The Seep | Mini Review

Rating - ⭐⭐⭐

" Trina Goldberg-Oneka is a trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity calling itself 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 Seep-tech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated.

Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina chases after a young 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."

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The Seep is a standalone sci-fi novella written by Chana Porter.

This book was...odd. Odd but interesting. The synopsis gives away pretty much everything, considering how short the book is, but essentially, this is about a species of alien that can enter, or rather seep, into humans via drinking water. Once ingested, it gives the person the ability to change their physiology, effectively modding themself however they want. Again, a rather interesting concept, albeit done oddly.

That is because the wife of the main character, who refuses to give in to the seep, decides that not only does she want to use it to transform herself into a baby, but she also wishes for her own wife to become her mother. I can understand wanting a fresh start, quite literally here, but to expect your wife to suddenly become your mother is a rather odd choice. I ended up getting stuck on this point since the book is about more than just this, but it threw me off so much. Enough so that I can't say I remember anything else about this book.

So, the aliens in this were interesting, but the rest of the book paled in comparison. I am sure that there was a lot of social commentary in this to take away from, but it wasn't really a book for me.