and maybe check the trigger warnings. I just think this wasn't for me but that's the beauty of books, I know it's a 5star for someone.

This was my first book from this author, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was also unsure what genre this would fall into and if it would be a good fit for me, but I wanted to give it a try, especially after recently loving the show The Last of Us which sounds like a similar type of premise.

Unfortunately, I was finding it difficult to be engaged in the writing style of this one, so it didn't work out for me, though I'm sure many other people would enjoy it. I might check out more from this author in the future depending on what their next book is like.

I was hooked from the very first sentence. Sullivan creates such a detailed, plausible sense of decay in this near-future version of the city of Toronto. The characters are richly detailed and the story is a bleak imagining of a city that's on the verge (or maybe it's already over the edge?) of collapse. We begin with a large cast of richly detailed and specific characters. Some we follow throughout, and some don't quite make it that far. A strange, sentient mold called The Wet suffuses every aspect of the story with horror and dread, and as we read, we slowly come to realize just how tainted the characters, the world, has become. The storylines come together to paint a thoroughly entertaining yet utterly frightening picture, and the story is all too close to reality. Those readers who also enjoy a certain gallows-like humour in their books will find much to like here, as Sullivan's sense of despair is layered with darkly funny elements. There are scenes and sentences in the story that I had to immediately go back and re-read, they were just so perfect. I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more of Andrew's stories. What a fantastic story!

The marigold is a strange book and I’m not even sure how to review this. The synopsis of the book led me to believe it would be an apocalyptic type of horror novel, which parts of it are. That is the main issue though-the book is disjointed and told through loosely connected points of view and stories all centering around a building, The Marigold and a virus like disease called the Wet. I think there is some commentary to be found on climate change and gentrification embedded somewhere, but I couldn’t latch on to anything strongly enough to grasp what the author was trying to convey. The premise was interesting and I do feel like there was a good story somewhere in this-but the execution made it difficult to follow and to invest in the plot.

Thanks for to the publisher for the arc provided by NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This had such a promising synopsis, but sadly did not live up to it for me. There were too many, and repetitive, POV’s which led to characters being extremely one-dimensional and lacking motive for any actions/decisions. Likewise, the plot was stretched too far across the various POV’s which meant that the book failed to justify its page count. I would’ve DNF’ed this, unfortunately, and not really cared for the rest but it was very easy to just keep reading with the simplistic writing style - and it was an ARC so I feel obligated to finish it! I was hoping for an eco-techno-horror but got none of those vibes, and so much of this felt un/underexplained that I just desired more across the entire book from craft to setting to characters. Also, there was a weird fascination with Stan’s genitalia that really did not need to be present. You can tell this was written by a man, and it seems I prefer women writers. One of these stars are for the raccoons. I love raccoons.

Don’t really have much of substance to say, much like this book’s commentary, besides that it wasn’t for me and that Sullivan is a one-time author for me.

Unbearably depressing and emotionally draining. A character driven horror story with a demanding message of decay and absolution. Not for the faint of heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan #twentyfirstbookof2023 #arc

CW: death, murder, fungus

In a near-future Toronto buffeted by environmental chaos and unfettered development, an unsettling new lifeform begins to grow beneath the surface, feeding off the past.

More sporror! Fungal horror is everywhere right now, and I am usually a fan. Unfortunately, this one was not for me. It was slow reading and I wasn’t ever excited to get back to the book. I didn’t particularly care about any of the characters whose perspective the book followed, and I almost DNFed at 60%. I don’t know why I kept going but I wish I hadn’t. I just didn’t find it interesting.

This book has lots of ideas about climate crisis and class but they’re bogged down and not executed well. None of the characters are fleshed out very well. The one thing I liked? The cover.

Thank you to @netgalley and @ecwpress for the advance copy. (Pub date 4/18/23)

#fungi #fungalhorror #sporror #thewet #themarigold

My Quick Take: This book crept up on me unexpectedly, building to a literal and metaphorical apocalypse.
***
The Marigold crept up on me (...infected me?) with its weirdness. The action is in a near future Toronto, and climate change has obviously taken its toll. Weather is unpredictable, random sinkholes wreak havoc on the landscape and something mysterious is happening in the ground below condo developments. A mold: “The Wet”. The narrative takes the form of multiple points of view, with a couple of truly over the top characters. Gradually I saw a creepy apocalyptic vision of Toronto in my imagination.

There is so much metaphor here. The Wet could be a stand-in for climate change, or more specifically the wages of our sins: ignoring the climate crisis; unfettered capitalism; or extreme avarice.

It sounds all so serious, but I detected a note of humour here too. A hint of camp. Though I may be wrong. This is urban lore–meets climate change fiction–meets plague novel–meets…hmm, maybe Ghostbusters? I’m sure this never occurred to the author, but I picked up on a few hints and references that reminded me of the movie, in a really good way! (To be clear, the plot of Ghostbusters and The Marigold have almost nothing in common–it’s more of a vibe I’m getting at). Though this is a story where the Ghostbusters wouldn’t emerge from the building triumphant, but rather running in terror from a black toxic sludge.

As you can tell this novel grew on me. It made me think a bit, and I had some fun reading it. I think it’d make a good movie!

Thanks to @netgalley and @ecwpress for a digital ARC in exchange for my review.

There was enough to love here that I can still very much see encouraging people on the fence to give it a try. I found that with so much going on I wanted more from those things. It felt muddy at times, too much adding up to not quite enough for me to enjoy reading it. I really felt that drag in the middle and the end didn't quite make up for that to me. That said, the setting was interesting and the horror felt both familiar and specific. It wasn't for me, but I could see how, if this specific type of satire is your thing, it could still be for you!

The Marigold is dense in subtextual (and textual) commentary on gentrification, development, and environmental crisis and its speculative world makes use of features of Toronto that I’m certainly familiar with. Ultimately, I found the narrative structure both choppy and slow, which makes it a book I admire intellectually but did not particularly enjoy reading.