Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy horror eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

I really enjoyed blackfish city and was excited when I saw that Miller had a new book coming out and it had something to do with whales.  I was looking forward to seeing what the mind that came up with the “orcamancer” would give us next.

This story follows a gay photographer, Ronan, who fled small town Hudson, New York to go to the big city and never wants to go back.  Ronan is thus surprised to find himself on a train headed there.  Ronan is a complicated character.  He is selfish, damaged, and filled with hate.  Being recently sober, he doesn't know why he is headed to Hudson.

The reasons for this are complicated and ultimately don't make much sense.  There are mystical dead whales or gods or something.  I really did enjoy the set up for the novel and Ronan meeting up with his old high school friends.  I did not however, really care for the way the gentrification plot was handled even though the subject is an important one.  The side characters were intriguing and complicated but there were so many of them that none were explored satisfactorily. 

This really was a novel of big ideas that didn't cohesively gel.  The ideas included commentary on gentrification, homophobia, open marriages, drug abuse, bullying, obfuscation of history, embracing history, suicide, health problems, police brutality, corruption, social change, online manipulation, race, poverty, anger, social services, and the complicated love/hate relationship of hometowns and family.  Add in the other elements like magical realism, cosmic horror, weird dreams, ghosts, and gods who suck.

It was just too much.  I didn't connect to most of the characters and found the "horror" elements to be lame.  Also the pace starts out well, declines steadily throughout most of the novel, and then has an abrupt, poorly explained ending.  Though what happens to Ronan wasn't a surprise. There are also loose ends in many of the side plots.  I did however like the use of harpoons even if the whales in this story could have been removed.  Were they just there so there could be harpoons?

Overall a disappointing read that had a strong beginning and premise that failed to deliver.

So lastly . . .

Thank you Ecco Press!

Side note:  I always heard about whaling in Nantucket and not Hudson.  Also I never knew that Hudson was infamous for brothels in the 1920s and 1930s.  And a lot of this story seems partially inspired by the author's life as described in his author bio on his website.