Inkweed: + The Mellification

by Nat Buchbinder

Two queer tales from the underground about boys, betrayals, and... bees. Set in a future where humanity has been driven underground by “bad air,” Inkweed tells the story of Niko, a young factory worker at a utensil manufacturing plant. Uneducated and unskilled, Niko assumes his life will continue on course, the monitoring tensile strength of forks and spoons until he dies. Then Niko’s friend Bill introduces him to inkweed, an elusive and powerful drug. Enticed by both Bill and the drug, Niko gets into the dangerous business of selling inkweed. In The Mellification, Holly—a young transgender man who is a vampire—seeks a new name. In an underground society that values patience as their principle virtue, awaiting and receiving a vampire name is a vital rite of passage. Betrayal takes many forms, but what lurks in the dark passages of the catacombs might be the greatest threat to both Holly, his lover Cain, and his coven.

Genres: Queer

216 pages, Paperback

Published June 14, 2023

Reviews

[Nat Buchbinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, I enjoyed it.

[Yoricka]

Queer people can really do anything! They can survive an ecological apocalypse and live underground, they can be vampires, and they can turn into animals on a whim. What queer people clearly cannot do, however, is to be in a healthy relationship.

[Talia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inkweed takes place in a world where humanity has been driven into underground "boroughs" to escape bad air in the surface. It follows Niko as he escapes his unsatisfying factory job by following his new boyfriend into the illicit and lucrative "inkweed" drug trade. But what starts as young love and adventure quickly turns darker. I loved the world building and the way the author slowly builds up a sense of dread.

The Mellification was a delightful read with a satisfyingly dark ending. It follows the story of a trans boy vampire living in an underground world whose ruler demands unending patience to the point of sloth. I loved all the little details about vampire rituals, especially the burial ritual for loved ones....

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inkweed, I think, did a good job of showing what the protagonist was feeling and intending to do without it being too obvious. The conflicts are foreshadowed and meaningful, and the reader gets to explore more of the world as Niko does in a natural way. It can feel frustrating, but in a believable, authentic way. The dream sequences complement the uneasy progress as things get worse slowly but surely. The loose edges of the story emphasize the depressing and frightening reality. The writing presents a clear snapshot of a young man coming of age in a place that can never fully appreciate his worth.

The Mellification has a nice premise but didn’t feel like it knew what to do with it. I was more intrigued by this story’s description initially, but it wasn’t meant to be. All the individual plotlines are intriguing, and I especially found Holly’s character to be an aspect I liked. However, compared to Inkweed, dialogue and plot are surprisingly over-obvious. Then the pacing is just jagged, and does no justice to anyone. The ending is the most abrupt. Although I almost like the ending from a distance, I am disappointed that it left the other two subplot lines severed, while also not hitting the expected emotional beats of the main.