Someone You Can Build A Nest In

"The title is literal. Our protagonist is Shesheshen, a shapeshifting monster, for whom lust consists of an overwhelming desire to plant her eggs in someone; they will then become a nest for the young who will feed on their corpse. Unfortunately, she has fallen in love as well as lust, and doesn’t want to subject her beloved Homily to this without her consent. Consent she will struggle to obtain, since Homily’s family is busily hunting down the monster – that’s Shesheshen herself – to lift a family curse. This neat set-up then undergoes a series of satisfying twists and turns. Neither Homily nor Shesheshen know everything there is to know about themselves. As readers, part of the tension comes from waiting to find out whether there is any configuration of the chessboard that would let them be together happily – the rest of the tension comes from constant threats to their lives. Yes and no. She’s relatable enough for us to crack on with the story. But her distance from humanity allows for a lot of fun: she observes human behaviour, from small gestures to social conventions, from the perspective of someone constantly trying to divine the meaning. Some of our peculiarities are endearing to her, some are baffling, many are downright annoying. It allows for Wiswell to make some very sharp observations. It allows for a beautifully unusual love story too, where the two partners can negotiate what their involvement means from the ground up. There’s not only Shesheshen’s nature to manage, but also Homily’s trauma in her monster-obsessed family, as well as simple preferences – so there’s nothing cookie-cutter about their relationship. It feels truly like a love story, rather than a romance story, if I can make that distinction."