...if her biting off a bunch of people’s heads was how Homily learned her identity, it would probably stifle their relationship. Romance was awful. She couldn’t even do something as simple as murdering rude people anymore. [p. 69]
Shesheshen, an amorphous shapeshifting creature, lives in the cellar of a ruined mansion. She is woken by the latest set of monster hunters, who are keen to slay the Wyrm of Underlook (Shesheshen, apparently) who has cursed an entire family. Poisoned by a rosemary-anointed arrow, Shesheshen flees ... and is rescued by Homily, a healer who turns out to be a scion of the Wulfyres. Homily does not get along with her bellicose, golden-armoured siblings, but still: a family curse is a family curse. It's love at first sight for Shesheshen -- masquerading as a human -- who fantasises about laying her eggs in Homily's lungs, and wonders how Homily will receive the revelation of Shesheshen's true nature.
I am still not sure what I think or feel about this novel. On the one hand, it's a delightful romance between Homily, a woman who is abused by her family, and Shesheshen, a gelatinous blob who likes killing at eating people. On the other hand, it is full of therapy-speak about identity, parenting and abuse. On the third hand (Shesheshen probably has a few hands to spare, given her fondness for removing them from humans) it is an intriguing horror-romance about disability, toxic families and boundaries. It's often very funny, and the violence, though extreme, is rather cartoonish and not especially shocking or cruel. Seen through Shesheshen's eyes -- or whatever she is using to perceive the world with -- the humans seem ridiculous (can confirm), and what is a poor lonely monster, the last of her kind, to do?
I'm puzzled by how Shesheshen became so good at identifying and describing psychological and physical abuse amongst humans, and I'm not comfortable with the relationship's foundation of lies. But this was fun, albeit uneven, and I shall look out for more by Wiswell.
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