Someone You Can Build A Nest In

This review alludes to light spoilers "Someone You Can Build a Nest In" is a book that follows Shesheshen, an autistic coded shapeshifter, as she deals with difficult trials in life that I found very relatable as an ace trans person, such as discovering what parts of a relationship do you actually want, as opposed to what you thought you're supposed to want, struggling with the effort it takes to hide that your body isn't like most people's, debating at what stage of a new relationship are you supposed to tell your girlfriend you murdered and ate her brother, wrestling with the dangers of narratives you construct for yourself, and more. My main worry when I started this book was that it'll turn out to be too gimmicky, and prove to have nothing of value other than its concept. This, luckily, turned out to be false. Everything from the characters to the plot (which turned out to be more interesting than I expected) and the writing itself was thoroughly enjoyable. Shesheshen is amazing. As a neurodivergent person myself, I couldn't help but relate to her opinions of talking and human interactions in general. I really appreciate how the book makes it clear she's not a very good person, but still allows you to root for her. Her perspective on her (and other people's) body is pretty creative. While the shapeshifter is not a new monster, this interpretation of it is, again, creative. Her struggles with her body was one of my favourite parts of the book. Homily was a pleasant surprise. Don't have too much to say about her, but she turned out to be a lot more interesting than I anticipated. I didn't like her as much as Shesheshen, but I liked her. The romance between the two showed me that I like romance stories a lot more when the POV is ace. Usually, the sexual attraction makes me really uncomfortable, and I can't help but roll my eyes at dramatic kissing descriptions. Shesheshen's and Homily's one kiss is my favourite kiss in fiction, and maybe my favourite moment in the book. I also really love the cute things they tell each other, like “If you like me being me... then I will try to keep it up. So long as you keep being you.” Lastly, I do have a few nitpicks. The main one is the ending. It's not bad, it's just too focused. We got quite a long ending, and I do like that, but I felt like we could have learned more about what happened around them. What happened to the people? How is the town like? Where are the rest of the surviving characters? How does everyone perceive the events of the stories? I would totally understand leaving some of these things open, but I feel like I have nothing to go on, which is a shame. The second main nitpick is something that might be a bit of a hot take, but I don't like the use of modern queer language in settings like these. Don't get me wrong. I love the representation. The inclusion of random NB extras, and the acknowledgement of allosexual people as a group and not as "the whole". But the modern terms really didn't fit the vibes of the story. The power of representation comes from authentic portrayals of the experiences, and not from the right terms being used. Overall, Someone You Can Build a Nest In has easily become one of my favourite books, and I can't wait for more from John Wishwell.

“Continuing to live is daunting, in its own way”

This book is weird, dark, and occasionally gorey but I am going to go ahead and dub this the next must read cozy (but creepy) fantasy. This story is told from the perspective of a monster -Shesheshen, who is a bog monster that can shape shift into basically anything by using the parts of what she eats (she eats a human and then can use their liver). Shesheshen is a pretty chill monster who basically just wants to hibernate, eat occasionally, and hang with her pet bear, but of course some heroic villagers have to try to slay her. Shesheshen meets a human woman, Homily, after she is injured during an attack. Homily and Shesheshen quickly develop feelings for each other but our monster has to grapple with emotions she has never experienced, while Homily struggles with an awful, abusive family who are hell-bent on killing all monsters.

Okay, the book has some gore, I mean it is told from the POV of a monster who eats people but it is straight-up funny! Shesheshen is hilarious as she tries to figure out how to act like a human. I really enjoyed Shesheshen’s random phrases about typical human behaviors she found odd - “Arguing was the hardest form of talking” “Companionship. That was civilization’s trap and snare”

The book also touches on some difficult subjects like abusive families and what love really is. The commentary on parenting was spot on! There were some good twists, a few that are very easy to see coming but some other ones were unexpected. I loved how the story developed overall. Somehow both the monster main characters and the human main character were very relatable. Will be talking about this one for a while!

John Wiswell has an unusually fertile imagination. I shared a writing workshop week with him once and his submission was the most imaginative story I had ever read. So I looked forward to reading his debut novel.

I expected the unexpected, the kindness, the caring characters, the excellent storytelling. And it is all here.

What I didn’t expect is the utter subversion of the notion of Monster. It is done so skillfully that the reader is changed before they realize it is happening. To me, it is a valuable and maybe even necessary shift in thinking.

Read this story even if you think you don’t like the genre. Everyone likes a love story and this one just might reshape you.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I initially found Shesheshen to be off-putting and rather unsympathetic. Expecting it to be another Beowulfesque novel written from Grendel's perspective, I put it aside and started something else.

I came back to it and found the yes, it has echoes of Beowulf, but it is more than that. As Shesheshen becomes more comfortable in the human world, she becomes more human and, while still technically a monster, less monstrous. And the humans she too often meets are pretty monstrous, too.

Her relationship with Homily is endearing. I loved Blueberry, the huge bear. In reference to a currently popular meme, this book illustrates why women would rather be with a strange bear than a strange man.

This was such a unique and unusual read and I’m so glad I stumbled upon it. It tells us the story of a much feared monster hunted by the townsfolk. This monster who is able to live within anything she wants, even to take the shape of a human. There is so much lore about how to kill this beast and yet she laughs most of it away outwitting the humans at every turn. Until that is, she falls in love with one. Then the story takes a bit of a turn as she tries to figure out human emotions and even how to keep one of them alive, without revealing her secret of course (this part totally reminded me of Murderbot). There is a fabulous modern thriller-esque twist in the final third which turns everything on its head. So fun to be reading a book where you’re totally rooting for the monster!

This is a queer, strange, violent, affectionate novel with a monster as its main character. There's humor and villainy, horror and romance. I'm not really the right reader for the cheerful level of gore and oozing fluids in the book, but I liked the sweetly awkward friendship and the humor. Here is one brief sample of the humor, the closing sentences of chapter one:

"Those were not the words of a worthy father. They were the words of breakfast."

Keeping this short, because I am on vacation. Call it three and a half out of five biting stars for me. Likely a four or five star read for those with more appetite for the gruesome.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).