Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this book - loved the description and the cover. Unfortunately, I could not get into this novel. For me there were too many perspectives and too many storylines for me to become engaged in the book.

An ecological horror novel told from the perspectives of many poses an intriguing premise. One that really attracted me to this novel initially. Unfortunately, at times I found myself just plain disliking Andrew F. Sullivan's The Marigold, and at others just feeling sad that the novel didn't deliver on what I was expecting.

It's a brilliant decision to tell this story from many different perspectives, but it played out in a way that had me disliking almost every single character in the limelight. I don't expect to like everyone in a novel like this, especially one that occasionally tells the story from the perspective of the capitalist elite who are knowingly running their city into ruin, but I don't think it's too much to ask that some of the characters be likeable, that I should want to root for someone.

Another issue I had with The Marigold is that even when I finished it, I couldn't tell what point it was trying to make. Perhaps all the characters are unlikeable for a reason, and the argument of this story is that humanity is a scourge on the natural world, doomed to make bio-weapons rather than fix ecological problems. If that's the case, it veers too close to eco-fascism for my tastes. The thought that all humans are evil and that humanity as a whole needs a plague to take us out is not one I subscribe to, but I wonder if Sullivan might.

Overall, I just feel disappointed with this story. For a novel that seemed to be about ecological horror, it focused a lot on unrelated sex and sexuality. This book seemed to have an obsession with fetishes—feet, voyeurism, adultery, to name a few—while also throwing in so many references to a character's hard cock. It just made me cringe, and I consider myself very open to explorations of sex and sexuality in novels. The cross between "look I'm a man and my dick is hard" and "this woman who does internet sex work does not lead a fulfilling life" lead to me being frustrated with the way sex was both an afterthought and a very pointed way to describe characters' idiosyncrasies and psychological issues. A related side note—I can't tell what this book was trying to say about sex work in general, but it certainly felt like it took a negative view rather than understanding it as a job that some people rather enjoy, not just a job people do out of necessity.

I felt like Sullivan almost had some interesting points to make. He described unhoused people living in tents and being harassed by militaristic police. He goes in depth about the ways that greed and capitalism corrupt. But none of the points were made in a grounded or clear way. I'm not asking for heavy handed "this is what I'm saying with this novel" type writing, but a little bit more indication of what this author means with the inclusion of these things would have probably helped me enjoy it a bit more.

I would be remiss to only mention the negatives, so I will comment that I enjoyed the animal symbolism in this novel. From the teens who bond over what animals their mothers like to the stuffed shark in a hockey player's apartment to Odie, an almost coyote who helps a character escape from the aforementioned militaristic police forces—these animals interested me. It felt like possibly Sullivan was making a point to say that even when humanity is done, the animals will prevail, they will succeed, and they will live free again. However, this just brings me back to my original wonder of what this book is trying to say, and why it is trying to say that.

In sum, this book was not for me, but I'm sure it has an audience out there.

I will end with a quote that seemed almost like a throw away, something that could have been the conceit of this book, had the ideas been a little more thought through—and if it had been, it would have been a powerful message. Something that rang true to how we live our lives today: "There was no true apocalypse. People went on living and dying even as horrible things happen to them."

Thank you to ECW Press and Netgalley for access to an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts as a reviewer.

I throughly enjoyed this novel. In fact, it’s one of the few lately that has held my attention throughout the entire story. While I could see a few things coming, I never felt like rushing though it. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

I read a fair amount of dystopian novels, and this one just doesn't add anything new.

There are a lot of story-lines and character views that are not fully developed. The people aren't that interesting and there seem to be a lot of antagonists.

The premise sounded interesting, but it was a bit of a struggle to finish. It had some thrilling moments, but mostly I felt like it needed more editing.

This one didn't really work for me.
Too many genres , too many characters.
Some interesting bits, but I felt I never fully got into any part of the story.

This is a great read, digested it in one sitting! Such an easy book to follow, and did not want to put it down!

Thanks to ECW Press and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I love eco-horror. I love stories about cities. I love themes of decay. This book hit all of those boxes in a really delightful way. Something about the writing tugged everything together in the end and I just! Really enjoyed it as it did!

That being said, at times the varying plotlines we're disconcerting, but I'm glad that they were there to show the pervasive and inescapable nature of The Wet — which leads me to my last point. I loved how well this book captured feelings of inescapability, it managed to do that in a really potent way.

Finally: the concept of the gardeners and of that as an accepted and common secret fucked me up I was so delighted by it. Genuinely, this is such a funky little dystopian horror book that feels beautifully plausible!!

This is The Day After Tomorrow in novel form, right?

Toronto and its condos have never looked so grim

What a way to see the city. This is dystopian fare but how much is true or could be?
Scary stuff

I loved this. Horror/sci-fi is one of my favorite genres and making this center on gentrification and eco politics and socioeconomics was a trifecta for me. That being said. This is told from multiple POVs, and if you don’t like that type of narrative device, you should probably skip this, as it is hard to keep up with. Thank you ECW Press & NetGalley for the eARC

This was such an intriguing book! I loved the multiple perspectives and couldn't choose a favourite one, although I particularly like the short chapters where the various tenants of The Marigold are inspected. The Marigold keeps you hooked while you try to figure out what's going on, while exploring various human questions .

