The promise of progress has been tantalizing dreamers for centuries, often to their ruin, and it’s the tug-and-pull of progress, greed, and ruin which Sullivan manages to explore and subvert in this gorgeous work of eco-horror.

From the very opening of The Marigold, there’s an awareness of nature being encroached upon by humanity’s search for what comes next, to the extent that that ‘next’ enslaves their every waking hour. But here, with a breathless feeling of both dread and triumph—well, triumph for those of us who often root for Nature finding a way—the reader sees Nature fighting back with a vengeance for its own progress. And there’s something utterly wonderful about this, both in the horror which Sullivan delivers alongside this movement and also when it comes to the attention he gives to the naturalness of it all. Alongside the more artificial progress made by humanity’s greed, where everything is quickly shown to be a tower of cards, the give-and-take of Nature’s very different understanding of life and death is impossible to deny...and beautifully delivered with every word of rot, horror, and ruin.

As with some of Sullivan’s short stories, entrapment is an aching theme throughout the work, but by showing it in such different terms, he manages to give a nod to the “real world” we know and fear while elevating the horror at the heart of this novel. On one hand, it’s entrapment through progress, through greed, and through foresight. And, on the other hand, it’s the very physical entrapment of a strained, unnatural cityscape imploding with the force of all it’s held off.

But while all this sounds really bleak, no small part of the beauty in this novel comes from the pure joy with which Sullivan delivers the horror and the ruin. Terrifying as the book may be, it is also fun, oddly pure, and masterful in its every scene. The small grotesqueries and the constant tributes to the natural world—and the weird, sweet, elegance of even the gooiest parts of nature—are given such careful attention that fungi all but bleed off the page for the reader, just as is the case for characters. Admittedly, I fell in love with even the most dangerous organisms in this book, and they’re no small part of what makes this book’s contribution to eco-horror so undeniable.

I’ll be rereading and recommending this book for a long time to come. Whether you come to it through the lens of eco-fiction or horror, you’ll find something here to fall into, and be horrified and mesmerized by. ( )

DNF at 50% or 175 pages.

This started out strong and then became a chore to read. I really only enjoyed the chapters from the perspectives of the two Wet Inspectors. I was far enough into it to realize where all these disparate plot lines were going to meet up, but I just didn't care. The concept is interesting, but the execution was lacking.

Spoiler alert: I've been an admiring acquaintance of Andrew Sullivan for ten years now. When I was teaching creative writing, one of my students invited me to a book launch for her nephew. I went, not knowing who this Sullivan guy was, but happy to support a new and local author.

And when I read his first collection of short stories, All We Want Is Everything, I realized I'd stumbled upon an incredibly talented writer with not only a unique voice, but also a completely different way of looking at our world that most of us. I enjoyed the hell out of that collection.

I felt very much the same with Sullivan's first novel, Waste a few years later. So when this one came down the pipe, I was eager to get my hands on it.

So, yes, I'm a fan. And while this one mostly scratched the itch, it didn't quite relieve it all the way.

Don't get me wrong, all the trademark Sullivan stuff is here. Every single character is fascinating. They're so real that you're sure you know them, but they're also so damned off-centre, you're not sure you want to.

The city of Toronto is also very much a living, breathing, defecating beast of a character in its own right and, while it's very much based on the darker underbelly that the permanent residents know but don't talk that much about, it's also skewed through Sullivan's absurdist, well-imagined, messed up psyche.

And finally, there's the Wet. I won't say much about it, but once again, while it's the thing that's messing everything up, it's also very much its own character as well.

I swear, reading this guy's work is like getting stoned on words. And believe me, I say that only as a compliment.

Overall, however, while the story was good, there were times that (at least to me) it tended to lumber a bit. Maybe not lose its way as much as get bogged down under all the weird and the necessity of Sullivan having to amp the weird a bit more with each successive chapter.

So, I was enjoying the experience of the book, but as I said, it got a little bogged under its own weight for me, and then the ending, while decent, felt a touch rushed at the end.

Would I still recommend it? Hell yes, I already have. ( )

Thank you Netgallery for giving me an ARC copy to review.
The Marigold is an enjoyable dystopian novel, with an interesting premise, set in an Dystopian Toronto. The dystopian world and the social commentary in the Marigold feels relevant and reflects discussions on Environmentalism and corporate greed . The world building adds to both the atmosphere and social commentary. All of the main perspective characters offer a unique view of the world, coming from different backgrounds. Overall, The Marigold is an engaging read with strong world building and social commentary. ( )

There were a lot of interesting takes in this book - social commentary, Toronto as body horror, depth and atmosphere.
But there were so many characters and point of views that I found myself not really caring for any of them, and the plot was stretched thin across all of them, so I ended up skipping a lot of the book as I was losing interest (usually I'm a patient reader), and finding myself unmoved by the ending, even though I liked the raccoons ;)

I want to thank NetGalley and ECW Press for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )