Weird climate fiction descends into horror in Argentinian author Michel Nieva’s 2023 novel Dengue Boy, translated from Spanish by Rahul Bery. The subtitle could be ‘Revenge of the mutant human mosquito’ and it’s not for the faint-hearted. This is magical realism taken to the limit.

It will definitely be a love it or hate it book. It has interesting things to say about society, destroying the climate, the divide between rich and poor and so on, and it’s not afraid to shock with the sort of violence and horror that I wouldn’t normally read. I have to say that those South American authors I have read often have an undercurrent of violence and and underlying mythology of horror and magical realism that I find difficult but intriguing. This book was no exception.

Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions on this book, received free as a digital ARC from NetGalley.
You can read my full review on my book blog: https://marketgardenreader.wordpress.com/2025/06/23/weird-climate-fiction-dengue-boy-michel-nieva-rahul-bery-tr”

I think it’s safe to say this defied all my expectations, not always in a good way. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read before, pushing the boundaries of weird dystopian post-apocalyptic climate fiction into horror and what the blurb calls gaucho-punk, whatever that might be. It’s not Argentinian cowboys with green hair and safety pins, that’s for sure. Put it this way; if you are the least bit squeamish, don’t read this book. If you were disturbed by Lord of the Flies and freaked out by the giant mosquitoes in Jumanji, this is definitely not the book for you. The subtitle might be ‘Revenge of the Mosquito’, somewhat appropriate given the number that humans kill with insecticide or simply by splatting with a fly swat. However, if you’re someone who can see the humour in the church massacre scene in Kingsman, the Secret Service or Uma Thurman wielding her swords in Kill Bill, then this might just be a good fit for you.

In Dengue Boy, a mutant human-mosquito hybrid is coming to get their own back and weaponise the dengue virus to take revenge on humankind. All because he/she is a sensitive soul who has had enough of being rejected and ridiculed and is disgusted by the poor treatment his/her mother has endured at the hands of her rich, immoral employer. But we are also introduced to a girl called René who mourns moving away from her friends; her rich parents have no time for her so she escapes to virtual reality in a computer game. Another gamer in less fortunate circumstances is El Dulce, a boy whose brother smuggles illegal contraband through the swamps and palms him off with an inferior VR system. El Dulce takes his own back by stealing a magical rock, in a subplot that was one subplot too far for me.

There are some fantastic ideas in this story. There’s a virtual reality game based on the fight between Indigenous South American Indians and Christians. It’s violent and compulsive and an escape from a reality that is both unequal and horrific. As usual, the rich are making money from speculating on the next big thing; zoonotic viruses passed on by wild animals forced ever closer to humans by climate change. Meanwhile the poor are pushed to the swampy margins where diseases are breeding. If the relentless heat gets too much, the rich take a cruise ship around the now melted Antarctic. On board, they can experience the now forgotten experience of being cold, skating and skiing on artificial snow and ice. Far-fetched? No more so than Dubai.

There is so much packed into this short book that I think it could be expanded into something much longer. That longer book would not be one for me, but there are plenty of people who enjoy blood and guts and gore. Some of the ideas were skimmed over so fast that I didn’t have time to process them properly. As it was, I galloped through the first part at great speed only to be brought to a standstill when the narrative switches to sad little rich girl René’s perspective and again when boys at Dengue Boy’s summer camp appear. It took a while for me to realise there was a link between Dengue Boy, his mother and Rene’s father because we keep switching perspectives from Dengue Boy to René and back.

Verdict? I ended reading this in two parts due to other reading obligations, so I did lose the thread more than I would have if I’d read it over a couple of days. But there was another reason I spread it out; it was all a bit much. It’s lucky I don’t see every image in my head because I didn’t see the blood and gore coming. When Dengue Girl comes across René, I was expecting some bonding over the computer game, or comparing notes as teenagers, not immediate annihilation. Things only spiral from there. It’s rather ironic that the only teenager who doesn’t play the violent computer game is the one to vent all their anger and frustration in unspeakable violence.

This fever dream of science fiction follows Dengue Boy, a cross between a mosquito and a child created as part of a super-capitalistic corporation's plan to create diseases and patent their cures to increase revenue at any cost in this futuristic world ravaged by the climate crisis. This book is unhinged but not in the way I enjoy. Some scenes made me so uncomfortable that I had to take breaks from reading it. The overall story and point is important but it's not the necessary way to get these points across. However, if you read the trigger warnings and feel okay with a lot of gore and grossness, I think you'll probably enjoy this!

Publishing date: 04.02.2025 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

TLDR: Climate change, sentient mosquito hybrids, crudeness dripping off the pages, and slight slasher vibes. 3 stars

In this book wefollow multiple perspectives, but mostly Dengue Boy. A mosquito hybrid that really doesn't fit into society, and it shows. Bullying, exclusion, neglect from his parent. The other characters see a few different perspectives all impacted by climate change and capitalism. A truly dystopian world.

The characters in this story felt like charicatures or raw stereotypes. They had one trait signified and explored, the rest was usually up to imagination. I also found none of the characters had redeeming qualities. I didn't really care what happened to them, but not in a sense that they were boring to read about. All of them were horrible yes, but I wanted to see the impact of their decisions regardless.

Pacing is a little all over the place. If you can't handle a sudden trip back in time to explain something you should skip this. It ties up (kind of) in the end, but not in an overly satisfying way.

Story ... I am not quite sure what to say here. It is mostly driven by the characters and one single unexplained concept that seems to drive them forward. There is also a lot of internal thoughts and monologues from the characters. and it got a little slow becasue of this.

I did enjoy the take ona deeply dystopian and heavily climate change impacted world. It was as horrific as I expected it to be.
The crudeness can be hit or miss for many. There is a LOT of crude jokes, especially sexual ones. Just so you are warned.

Audience for this book are adults. We will narrow this down further to say it is people who love weird unfiltered books.

I am giving this 3 stars. This book is fascinating and a very quick read. However, I felt no particular way about it. Middle of the road weirdness.

This book was insane in the best way. It has moments that are hilarious, moments that are terrifying since it is our potential reality to the most extreme level possible. Very enjoyable

Whoa, this is an unique one! It's disgusting, intriguing, entertaining, and I did not put it down once I started reading. A mosquito boy is born to a human mother??? Say no more, it's on! This is a wild ride from a truly original writer. I was grossed out, I was rapt, I loved it. Will absolutely be reading and recommending this one to friends who like sci-fi, body horror, and genre mash-ups.

DENGUE BOY by @micheltinieblas and translated by Rahul Very is a delightfully bizarre Gaucho-punk cli-fi story full of whimsy, wonder and wackyness. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher @astrahousebooks for the e-ARC.

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The story begins in 2197 in Argentina. It conjurs up a future world where polar ice caps have all melted rendering the Earth largely uninhabitable as a global sauna persists with the Antarctic Carribean being the only area of respite. The stock market has speculation indexes for viruses with their rise in occurrence and large corporations have capitalized on Dengue Boy is a humanoid virus-carying mosquito-like being who is bullied and discarded by their peers and begins to go through multiple transformations that will culminate in its final form. Meanwhile, another classmate is immersed in a VR game of Cowboys vs. Indians that allows him to become truly immersed in the game and eventually back into reality. These two stories will collide to blossom into a fever dream of transformation, rebirth and speculation.

This story is brilliantly written with sardonic wit and spectacular whimsy while packing a knockout punch of a message. This a very unique story, but I also felt echoes of similarities to the form of dystopian stories such as ZONE ONE and BOOK OF M, the wild imagination and grotesqueness of MAEVE FLY and SISTER, MAIDEN, MONSTER, and the dark whimsical charm of books like PERDIDO STREET STATION and MIDNIGHT ROBBER. I was both immersed and felt decidedly outside the story in a very disconcordent way that I suspect was by design. There were times I thought, "what is even happening here" while in the next breath I thought "this is a concept we should all be sitting with". The book is messy, chaotic, and full of hyperbole (or is it?) and that made the experience that much more rewarding when the end comes together.

If you are looking for a weird and wonderful cli-fi adventure full of depravity and chaos that might just open your eyes to the possibility of new worlds, pick this puppy up!

It was effective in the sense of being both gross, terrifying, and funny, which I can appreciate. I was quite intrigued by the plot and enjoyed the quirky developments. Ultimately thought, it did not have an impact on me other than for some quick entertainment.

Dengue Boy is as intriguing as it disgusting, sad and entertaining. It is the future and a mosquito boy is born to a human mother and is treated cruelly everywhere he turns. This novel mirrors our world in that it captures how people are cruel against things they don't understand and the greed that is perpetuated in every aspect of our society (along with the climate devastation).

Definitely recommend this book for fans of satire and weird/entertaining books.

THIS BOOK IS WILD. I’ll say it’s one of the MOST WHAT THE HELL BOOK I’VE READ IN A LONG TIME.

This is a difficult one to categorize, it’s dystopian, sci-fi, body horror, i-don’t-know-what-else novel set in a future ravaged by climate change and ultra-capitalism. It’s described as "gaucho-punk"; and I haven't the slightest idea what that is.

The year is 2197. The timelines does at some point seem to move on but I got lost. The story revolves around a human-mosquito hybrid, Dengue Boy, who lives in a small Argentinian town. He was born with insect-like features, detested & ostracized by his community. His community cannot even bear to look at him, and those who do, do it for amusement & bully. Even his mother detests him, and secretly thinks he will inevitably become a blood sucking machine unable to control his impulses. Everyday when he goes to school, she gives him a tupperware of blood – in case, she says, he suddenly finds strange urges, she tells him to suck into the tupperware. He flies to school and throws the Tupperware away everyday.

One day, Dengue Boy is sent to a summer camp, where he is bullied in a violent confrontation. Dengue Boy ‘transforms’ into Dengue Girl, a blood-sucking female mosquito, and embarks on his (her?) own vigilante justice and rampage against her tormentors and the wealthy elite who exploit the poor.

I felt for Dengue Boy from the outset. He is a representation of a class of people in society who are rejected for no reason at all other than for things he was born with, for which he ultimately cannot control. He did actually become what his mother feared him to be. I found myself rooting for Dengue Boy, even if I didn’t know WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON in some parts of the story. (IT’S A FRENZY). The only thing I would have liked to know more was what Dengue Boy was like outside of his bizarre form. What is his core as a being? What are his values & beliefs? His character lacked alil depth as the main depiction.

It’s a different world order here. Corporations capitalize on and gain financially from viruses and outbreaks. The new Wall Street predicts not shares, but which virus will become an outbreak. There is a lot of grotesque, vivid depictions underlining deeper issues of societal gross inequalities, ultra-capitalism, and climate change. It mirrors a world where corporations profit from diseases and environmental disasters. This book was UNPREDICTABLE, and has many out-of-the-world elements. It made me think alot about society - what they do to those of us who are dangerous, but are themselves a plague to humanity. There is brilliance is some of its depictions, I like how it just whacks you in the face with truths – there’s no soft entrance for this one.

WILD. Just, WILD. Is this what they mean by genre-defying? This was a really different read for me. Unlike anything I’ve read. If you like not knowing what the heck to expect and don’t mind being taken on a ride, this might be for you.

Giving this 4/5!

This was weird and maybe a little too freaky for me. It reminded me of Kafka, grotesque and disturbing. I'm not sure if it got the metaphors across clearly but I'm sure there is an audience out there for it.

Michel Nieva’s Dengue Boy is a feverish, grotesque, and exhilarating vision of a dystopian future, blending body horror, sci-fi, and biting social satire into a uniquely unsettling narrative. Set in a climate-ravaged 2197 Argentina, where ultra-capitalist megacorporations control every aspect of life—including viral outbreaks traded on the stock exchange—this gaucho-punk novel is as chaotic as it is brilliant.

At the center of the novel is Dengue Boy, a part-human, part-mosquito mutant, born into a world where the last of the Antarctic icecaps have melted, transforming the Pampas into a tropical, disease-ridden wasteland. Telepathic pebbles, ultra-wealthy elites living aboard ships, and children immersed in violent historical reenactment video games add to the surreal backdrop. Bullied and outcast, Dengue Boy embarks on a bloodthirsty rampage that evolves into a spiritual journey, forcing readers to question identity, power, and the boundaries between human and non-human life.

Nieva’s prose is dizzying—simultaneously poetic, vulgar, and deeply philosophical. The novel doesn’t just critique capitalism, climate collapse, and biotechnological exploitation; it dissects them with an anarchic glee, forcing readers into a world where commodification has reached its grotesque extreme. The book’s relentless pace and body horror elements won’t be for everyone—it’s disturbing, visceral, and at times overwhelming—but for those willing to embrace its chaotic energy, Dengue Boy offers an unforgettable experience.

The translation by Rahul Bery is seamless, preserving the novel’s rhythm and linguistic playfulness. At times, the narrative feels almost unhinged, but that only adds to the immersive, fever-dream quality of the story. It’s dark, absurdly funny, and shockingly inventive—a book that refuses to hold the reader’s hand but rewards those who meet it on its own terms.

For fans of Cronenberg, Kafka, and speculative fiction that pushes boundaries, Dengue Boy is a must-read. It’s a grotesque, urgent, and wildly original take on the future—one that feels disturbingly close to reality.

This sent my mind spinning in the best way! A bizarre, inventive, and exhilarating read with a totally bonkers premise that reflects so much of our contemporary anxieties!

Michel Nieva’s Dengue Boy started out as a short story first published by Granta Mag in 2021, translated by Natasha Wimmer. It was developed into a novel that was first published in 2023, later translated from the Spanish to English by Rahul Bery (pub. 2025).

Its 2197 in the Pampas region of Argentina, and the world is looking very different. Ruled by conglomerates, society is divided into the haves and have nots, youth escaping into virtual worlds re-enacting imagined pasts. The last polar ice caps have melted, submerging land masses and altering Earth’s geography as we know it. Hot and humid, these now tropical environs are the perfect breeding ground for all manner of vectors and viruses. It’s here that Dengue Boy is born, a part-human, part-mosquito mutant hybrid of unclear origins. Bullied by his peers, he (she!) comes to an awakening at school camp one day, this moment a catalyst for a blood-thirsty rampage slash spiritual odyssey of sorts.

This was fantastic! Dubbed gaúcho-punk for its unique blend of Gaúcho and cyberpunk literature, it fuses contemporary ills with Argentinian history through a SF lens. And it works! The effect is a literary aesthetic that I won’t soon forget, zinging with enduring existential truths of our humanity, our collective existence a mere blip in the larger cycles of time.

Not quite looking in a mirror, but through a looking glass perhaps, at a world so foreign yet easily recognisable in our own, one where ultra-capitalistic societies run by megacorporations have ravaged our planet and commodified just about everything, the gap between the wealthy and the poor like a chasm. And still not content, capitalising on deadly viruses via the ‘virofinance’ stock exchange, eyes set on terraforming space. It touches on so many of our worldly concerns, such as race, class, gender, disability, identity, indigeneity, colonisation, capitalism and climate change, reproductive justice, virtual reality disseminating ideologies, violence, transhumanism, etc; the weight of their reckoning more than our words can say.

As if all of that wasn’t exciting enough, the best part is the writing. The language sings! All nimble wordplay and laser-like observations, the heart of a poet is surely at work here. There’s such rhythm and musicality to the prose, words steadily building to an incantatory crescendo that spools the largesse of individual selves into a void of ultimate possibility. Everything is fluid until the very notion of boundaries is transcended, surrendering to the natural anarchy in our interconnectedness, multiple revolutions of humanity’s cosmic struggle condensed to a brief, bright light in the history of our planet, the novel’s narrative metaphysically winding across the depths of space-time, through life and death, towards a geological origin, where everything began and can be again.
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Truly commend the work of translator Rahul Bery here. No mean feat translating a work of such scope and agility, I imagine, but it reads flawlessly! Stylish and emotionally resonant, Dengue Boy captures the darkness and the light in our existence. It’s hilarious, vulgar at times, but poignant and hopeful too. I’d definitely be keen to read more by Michel Nieva, and will be buzzing about this novel for some time! 👀🦟 Thank you so much @astrahousebooks for this copy! 🙏🏼❤️‍🔥

This is unlike anything I've read. It was WILD and funny and weird and I hope it is nominated for the International Booker because it deserves it.

Dengue Boy is a fever dream that follows a mosquito-human hybrid boy (…or are they?) as they navigate a world steeped in oppressive heat, monetized diseases, otherness, and the construct of time. Your head will spin as you trip through the visceral world of Dengue Boy. I loved this weird, unsettling, and sometimes humorous story - 4.5 ⭐️!

Thank you to #NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

All hail the Mighty Anarch! I would have called this hilarious sci-fi if I hadn't read it in 2025, virofinance, interplanetary extractivism, and biocapitalist terraforming are just around the corner. As it is, it's distilled Anthropocene realism. Plenty to be said, especially in relation to life and nonlife and how between the two is exploited. Is the Mighty Anarch After Life? How would Geontologies look like after the Mighty Anarch?

It's hard for me to find the words to describe this book, because Dengue Boy is complex in the most phenomenal way. Both absurd and sharply critical, humorous and heartbreaking, this novel has something for all fiction lovers. With rich language, gory details, and intelligent analysis, I will be recommending Dengue Boy to my fellow booksellers and customers.

Thank you Astra publishing for an Advanced reader copy of this book.

Honestly, what can I say. This book was a trip. It was weird and wonderful at the same time. I enjoyed it and also was replused at the same time. The author did an incredible job with the imagery. Make sure you have a strong stomach if you are going to read this.

I was so excited for this inventive and dystopian book, but I found it unfortunately very difficult to get through. Just not for me I'm afraid.

A novel with very fun sci-fi/cli-fi ideas, but with an awful and somehow boring execution. The world-building was totally bogged down with trying to cram too much and not fleshing out the characters out enough for readers to feel anything.

I'm not sure why there were so many parenthetical asides that would remind the reader about details that had just occurred (for instance, when Dengue Boy becomes Dengue Girl, the narrator reminds us of the transition every time the character gets mentioned).

Thank you NetGalley & Astra Publishing House for the ARC!

Dengue Boy was a wild ride. With the fast pace, it was a pretty quick read, but by no means easy. I love that its so clearly anticapitalist and grounded in the reality of a future where our climate has descended even further, but also so absurd at some moments that its quite hilarious. I'd love to read more by this author!