Some of the best writing to hit the shelves for next year guaranteed. This is one of kind and I recommend everyone picks it up.

What's most incredible about this novel, and its most entertaining aspect, is the minutely detailed narrative of its many characters' psyches, delving deeply and turning up, revealing to the sun and readers' eyes, their dark moldy secret obsessions, greed, hatred, biases, and many other flaws hidden underneath. In that way, they're similar to (as well as residents of) the eponymous ultra-skyscraper, the Marigold: ostensibly a building of good, widely-sought-after, luxury condos while secretly breeding an insidious biological terror, the Wet, underneath. In Sullivan's indelible, delightfully horrific tale, it's ALL coming out of the basement. Thanks to Netgalley and ECW Press for the DRC of this very entertaining, thought-provoking, well-written book, the best horror I've read since King's.

The Marigold is set in a near future Toronto, and centres around a new hotel development, and an organism that has evolved under the streets.

The book follows numerous separate stories which do not intersect a whole lot, it's a dense and tightly packed novel which can be at times a little difficult to follow. Nonetheless, the writing can't be faulted and the story itself is quite unique.

I kindly received an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review, thanks to NetGalley.

This is a well written novel with a wide range of characters. It came across to me as less science fiction and almost satire about gross excess, ruling classes and to a lesser extent, environmental destruction.

Despite the good prose and unique storyline I unfortunately didn’t find myself completely drawn in. Characters overlapped slightly and struggled to carve themselves as unique. I can’t quite put a handle on it but I wasn’t ever connected to the world and remained detached.

Overall a decent effort and I’d read something by the author again, but fell slightly short whilst aiming high.

Absolutely terrifying.

TW for bodyhorror if that isn't your thing, but this was done exceptionally well. Not overplayed or amped up just for the ick and wow factor, the creepiness oozes into your skin and clings to your bones page after page. Definitely worth a read this Halloween season, or any time you're feeling the need to bring a little horrific atmosphere into your life.

The Marigold is set to be published on April 18th, 2023. Thank you to ECW Press, NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

I'd never read Andrew F. Sullivan before but was immediately sucked in by his prose upon starting The Marigold. There's a directness to his writing that made the horror elements more insidious and the social satire more biting. Before I started The Marigold, I had seen it described as a sci-fi thriller, but if you're looking for a fast-paced, suspenseful read you should pick another title. The plot itself is fascinating, but The Marigold is more about the ideas and atmosphere than a traditional narrative arc. The many characters it bounces between all feel immediately lived in and complex, but the horror -- particularly the body horror -- is the book's strongest feature and there are a few images that became seared into my brain.

The Marigold is set in future Toronto, where a mysterious fungus called the Wet is destroying buildings and also killing inhabitants. This book is a crazy mix of science fiction, horror, and social commentary on the wealthy's exploitation of the poor and the environment.

What I liked about this book:
-interesting plot/concept that had a lot of potential
-the author did a fantastic job of making me feel dread and unease the entire time I was reading this book. The world that he created was very bleak and certain images stayed with me.

What I didn't like:
-this book was very confusing at times. There were a lot of characters and many that you only met once. It was hard to keep track of who was who and how they were connected. I felt like I didn't really understand what was going on for the first half or so. It was made clear by the end, but it was a very slow buildup
-I felt like the short chapters on the minor characters could have been eliminated so that the main characters could have been developed more.
-the pacing was slow and this book was too long. It took me much longer to read this book compared to others of similar length.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book

The Marigold by Andrew F Sullivan, like the mysterious antagonist of the novel: “The Wet”, is an amalgamation of different genres and themes: horror, dystopian, eco-fiction and a critique of capitalism. It follows a host of characters whose lives revolve around The Marigold, a high rise block of flats. The novel explores the emergence of a mysterious threat of the Wet, a biological force that begins to spread through the apartments of the Marigold and the lives of its inhabitants.

I initially found it difficult to connect with the characters, with the Marigold and the Wet feeling like the main consistent device to connect the narrative. There are lots of characters introduced with some having self-contained stories within chapters. This made the novel appear disconnected at first, however it becomes clear that Sullivan has carefully crafted this to make the reader feel the isolation that the inhabitants of the high rise flats feel. The characters, despite living in very close proximity to each other, live isolated and claustrophobic lives. As the novel develops the connections between characters grow and they came together in my head more as a reader, just as all are consumed in the Wet. Whilst this literary technique is clever and draw us as readers into the themes of the book, for me it also acted as a bit of a barrier to becoming emotionally invested and connected to the characters.

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable read and I’ll be interested to read more of Andrew F Sullivan’s work as he has a distinctive voice, style and clever concepts to bring to fiction. A solid 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press, who provided a complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was not my usual reading matter. It was a complex story told from the perspective of different disparate characters. It was hard to keep track at times and because of its length I might have found it easier to read as a proper paper book so I could go back to reread sections easily. At times I felt a bit squeamish! I think this will be picked up as a movie. It has all the elements for future horror genre.

(3.5) Once the story got going, I really quite liked this book. I love how all the stories were interwoven and the apocalyptic nature of the setting.