Fun, weird, strange, creepy all the things that I like in a book. I thought this was very unique and I really enjoyed the characters and plot .

Destination Uncanny Valley

I have mixed feelings about John Wiswell's debut novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In. Intellectually, it's one of the most interesting attempts I've read at a problem Science Fiction authors have always struggled with -- creating aliens that are actually alien. But emotionally, alas, I didn't really connect with it. Sadly, I finished the book with a feeling of relief.

I don't guess Wiswell was aiming at Science Fiction, but rather Horror Fantasy. Fine, I don't care where the bookstore shelves it. It stars an alien monster that a science fiction author would be proud of. What's more, the alien monster, Sheshehen, is the main point of view character. And she is truly biologically alien. She's a blob of flesh and can voluntarily take any shape and incorporate anything she eats. Does she have bones? If she wants to, and if she eats something with bones. Her life-cycle, though inhuman, is more familiar. Wiswell obviously based it on the truly horrifying Parasitoid Wasp -- they lay eggs in the body of a host, the eggs hatch and consume the host, killing it -- thus the title Someone You Can Build a Nest In.

This leads to some fascinatingly awkward etiquette problems, like this one

"There was no easy way to ask if Homily wanted her to eat her mother."*

Indeed, it's a difficult subject to broach.

Where Shesheshen's alienness slips is in her inner life. She thinks and wants and communicates in a very human way. In fact, she falls in love with a human. How does she have the capacity for a very human-seeming love? Her species reproduces asexually. Furthermore, like Parasitoid wasps they do not nurture their young. It is difficult to understand how, with this biology, it makes sense for her to experience a very human love.

Well, of course it is not really that difficult to understand. Wiswell is bowing to the exigencies of fiction. He wants a point-of-view character that his readers (most of whom he assuredly expects to be human) can relate to. For me this doesn't quite work. The alien biology combined with the almost human psyche combine to place Shesheshen in the Uncanny Valley. One suspects that Wiswell may be doing this deliberately.

I personally am not a big fan of Romance novels, and while I appreciate the creativity of this one, it landed outside my sweet spot. It would not surprise me to learn that it works better for folks who have broader romance tolerances.

I thank NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader copy of Someone You Can Build a Nest In. This review expresses my honest opinions. Release date 2-Apr-2024.

*This quote is from an advance reader copy, and may change before publication. If necessary, it will be corrected on the book's release.

This is the type of book that makes me buzz with excitement for people to read it. I genuinely cannot wait to see what people think of this one because I loved it.

The monster biology in this novel is so inventive and interesting to read.

Shesheshen is by far one of my favorite protagonists I've read in recent years. It's really hard to capture such inhuman concepts and emotions in writing but I commend this author for nailing it on the head.

There's also an extremely clever bait and switch moment in this novel that genuinely surprised me-

Lot's to be praised here! So wholesome!

This book started out so fun, funny, unexpected and weird – in a good way! – and it stayed that way, throughout, but as it progressed it also delved deeper into relationships, family, trauma and healing. So this is a very well written and funny book about some pretty heavy stuff – a tall order – and it does it so well.

Shesheshen is probably one of my favourite protagonists in a long time.

I really, really enjoyed this read and I can´t wait to read more by John Wiswell.

PS I LOVE this title!

This book is an absolute wild ride of a read, and it was incredibly enjoyable throughout. It's definitely not for everyone - I'm not recommending it for family book group, for example. However, for people for whom, "lesbian shapeshifting blob disembowels and absorbs girlfriend's abusive family members...for love!" hits the sweet spot, it's an absolute slam dunk. Yeah, it's a little gory, but there's an amazing amount of tenderness and humanity that I found super relatable. It's also got a great message about how "monsters" might have more humanity than the humans, and that humans can be monsters too; the different is not in how you're perceived, but how you treat others. Honestly, a book that can give me goopy digestive juicy gore, a tender exploration of familial trauma, and the joy and confusion of falling in love all in one is absolutely a five star read for me. This is the kind of book that I wouldn't have expected to get published, but I'm thrilled that it did, and I hope it finds its way into the hands of other readers for whom it resonates like it did for me.

An utter delight from start to finish. I can't recommend this enough! Shesheshen is fabulously alien and monstrous, and she never loses that even as she gains an understanding of love and empathy. The romance is slow and sweet and does a wonderful job of focusing on each of them as full people.

Wiswell, as an author, recognizes the fine line between being caring and supportive and being traumatized and self-sacrificing. He leans in, asking difficult questions: do you love your partner for who they are, or are you in love with their trauma? And what if their trauma is part of what has made them who they are?