Review – The Seep by Chana Porter (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 216 pages
Publisher:‎ Soho Press
Release Date: January 21, 2020
ASIN: B07QWH7XLP
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible.

Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated.

Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this. It is a unique look at a different type of alien invasion, and I found the turns the story takes to be amusing, ironic, and thought-provoking.

Trina and her wife of 25 years, Deeba, are living mostly peacefully under The Seep. The Seep is an alien species that invaded the water supply and lulls humans into a blissful and supposedly peaceful existence. Humans don’t have to work or die or be anything they don’t want to be. Free will is important to The Seep. Then Deeba decides she wants to be reborn as a baby to experience the wonders of life anew and this sends Trina into a downward spiral. This is a downward spiral that starts to expose how much free will humans really have when they are blissfully placated all of the time.

I really enjoyed the dark humor and writing style here. There is a lot of intriguing discussion about what happens to human society when you take away everything bad (similar to Shusterman’s Scythe series). There are support groups for people who miss things like unhealthy foods (which The Seep doesn’t allow) and for people who just miss feeling bad some times. I mean feeling bad means that it feels better to feel good. If you feel good all the time, then there is no balance. There is also the question of individuals vs a collective and what that means for creativity, individualism, and life as a whole.

I liked all the characters in here; they felt authentic. I enjoyed watching Trina pull her life back together and go on a sort of revenge quest. I absolutely loved the irony of what happens towards the end of the story. I really enjoyed pretty much everything about this book. My only complaint is that things get a bit weird and ambiguous right before the end, and I had to go back and re-read some of those parts to figure out what was going on.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed this a lot. It was a unique alien invasion story with some intriguing twists. I liked the characters and how entertaining this was while also being incredibly thought-provoking. I would definitely recommend if you enjoy unique alien invasion stories and the topic of individualism and free will interests you. This made me want to check out more books by Porter. This little story packed a big punch for me.