The Works of Vermin

Hardcover, 432 pages

Published by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom..

ISBN:: 978-1-250-81121-9

He was sent to kill a pest. Instead, he found a monster.

Enter the decadent, deadly city of Tiliard, a metropolis carved into the stump of an ancient tree. In its canopy, the pampered elite warp minds with toxic perfume; in its roots, gangs of exterminators hunt a colossal worm with an appetite for beauty.

In this complex, chaotic city, Guy Moulène has a simple goal: keep his sister out of debt. For her sake, he'll take on any job, no matter how vile.

As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. These vermin are all strange, and often dangerous. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. …

He was sent to kill a pest. Instead, he found a monster.

Enter the decadent, deadly city of Tiliard, a metropolis carved into the stump of an ancient tree. In its canopy, the pampered elite warp minds with toxic perfume; in its roots, gangs of exterminators hunt a colossal worm with an appetite for beauty.

In this complex, chaotic city, Guy Moulène has a simple goal: keep his sister out of debt. For her sake, he'll take on any job, no matter how vile.

As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. These vermin are all strange, and often dangerous. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice.

Guy doesn't have a choice.

2 editions

Amber Herbert reviewed The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes

All Style, Little Substance

3 stars

Full disclosure: I stopped reading before the end of Part One.

Hiron Ennes's knack for weaving fascinating worlds, as well as the novel's premise, enticed me, but what I hoped would be a feverish romp through a dark fantasy world turned out to be a novel brimming with descriptions and world building and absolutely nothing else. Many of the details were so extravagantly conveyed that I lost myself in the prose and struggled to visualize what was unfolding on the page.

Ennes is a wordsmith who would thrive as a poet. The Works of Vermin lacks cohesive dual storylines and three-dimensional characters, the magical components were never explained, and the purple and florid prose drowned out what I believe would have been great setting and thoughtful story building if the narrative was more concise.

While I wanted to love this novel as much as I did Leech, …

Full disclosure: I stopped reading before the end of Part One.

Hiron Ennes's knack for weaving fascinating worlds, as well as the novel's premise, enticed me, but what I hoped would be a feverish romp through a dark fantasy world turned out to be a novel brimming with descriptions and world building and absolutely nothing else. Many of the details were so extravagantly conveyed that I lost myself in the prose and struggled to visualize what was unfolding on the page.

Ennes is a wordsmith who would thrive as a poet. The Works of Vermin lacks cohesive dual storylines and three-dimensional characters, the magical components were never explained, and the purple and florid prose drowned out what I believe would have been great setting and thoughtful story building if the narrative was more concise.

While I wanted to love this novel as much as I did Leech, I could not get past the excessive descriptions and overabundant world building. In this case, the general world building advice (up to 10% of what you know should be in your story) would have done wonders for pacing, enjoyment, and overall readability.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC.