Seaweed Rising

by Rob Magnuson Smith

Beneath the sea, over millennia, sentient beings await our final soon they will make their move. Seaweed Rising follows an amateur seaweed collector who is convinced that algae are taking over the human race. From a Cornish fishing village to the Spanish coast, up to the blinding glacial landscape of the Arctic, human society falls under the microscope in this genre-bending existential drama.

285 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 3, 2023

Reviews

[Peter Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seaweed Rising is a fungus horror novel. OK, its not actually a fungus, in this book the place of lowly sentient, seductive and all-encompassing fungus is actually played by seaweed. But the shape of the plot is similar to the relatively recent genre (if we aren't counting THE FUNGUS from the 80's which we should because it is awesome). But you don't diss a vampire novel for being a vampire novel, the question isn't that the creeping dread that an ancient plant species is finding ways to take over the world isn't original, the question is - does it do it well? And yes, Seaweed Rising folds its particular blend of loser romance, loner madness and talking seaweed into a potent narrative. It bounces between its two leads in long narrative sections and plays a loose game with the readers to make you wonder if it is all in their mind. Its even got a mad scientist in it (who initially presents as anything but).

Seaweed Rising plays with the gothic, though its wet, damp and squidgy nature also conjures up body and alien horror. I was surprised at how invested I got in the love triangle (man, woman, seaweed), and some of the backstory which gave a little more life to these characters. There is also, unsurprisingly, a wealth of seaweed knowledge here - making it a prime subject for an "ancient intelligence" plot. Furthermore, its the kind of story that can only work as a book, and dramatisation would have the problem of trying to make seaweed actually threatening. Whereas the book summons up, very early on, that primal dread of a silky tentacle of seaweed, grabbing your foot when you are just under the surface, slimy but not, thick, black and - here at least - it wants its planet back.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dawn of the Dead meets Vance Packard. Incredible.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some beautiful writing but, strangely enough, too much seaweed

[Kate Horsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got utterly immersed in Seaweed Rising! This book is an original blend of eco-fiction, romance, and body horror, one that gets in your head and makes you think about the ecological and human issues it raises, as well as scaring you, gripping you, enchanting you in turns. The narrative switches between melancholy college teacher and amateur seaweed-collector, Manfred, and Nora, the mysterious woman he meets selling edible seaweed at the local farmers’ market. The love affair that blooms between the two is complicated by Manfred’s surreal relationship with some sentient seaweed. The seaweed, with its threats, taunts, and insights, turns out to be a seductive and possessive character who adds a third corner to the love triangle begun by Manfred and Nora. Manfred’s existential depression and his increasingly intense conversations with the seaweed provide a great deal of absurdist humour as we follow the characters from the Cornish fishing village depicted at the novel's outset to the Spanish coast, to the frozen Arctic, where Manfred confronts the seaweed in an amazing ending that reminded me of both Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris and Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation. There was so much to connect with and think about in this book: parts that I laughed out loud over, parts that beguiled or transported me, parts that just broke my heart. I read compulsively to the end over break - oh wow, that ending, I loved it! The writing is really beautiful and the characters and story will stay with me for a very long time.

[Kathryn Castles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Made me think a little of Andrew Miller, War with the Newts, Cold Skin. Liked the setup, disappointed with where it ended up.

[lemon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was fucking weird.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very strange book in which a man becomes convinced that seaweeds are taking over the world

It's implied that this is a mental breakdown due to him being in three separate relationships with women who have still births - and this is an understandable cause of mental illness - but what doesn't quite make sense is how others in the story also seem convinced of the seaweed dominion - although I like how at the end it's left relatively open as to which version is true. But yeah, very strange aura to this one.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super weird book. I got tired of hearing the words seaweed and kelp. There was perhaps too much of it. The writing was lovely but I don’t know if I liked the plot. It was really weird, lots of seaweed psychosis, unreliable narrators, a sprinkle of body horror.

[Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird, wonderful, dark, dystopian. Squelchy with seaweed in the best possible way.

[iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

very weird but enjoyable read - lots of seaweed