Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on March 4, 2024 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
Small Gods of Calamity is the debut novella from author Sam Kyung Yoo. The story features Kim Han-gil, a detective with a sense for the supernatural (which his fellow officers don't know exists) and a traumatic past related to the infestation of his mother (a mudang) by a worm spirit - a deadly parasitic spirit that most other supernatural practitioners don't think is real. So when Han-gil's latest case shows clear signs of a worm's presence, Kim finds himself desperate to stop it before it causes more harm...and burdened with the help of Shin Yoonhae, the man whose exorcism eventually resulted in his mother's tragedy.
The result is a story that deals heavily with trauma and with suffering as a result of loved ones actions, along with issues like transphobia (and how that can cause the aforementioned trauma) and the burning need to keep one's resentment inside. It's a story that works really well in this regards and ends in a hopeful ending, which I will definitely be keeping in mind come next year's award season.
Trigger Warning: Transphobia, particularly from family members, Suicide/Suicidal-Actions.
Quick Plot Summary:
Years ago, Kim Han-gil's mother performed one last exorcism of a boy, Shin Yoonhae, who had lost all of his senses due to a strange possession. But no one realized the possession was by a deadly new spirit - a worm curse - and that the exorcism had only moved the worm from Yoonhae to Han-gil's mother...who nearly killed Han-gil and then died as a result.
Years later, Kim Han-gil is a detective in the Jong-ro Police Department who is thought to be crazy - both by his fellow mundane detectives who can't see or know about spirits and by the practitioners of the supernatural who believe him to be obsessed with a worm spirit that they doubt exists. But when Han-gil finds a man having seemingly jumped to his death at the behest of a worm spirit, he finds himself reliving his past as he tries to prevent it from repeating...especially when his only available ally turns out to be Shin Yoonhae, now 16 years older, the boy he once blamed for his mother's death...
Thoughts: Small Gods of Calamity uses a very interesting and well laid out setting to tell a really good story dealing with some serious themes. We have a Korea that is thought to be entirely mundane by some people and also has spiritual/supernatural practitioners who know better that ghosts and spirits, sometimes dangerous ones exist. It's in this setting that we find Kim Han-gil, still trauma-wracked by the way his mother died and almost tried to kill him under possession, and desperate to do something to stop it from happening again. Han-gil hasn't really come to terms with what really happened and also has as a result been unable to not blame Shin Yoonhae, the boy whose possession got his mother killed through no fault of his own. Meanwhile, Shin Yoonhae also deals with the trauma of that event and blames himself. And a new third character, dealing with a modern case of worm possession, is a trans woman who has dealt with transphobia and being outcast from her family, from her boss, and even mistreatment from her boyfriend, and has struggled oh so hard to keep herself from being provoked by all that into violence
Small Gods of Calamity deals with all of this and recognizes the struggles these people all have with their trauma, while also showing how with help these people can all find some kind of better and happier path. It's a supernatural cop story - not a buddy cop story as it seems to be at first - that winds up with a hopeful and happy ending despite its exploration of these very harmful traumas, and it does so really well. A definite recommend for those looking for a really great novella, and definitely award worthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment