Mushroom Blues

Hofmann Report #1

by Adrian M. Gibson, Felix Ortiz (Illustrator), Nicholas Eames (Foreword)

ENTER THE FUNGALVERSE. Blade Runner, True Detective, and District 9 meld with the weird worlds of Jeff VanderMeer, Philip K. Dick, and China Miéville in Adrian M. Gibson’s award-winning fungalpunk noir debut, now with a foreword from acclaimed author Nicholas Eames and six pieces of original interior artwork.

Two years after a devastating defeat in the decade-long Spore War, the island nation of Hōppon and its capital city of Neo Kinoko are occupied by invading Coprinian forces. Its fungal citizens are in dire straits, wracked by food shortages, poverty, and an influx of war refugees. Even worse, the corrupt occupiers exploit their power, hounding the native population.

As a winter storm looms over the metropolis, NKPD homicide detective Henrietta Hofmann begrudgingly partners up with mushroom-headed patrol officer Koji Nameko to investigate the mysterious murders of fungal and half-breed children. Their investigation drags them deep into the seedy underbelly of a war-torn city, one brimming with colonizers, criminal gangs, racial division, and moral decay.

In order to solve the case and unravel the truth, Hofmann must challenge her past and embrace fungal ways. What she and Nameko uncover in the midst of this frigid wasteland will chill them to the core, but will they make it through the storm alive?

SPFBO X 2nd place. Shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer. Winner of the FanFiAddict Award for Best Indie Debut, the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, and the Next Generation Indie Book Award.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Crime

408 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2024

About the author

Adrian M. Gibson is an award-winning Canadian SFF author, podcaster, illustrator, and tattoo artist. He is the creator of the SFF Addicts podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow authors M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly. The three host in-depth interviews with an array of science fiction and fantasy authors, as well as writing masterclasses. He lives in Quito, Ecuador with his family.

Mushroom Blues is his debut novel.

For the latest updates, follow Adrian on social media @adrianmgibson. You can also stream/watch new episodes of SFF Addicts every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more.

Reviews

[Mark Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this drew for highest score in SPFBO 10. It didn't win on the tiebreak, but it beat 298 other books this year.

Check out the finalist scoreboard here:

https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/...

I have now read the book and will be moving on to the winner By Blood, by Salt.

I enjoyed Mushroom Blues a lot. Its bones are those of a noir detective novel married to a buddy-cop / odd couple movie, but the speculative element that makes this fantasy (or perhaps sci-fi) is the setting, and that plays a huge role.

The book introduces you to the a world that seems quite similar to our own with 1980s technology except that in the corner of it we're in the indigenous people have melded with the fungi that are ubiquitous in this part of the planet (and grow to enormous size). The underlying society has many Japanese influences, but "everything is mushroom". There's a fungalnet, a fungalverse, they grow buildings and chairs etc, and the people have mushroom caps that shed spores.

The humans with a more western culture have invaded in a war and now hold the reins as colonisers. Our point-of-view character is a middleaged woman with a chequered past and rather bigotted views about the locals. These views are challenged and changed.

She teams with a fungal cop in a pairing of a kind I feel I've seen in Alien Nation (1988), Bright (2017), and perhaps even District 9.

The sense of place and culture and the strangeness of the fungi are all very well done and add a lot of interest rather than just being a weird background.

The thing comes to an exciting climax with several layers of payoff, and it's a very good read.

Minor gripes:
i) Everything is mushroom - the paper, clothes, buildings, furniture, windows, all made of different mushroom derived stuff. And I recognise Gibson's dilemma: if he stops reminding us of the fact, our minds will likely slip back into what we expect and read paper, leather, plastic as the regular things. But if he says (mushroom)concrete, (mushroom)paper etc every time ... it could start to grate. A difficult choice. He opts for saying it all the time, and it grates a little.

ii) Everything is mushroom ... but where if everything was trees we might get told oak, elm, silver birch etc... we never (unless I missed it) get a single named type of mushroom. Again, it's a dilemma, because we're not mushroom experts and we would soon get overloaded with weird mushroom names and descriptions... but on the otherhand ... this is mushroom world and everything is just called "a mushroom".

Those were minor gripes. Go read the book. It's very good and I can see why it came within a spore's width of being this year's champion!





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[Esmay Rosalyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was originally published on Grimdark Magazine

4.5 stars (rounded up)

Adrian M. Gibson completely breaks the mold of conventional storytelling in Mushroom Blues, a wonderfully weird, darkly disturbing and freakishly fungal sci-fantasy noir debut that is more dangerously addictive than any drug imaginable.

In many ways, the start of this novel reminded me of the start to Krystle Matar’s Legacy of the Brightwash, except make it a lot more fungal. Both stories open with a curmudgeonly, angry, and deeply flawed officer of the law making the horrifying discovery of a young child’s mutilated body, which then sucks them into a chaotic murder investigation that ends up challenging them not only physically, but especially on a mental, moral, emotional, and spiritual level.

From the very first page, Hofmann’s intimate first person narration completely sucked me in, and I quickly started rooting for her while also being horrified by her racist and prejudiced beliefs and worldviews. I am almost ashamed to admit that I initially found myself getting slightly infected by her revulsion of all things fungal, which just goes to show how incredibly strong and effective Gibson’s character work is.

Though her biased view of the mushroom people and their culture is exactly what made her such a complex and compelling protagonist, and I loved experiencing the fantastically fungal city of Neo Kinoko through her outsider’s perspective. As her worldviews started to be challenged by her first-hand experiences, I soon found myself utterly fascinated with the hidden beauty of the fungal people’s way of life.

Gibson simply establishes this vibrant and immersive world with masterful talent, breathing so much life into the city and its people, while also dropping in just enough spores (pun indeed intended) to make the wider world feel tangible and unfold in the most organic way possible. Moreover, I really enjoyed the Japanese influences in the creation of Neo Kinoko, as those more familiar aspects actually helped ground me amidst all the bewildering fungal world building going on in Mushroom Blues.

There’s so much richness and authenticity to the culture of the fungal people, from the language, to the food, to the religion, and to all the uniquely quirky customs and beliefs. And don’t get me started on their interesting sense of community and way of communication through the fungal network, which just has to be one of the most imaginative takes on a soft magic system I have ever come across.

Though, what I appreciated most about the establishment of this group of people, is the fact that they are not presented as a monolith. Through Hofmann’s interactions with all kinds of different fungal people, the staggering nuance and complexity of their community really starts to shine through. I was personally especially surprised by the beautifully complex dynamic that developed between Hofmann and her reluctantly assigned partner, the fungal cop Koji (who needs to be protected at all costs, thank you very much).

It is just truly beyond me how Gibson managed to tell a story that is so utterly alien, yet tragically and beautifully human at the same time. On top of the broader themes of colonisation, corruption, sexism, and oppression, Mushroom Blues also tackles much more intimately vulnerable topics of grief, regret, trauma, motherhood, forgiveness, redemption, and healing. Yet at no point does the tone of the story ever become preachy, as these themes are all masterfully woven into Hofmann’s tumultuous character arc that we get to experience from the front-row seat.

Now, there’s no denying that Mushroom Blues is a confronting and uncomfortable reading experience at times, but at the same time it also has an addictively high entertainment factor. By using all the best tropes and the tight plotting of the crime detective genre, Gibson is able to maintain an intoxicating air of mystery while this story throttles along at full speed. An entertaining buddy cop dynamic, believably depraved baddies who you can love to hate, thrilling car chases, confounding murder boards, dangerous gunfights, tense interrogations, and, of course, some psychedelic madness; Mushroom Blues has got it all.

There were maybe a few moments where some revelations or shifts in attitude felt a tiny bit rushed, especially when characters reminded themselves of the fact that all these crazy events had taken place over a mere couple of days. That said, the way that all the seemingly separate elements and threads of the story ultimately interweave is nothing short of masterful, resulting in an anxiety-inducing climax sequence that hits all the right emotional beats and just hurts so damn good.

Safe to say, I have been infected with the mushroom madness, and I am now hungering for more in the best way possible. This story blew all my expectations completely out of the water, and how Gibson thought it was acceptable to write a debut of this insanely high quality will forever be the true mystery to me.

If you like the sound of a dark, fast-paced, and highly imaginative fungalpunk noir story that will take you on a brutally wild emotional rollercoaster, then don’t hesitate to enter the Fungalverse and pick up Mushroom Blues now!

Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Nicholas Eames · Rating 5 out of 5]

God DAMN! It's no wonder at all that Mushroom Blues is an SPFBO finalist, because it's really, really good. I've never read anything like it, and knowing that Adrian's got so much planned for this "Fungalverse" setting is heartening, buecause I definitely want more.

I'm also very impressed by how well the fungals and their environment are described here. From fruiting bodies to gusting spores to mycopaper lanterns...I know (believe me) that it can't have been easy to do, but the worldbuilding on display here is masterful.

Read this book, and ABSOLUTELY listen to Adrian's custom-made soundtrack when you do (on Spotify or wherever), because it nails the atmosphere of Neo-Kinoko perfectly.

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a hair away from being the winner of SFBOX. It tied for top place in raw scoring with By Blood, by Salt, that other breaking the tie by virtue of being more judges' top pick.

What is SPFBOX, you ask? Get your head out of your ass.

Anyway, having now read Mushroom Blues I have to say I'm glad it didn't win, because if this was the best the self-published fantasy realm could come up with ... yeesh.

It's not terrible (except kind of, in a way). It's reasonably successful at following its three-act structure, although I dislike that I can identify such a thing in a piece of fiction; I would think, "okay, this scene's purpose is to accomplish this plot point or develop this character beat; I get it. I guess it's doing what is intended," when my usual reading experience is one of immersion sufficient to not acutely notice such things while I'm in the scene. The writing is fine, appropriately competent. I felt there was often something choppy about the flow in the earlier chapters, no big deal. There were many cliche scenes (like every one set in the police precinct or with the chief).

The major issue is foundational background details that never made sense for me. If you just follow the story on the surface you can enjoy this. I found myself questioning many details and they piled up so that I could no longer enjoy the book. Much of this is the mere existence of the police force. The setting is a post-war city a couple years after a human military defeated the fungal forces. Now it's a military-controlled location, with scant food supplies for the fungal population who are stuck in refugee zones and slums. I don't understand what the purpose of a human police force is here. I think the idea is that it's basically a colony now, but there is exactly zero presence of any human who is not part of the military or the police force (maybe it's supposed to be assumed that they're there, but since no other humans appear in the book in any way, it's impossible to accept the conceit.) So are there human police enforcing laws in addition to the military's control? At one point there's talk about warrants, and the main character reinforces to her fungal cop partner,

"Our warrant only permits us to search the place," I said. "Right now, we're working with reasonable suspicion, so no arrest without probable cause. Got it?"

Who is concerned about due process here? There are no mushroom lawyers, there is no mushroom rights advocacy from the conquering humans, why should they care? There is no robust justice system working here.

The mere existence of a fungal cop is also a basic fact of the book that didn't make sense. How did he get on the force at all? The sense given is that it's just because he wanted to. Is that good enough? Is there no screening process, no base requirements, no training required? Eventually you learn there's a reason for some higher-ups to bring him on, but no character poses these questions. They don't like it, they don't like him, it doesn't make sense, why is no one pressing for these answers?

The only clue the detectives have to work with at first is a piece of rope. They are able to trace this rope to a limited number of fishing operations, because the military issued this specific brand of rope, and when the fungal fishermen would try to use another rope the military got mad. Because the kind of rope they use is important. For reasons. ???

These are just a couple of examples, see my highlights and notes if needed for the full scope of problems I had with many details throughout the book (https://www.goodreads.com/notes/20598...). It isn't only large worldbuilding issues, it was also often specific actions or statements that didn't make sense within their specific scenes. It's possible some of them could be justified, but the sheer number of things that made me go, "That doesn't make sense," rivals my experience with The Silent Patient.

One might argue, "But it's fantasy!" but every other aspect of the novel attempts to make it recognizable as our real world. There are cars and helicopters and pagers and handguns and bicycles. Police operate the same as in every real-world fictional cop story. The only unreal thing is that in this region, everything is mushroom, including the people. They're even still largely human: they have human skeletons, they have the same jobs and family structures and emotions. They have mushroom-capped heads and grow mushrooms from their shoulders, and they emit spores when emotional. The place is made of mushrooms—large mushrooms grown into table and chair shapes, mycobrick walls, polypore roofs, mycellium walls and ropes and paper and bandages, all artwork and signage is made of moss—but all the structures are otherwise identical to the things you're already familiar with. There's no evidence of any intent to not replicate the reader's understanding of existing things, including social and administrative constructs.

Speaking of all those fungal-made things, the preponderance of all those terms, mycopaper, polypore, mycelium, mold, mycomat, mycobricks, fruiting bodies, mycocrete... unfortuately approaches TekWar levels of silliness over time. Like, you can tell me that things are made out of this stuff one time, it doesn't have to be specified every single time, especially when the story never goes anywhere that isn't made entirely of mushroom.

Throw in predictable character arcs and formulaic events, and I can't do more than shrug and say, "Eh, it's acceptable, I guess," about this book.

Does the book achieve its fantasy noir detective procedural adventure genre goals? Yes. The noir feel didn't last for the entire book, but it was there. It accomplished this without subverting any of the tropes or patterns or basic structure of such a thing, which if fine, not everything has to break new ground. Where it stands out is, of course, its use of a mushroom-based society in this story framework. It struck me as more mushroom-painted than something that went deeply into creative territory using that material, something properly alien and deeply thought-out, but whatever. The fungals were stand-ins for an Asian (or more specifically Japanese I think) population with some fungal set-dressing when it could have gone much deeper.

**Incoming rant that only partly has to do with this book, abandon ship if you must.**

Overall, this strikes me as a first novel that didn't need to be published. It's fine that it was; clearly many people are taking more enjoyment out of it than I did. But when it comes broadly to self-published books, trunk novels ought to be more of a thing. Many if not most successful authors wrote many things that will never see the light of day because they were not good enough, and their writers recognize that. One of the curses of barrier-free self-publishing is that people can publish everything they produce, regardless of quality, regardless of whether they should. This book's foreword is by Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld. He's a long-time friend of the author. In the foreword, Eames mentions

my first novel, a bloated monstrosity you will (thankfully) never see on a bookstore shelf. I spent more than ten years writing and re-writing that cursed tome ...

The book of Eames that we love was not that one. I'm just saying, writing a novel is hard, and it takes a lot to get all the pieces to mesh and produce something artful, and practice novels are and should be more of a thing. I don't know whether this applies to this particular book; the acknowledgements mention "years" of support but it's not indicated whether that's about just this book or writing in general. In any case, traditional publishing helps filter out some stuff that's not ready for primetime. Self-publishing does not. I've done my best to try to get into the idea that self-publishing can produce work as good as anything else. It can. It just all too often does not, even when I try a highly praised, popular example of the category.

Yes, this is a me problem. Honestly, I don't know why I continue to try to prove to myself that I can like self-published books. I have now read many, and the number that I truly believe are as good as anything else, from authors who have not gone on to being traditionally published, is extremely low. None of my reading friends are defenders of self-published works. This sense that I should like them comes, I guess, from social media, and have you seen that place? This book was one that I genuinely expected to like, with its excellent concept and accolades (never, never believe the accolades). I think I would enjoy the book that beat it out, By Blood, by Salt, much more. Although Mark Lawrence praised both, the things he raves about in that other are much more the things I love in novels. But it's not on Kindle Unlimited (for which I am currently using a free trial month; I don't give Amazon my money unless I truly have to) and my public library declined to acquire it and I don't know if it will pass the threshold of me actually buying it new with cash money elsewhere, so I may never know.

That's it, rant over. Everyone who 'liked' this review when it was just a prediction that this book would win SPFBOX but I hadn't actually read it yet can take their votes back now.

[William Gwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mushroom Blues is another indie fantasy success! This is a whodunit, detective-esque fantasy tale with key themes of imperialism in a fantasy land that feels well-realised, with complex cultures and character histories.

Adrian Gibson has a great grasp of language. The writing is smooth and gliding, taking you from one page to another. It is very accomplished, and shows a strength beyond the plot that means I'll pick up anything else he writes.

It was also great to pick up a fantasy novel that does what it sets out to do in a concise manner. It was sharp and efficient, but still gave breathing room that allowed for unpredictability and gradual character development as well. I am a character driven reader, so this was great for me!

4/5 STARS

[John Mauro · Rating 4 out of 5]

My SPFBOX finalist review of Mushroom Blues is published at Before We Go Blog.

Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson is a truly unique experience. The best way I can describe this book is to start with the Mushroom Kingdom setting from Super Mario Brothers but then turn it into an urban fantasy with a hardboiled noir detective story and then overlay that with heavy social commentary on racism and colonialism.

The basic setup of Mushroom Blues is that homicide detective Henrietta Hofmann is assigned to investigate the murder of fungal children. Her partner in this effort is the mushroom-headed Koji. Mushroom Blues is told in hardboiled style from Henrietta’s first-person perspective. Henrietta holds deeply racist views of the fungal citizens, and this racism unfortunately becomes her defining characteristic. Despite all the crime-related action (and there’s plenty of action), this is ultimately a story of Henrietta learning to overcome her racism.

Adrian M. Gibson scores lots of points for his mycological twist on urban fantasy and his Chandleresque narrative style. However, in my view he leans too heavily on the racism/colonialism aspects of the story, a problem that gets resolved in an unreasonably quick fashion given the narrator’s longstanding views. Personally, I would have preferred some more thematic balance to the novel. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading Mushroom Blues and commend Gibson for his creative worldbuilding and sharp writing style. This is definitely a must-read for mushroom lovers in your life.

[M.J. Kuhn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark sci-fi, noir crime fiction, and a bit of body horror all come together to form the basis of Gibson's stunning debut novel, MUSHROOM BLUES. Rich, loamy worldbuilding sets the stage for a cast of complex (and flaw-riddled) characters as they struggle to untangle a mystery more tightly woven than a dense mycelium network.

But MUSHROOM BLUES is more than a full-throttle, mushroom-and-blood-drenched adventure. At its heart, Gibson's story is one of acceptance: of hard truths, of others, and, perhaps most critically, of oneself. Fans of ALTERED CARBON, the weird (and wonderful) works of Vandermeer, and occasional micro dosing will find plenty to love in these pages.

Don't miss this one, you guys.🤩

[Lukasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gibson’s debut pits the mushroom-headed denizens of Neo Kinoko against the Coprinian forces. Even though the Spore War ended, it still impacts society - food shortages, poverty, and an influx of war refugees are common. Coprinian oppressors exploit their power and offer nothing to improve the lives of the “Fungals”.

I need more fungi in fiction, and Gibson brings the goods to the table. His world-building is impressive and filled with vivid descriptions of mold, mycelium, and floating spores. While getting a full grasp of the claustrophobic setting may require patience, it’s also exciting. Neo Kimoko is a unique fungal city - I loved the richness of the setting. The story offers insights into the lives of all sides of the conflict, including those living in poverty, their human oppressors, "mushroom" gangsters, and corrupt authorities.

Henrietta and Koji are excellent characters with complex dynamics. Henrietta is a strong female lead who tries to deal with social pressures, past traumas, and investigative duties. She starts as mycophobic and racist, but she’s willing to grow. She has no choice given what the author has in store for her (including a stomach-churning fungal body horror).

Koji, meanwhile, grapples with conflicting loyalties as a cop serving under oppressive authorities and Neo Kimoko’s inhabitant. Loathed by his colleagues, and not trusted by his compatriots, Koji leads a strenuous life.

Mushroom Blues blends genres just how I like it: it incorporates elements of police procedural, murder investigation, body horror, action, and psychological drama. Not to mention surreal fungal weirdness, which is incredibly cool. I appreciate the fresh take on familiar themes.

While the pacing occasionally falters, and the resolution of life-threatening situations through Deus ex machina moments disappoints, these issues didn’t significantly decrease my enjoyment of the story.

Mushroom Blues is a strong debut written with passion and clarity. If you crave some fungal weirdness in your life, you’ll have fun reading it. Recommended.

[Jacob Levy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mushroom Blues is a decent debut. While the setting shows flashes of excellence, the story struggles to stick the landing. Repetitive writing, an unlikable protagonist, and emotional inconsistencies hold it back from reaching greater heights. For these reasons, I'm giving the book a weak 3 out of 5, with some leniency for this being the author's first novel.

The strongest part of the book is its setting, which blends fantastical, noir, and modern elements in a way that felt fresh to me. However, it felt like more creativity could've gone into the different cultures. Instead, we just get cultural stand-ins of Hopponese = Japanese and Coprinian = British. This feels lazy and robs the world of some of its uniqueness. There is a lot of promise in the world building but it could have gone farther.

The protagonist, Hoffman, doesn't do the story any favors. She's abrasive to the point of being off-putting, and her repetitive inner monologues quickly wear thin. Secondary characters like Koji hint at deeper, more interesting stories, but they don't get nearly enough attention.

Emotional moments fall flat too, all bogged down by Hoffman's constant internal rehashing of the same thoughts.

Pacing is another issue. Generally detective fiction isn't for me, but I thought the first half of the book works well enough as a slow, methodical mystery, but the second half takes a sharp turn into action-thriller territory, making it feel a little rushed and out of place.

While I can appreciate what the author was going for with themes like racism, sexism, and trauma, these ideas tended to aim high but miss the mark. I felt the themes of racism and sexism to be a bit reductive, and others like regret, grief, and trauma to be a bit shallow and on the nose. I would say one exception would be in the book's exploration of motherhood, while not groundbreaking, I felt it added a refreshing layer to the book as a whole.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compelling sci-fi noir starts as a police procedural, following a tormented homicide detective on the trail of a serial killer who targets children. It quickly veers into fast paced thriller territory involving gangs, conspiracies and revolution against an oppressive colonial regime. I found both the plot and character development a little formulaic and cliche in their approach, along with some disappointing deus ex machina moments. Yet the worldbuilding is incredibly inventive and gritty, depicting the exceedingly dark atmosphere on a war ravaged planet that is both gripping and visceral, as well as an all pervasive, entirely grimy and somehow interconnected fungal ecosystem that encompasses not only the local people but the entire biome. The melding of this bizarre and putrid environment with elements of Japanese inspired culture makes for a quite unique and unforgettable setting.

[Adrian Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously, I'm a bit biased giving my own book 5 stars, but I just want to say how proud I am of it. Mushroom Blues has been years in the making, and I'm so grateful that there are readers out there who want to immerse themselves in The Fungalverse. This book broke me in a lot of ways, but it also built me back up. I can't wait for all of you to read it, and to offer you many more stories in the years to come.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://beforewegoblog.com/review-mus...

Cyberpunk is a genre that is a bit like grimdark in that it is a very popular one but also one that no one has any real luck defining. As much as “High Tech, Low Life” is busted out, what that actually means is a matter of opinion. For me, I tend to suggest cyberpunk is science fiction noir. It’s when the quality of life has not been improved by technology but the problems remain because of human nature. While not all cyberpunk has to be cops and robbers in a corrupt system, it certainly helps when they are. Neuromancer, Takashi Kovacs, the Buyadeen books, Blade Runner, and both the Cyberpunk 2022/2077 and Shadow Run world all depend on this. Which as close to an all-inclusive list as you’re going to get. Even Robocop, Akira, and Ghost in the Shell are adjacent here.

MUSHROOM BLUES falls under this definition even if we could probably be cute an call it “Fungalpunk.” In this case, it’s science fiction with the premise being humanity has conquered a world that has (probably) human-descended colonists that have merged with the local cordyceps to form their own culture. Note: This isn’t a spoiler or even brought up in the book as a possibility but I feel there’s a lot of clues to this effect. If this doesn’t sound like a cyberpunk tale, take note that it’s actually about the brutality of racism, colonialism, capitalism, organized crime, and how absolutely none of this can be affected by our protagonists.

The absolute simplest way of describing the story is a fantastic prejudice allegory ala WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT or the X-men. It takes place on an alien planet but humans are in charge because they won the war and the local mushroom people are under their thumb. The humans hate it on the island nation of Hoppon and its capital of Neo Konoko. Fungus is, understandably everywhere, and the locals hate them. The humans treat the locals like crap and the fungals hate them right back. Henrietta Hofmann is assigned to work with fungal police officer Koji Nameko and the two of them get along like oil and water. It’s a fairly classic IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT scenario, only with more black mold.

Henrietta Hofmann is a casually racist and particularly nasty protagonist that is assigned to NKPD because she’s burned all bridges with her alcoholism as well as involvement in an incident that may have gotten her daughter killed. The actual specifics are a secret until the end of the book but paint her in the worst light possible. She hates fungals and hates being where she is. Like most racists, though, she has limits and doesn’t think she’s a racist. Awful cop that she is who hurls casual slurs, she is genuinely horrified at fungal children being murdered and wants to solve the crime.

Koji Nameko is an Asian coded police officer who is considered to be a traitor to his people by the occupied fungals. However, the police force is as racist to him and hateful as anyone else. The police chief insists that everyone is equal but he’s being very clear that this is only to keep the overt racism in line since everyone, including Koji, knows that the humans are an occupying force. He states his job is to try to help his people by working from the inside but it’s questionable how much he can do (if anything).

Much of the book is dedicated to Henrietta learning not to be viciously racist and viscerally disgusted by the fungals. These are the least pleasant parts of the books and there were many times that I didn’t care about Henrietta’s journey of self-discovery. Instead, I was more interested in the developing resistance and lives of the fungals. The combination of realistic oppression with sci-fi concepts like fungal minds is very interesting and I’m totally on their side.

In conclusion, this is a solid and entertaining novel. I really enjoyed the characters, the world-building, and the real-life allusions. The plot is excellently structured with several unexpected twists along the way. While I wasn’t a fan of Henrietta, I have to say that I’m still going to pick up the sequel. Cyberpunk is rarely treated with the seriousness and darkness it requires to really hit home as satire but this succeeds.

[Krystle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take a police procedural, add a heap of cultural dialogue, socioeconomic commentary, and a whole lot of ‘shrooms, and you get Mushroom Blues perfection.

“The children. It was always about the children.”

Mushroom Blues is not an easy read. It is, however, imminently readable. The prose is clean, precise, and beautiful. Its pacing is breakneck and breathless, hurtling us from the bodies of dead children, to institutional oppression, to corruption, crime syndicates, and the deepest of vice—and then back to compassionate humanity and the awakening of a conscientious soul. So many of the themes hit hard. Gibson’s inspirations are clearly historical—post-war Japan and Berlin, off the top of my head—but are also echoes of conflicts we still see now, unfolding before us.

Hofmann’s racism against the fungal people at the beginning of the novel is uncomfortable, confronting, and all too believable. Gibson’s skill carries us on a journey that doesn’t ask us to understand where she’s coming from, but rather begs us to demand better from her. The narrative populates the story with characters we can’t help but root for: Hofmann’s self-proclaimed enemies, at first, but ultimately the human (fungal?) core of trust, loyalty, love, and sacrifice that finally break down the walls that Hofmann has built for herself between her and the people she is tasked with protecting.

That disintegration of ego and prejudice is so brilliantly crafted that I was cheering for her by the end. The tenderness and the passion shines through. Gibson’s appreciation for food, languages, and the dichotomy between the things that separate us and the things that bring us together create a story arc that carried me through the whole gamut of emotions: horror, fear, grief, awe, resentment, empathy, love, relief.

I would be remiss not to mention the world building. Even with all my talk of big themes and heavy stakes and hard-hitting commentary, I think my very favourite thing about Mushroom Blues is the detail with which Gibson paints this world for us. He clearly put a lot of thought into the social and economic impact of a mushroom society. He treads the fine line of giving us enough information to always be able to understand the shift and picture the city of Neo Kinoko, but the world building never gets in its own way with overly long info dumps. The details are meted out with a steady eye on their impact on the pacing in a way that speaks of skill and instinct that constantly impressed me. I could feel that city, could see the snowstorms that drifted down around Hofmann, could smell the food she was so wary of, could feel the grief at the destruction that had been wrought before the story even started.

“It was an abstract expressionist painting that portrayed a story of conflicting cultures with every violent brush-stroke.”

As I said already, Mushroom Blues is not an easy read exactly. But trust me when I say, it is unmissable. You won’t regret it.

[Strega Di Gatti · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for the creative worldbuilding and an ornery, unlikeable, hardboiled protagonist. Overall, I'd say the Fungalverse is an interesting place to visit. I'll never say "no" to a cyberpunk variation and “mushroompunk” is pretty clever.

It was fun to explore the city of Neo Kinoko, where everybody and everything is mushroom. Some readers might tire of being reminded every two seconds that the floor is mushroom, the paper is mushroom, the plates are mush---Yes, it's all mushroom! The detailed description of every weird district and slum helped build a vivid visual.

Where Mushroom Blues falls short is in the story details. The mystery is shaky. The motivations of the conspirators don't come together. And the mechanics of fungal life aren't that clear.

The villains are Yakuza movie tropes (or even the Triads as imagined on screen by John Woo). They're busy building a bloodthirsty criminal empire but, are somehow also ideologically motivated? A mess.

It felt like only the "good" mushroom folks could use mushroom powers, communicating effectively (through spores? Sense vibes?) over long distances, while the bad guys often forgot to do so.

Literal "spore magic" involving .. "spore ghosts?" saves the day in one crucial moment that wasn't supported by anything else running up to it. Fungal spirituality is deployed haphazardly (conveniently).

Crucially, the story is framed by a brutal occupation of the mushroom people by human invaders.
If you’re going to delve into this topic with such obvious and painful real world parallels I’d like to see it fully realized.

The book heavily advocates for humans to become less racist, as opposed to rooting for mushroom people to be liberated from oppression. This is probably why some other reviewers have described the critiques of colonialism in the novel to be shallow or unexamined.

This POV also explains why the mushroom people are depicted as having extensive criminal networks, full off-grid communities, and city-wide connections, but aren't shown with organized resistance, community leaders, or advocacy beyond angry mobs of mushrooms showing up for "protest".

I laughed outloud when a Fungal and human muse: “Do you think Fungals and humans can ever be friends?” like the issue is just a misunderstanding between two prejudiced equals instead of a horrific subjugation of one species.

I’d recommend that Adrian Gibson checks Frantz Fanon out of the library before any Fungalverse sequels, but I would like some Fungalverse sequels!

[LordTBR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gritty, atmospheric, and unreservedly original, Gibson's fungalpunk debut infuses dashes of cyberpunk, noir and weirdness to create something awe-in-spore-ing. Jump on the bandwagon now so you don't miss out.

[C.J. Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I may be late to this fungal indie goodness, something that has been becoming a staple for me (I guess?), but better late than never, right? I grabbed this one of audio, and I thought Imogen Church’s narration was spot on. And of course the Felix Ortiz cover is just chef’s kiss…

Detective Henrietta Hoffman, the quintessential, down-on-her-luck, uber-jaded character, has been forcefully exiled to the worst place she could imagine—Hōppon. Just two years after the loss of The Spore War, the mushroom-lush country is being fully colonized by the victors. Coprinian forces are stationed everywhere, taking over law enforcement and more. But when a decapitated fungal child is found, Hoffman must swallow her pride and team up with the mushroom-capped NKPD native Koji Nameko. The blend of noir investigation, political intrigue, action, loss, and danger—as well as some really unique fantasy and scifi—that follows is truly pulse-pounding.

So I get the hype. The last two years for me haven’t been huge in the genre, but since I was a teenage fantasy and scifi have always been staples in my reading. So believe me when I say this is a banger of a release. It really takes multiple things I love—fantasy, science fiction, mystery and thriller—and delivers this really fresh blend of them all. I’ve read fantasy mysteries and scifi mysteries before, but what this one nailed was the feel of a police procedural that’s just been meshed into a world that feels other. They aren’t monster hunters or dragon slayers, they are everyday cops, and despite their world being different, they are just doing the job.

Speaking of the world, this novel’s worldbuilding is extreme. It’s as if the author sat and wrote out every single thing that we use in our day to day lives—even cups, concrete, and DOORS—and was like, “hmmm, yes, all of that has it’s own version that’s been fungalized.” (Not a word? It is now). The world is unique, rich, and built from the ground up. It might not be your typical fantasy/scifi, but this definitely read like something noticeably not earth. In that way it felt kind of along the lines of urban fantasy at times, even bringing to mind the film Bright…some of the context shared between the two helped as well. The minute details, like mixed children having small sprouts of mushrooms on their heads, felt like a really special showing of an author that fully knows what they’ve created.

This novel is heavy though. To not sugarcoat, it is filled with ethnocentrism, prejudice, and tons of racism. The wounds of war are still fresh, and the hate is steaming on both sides. However, with the book’s perspective, so much of the hate is coming from (often gushing from) Detective Hoffman. It can be hard to read and digest. While Hoffman was not a soldier in the war that stole their country from them, she certainly has no problem spewing the Coprinian vitriolic ignorance. With that being said, when you stick with it, the story is designed to show you how disgusting this is, how wrong, and Hoffman eventually begins her journey out of this. It’s a well done facsimile of our own world’s history of systemic racism, imperialism and hatred. There’s a fine message in there too of those feeling more aligned with Hoffman (at the beginning) needing to get their shit together too.

The mystery is written just how it should be. Approached with the reader learning as the investigators do, and with the twist being dangled right before their eyes at multiple times before it’s finally revealed. There’s complexity, there’s red herrings, and there’s definitely a lot of thread weaving and pulling by the end. If you claim to have had it figured out before the end I’ll call you a liar, this one’s well done. There are some otherworldly notes thrown in too, which really (again) cemented the genre blend for me.

Another thing I really enjoyed was drawing similarities between this and Welcome to Cemetery. While there are miles of differences, there’s still some detective and cop traits that you can’t lack in a police procedural. While my main character is young and trying to prove herself, her partner is the jaded one that struggles. In some ways Koji is reminiscent of Williams to me, he wants to do the right thing no matter the cost. While ultimately the twists are polar opposites, there is still a through-line of police corruption in both novels. And I know the author and I both review for FanFiAddict, but we had zero discussion surrounding our books together, and mine was even completed before I joined. It makes me think my novel might be a bit more noir than I thought.

Super intriguing. Thoroughly enjoyable. And easy to imagine how endless the world could be. I’m interested in their next case, and even hopeful for side stories exploring the world at large.


https://fanfiaddict.com/review-mushro...

[Jamedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review originally on JamReads

Mushroom Blues is the mold breaking debut novel of Adrian M. Gibson, the first book in the noir fungalpunk series The Hoffman Report, a deliciously dark and weird proposal which tells a compelling story while doing a deep social commentary partly based in the post WWII Japan (and you can totally see many of the influences of it in the city of Neo Kinoko, and in the Hōpponese culture in general).

Two years after its defeat in the Spore War, the island nation of Hōppon is under the occupation of the Coprinian forces, with its native fungal inhabitants suffering a difficult situation, shortages and the corruption of the ocuppiers; tension is rising as a consequence. Detective Henrietta Hoffman has been transferred to NKPD as a sort of punishment, and the apparition of the body of half-breed child forces her to pair with mushroom-headed officer Koji Nameko as part of her investigation; one that will take her on a trip into the heart of a city in the brief of war, crime gangs, and the corruption of the own colonizers.

All the story is told using a close first-person narrative voice, from the perspective of Henrietta, perfect to reflect the change she experiences alongside her vision and knowledge about the native population of Hōppon is expanded and increased. Hoffman is a character tortured by her past, who starts with a point of view that is incredibly racist against the fungal population, partly due to her lack of knowledge, and the perspective of war winner, but who progressively changes, opening herself, in a gradual trip (and sometimes quite literal).

Gibson has made a masterful work portraying through fantasy many of the problems created after the WWII and the American occupation of Japan, but not keeping it at the superficial aspects, but exploring often overlooked parts of the society, such as the rise of crime due to shortage and corruption and the own abuse made by the colonizers (general MacArthur is a good example). All paired with mushroom derived elements that add a layer of originality to his narration, creating some psychedelic situations.

A police procedural story that is not afraid to go deep and, as a result, we have an excellent debut novel; Adrian M. Gibson has created something unique that I can't recommend enough. I need the second book as soon as possible, because I want to return to Neo Kinoko.

[Julia Sarene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for SPFBO, this is only my personal opinion, group verdict might differ widely!

Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson is a blend of urban fantasy and science which I found very catching.
The main character starts with a very strong personality flaw, as she's living in a "mushroom city" but hating the mushroom people.

Mushroom people you say? Yes! Pretty much everything is mushroom in this part of the world, and it all seemed pretty sciency, rather than magic.
For me it still felt like an urban fantasy, set in a world where mushrooms have blended with mostly everything, and I found it super interesting to find out more about this concept.

But back to the main character, she is really rather racist at the start, and overcoming her inherent hatred is a main part of her journey. In parts I felt this could have been handled a bit more depth to it, as she seemed to change it whole leaps instead of adjusting with her job, circumstances and lived experience.
For me this wasn't too big a deal, as I found the murder mystery, the world, the cultures and the little bits to discover everywhere way more engaging than the character herself. Very often the tone and voice carries a story for me, here it was definitely the mystery and setting that kept me glued to the pages.

So despite the characters not being as great as they could be, I still enjoyed the whole book and devoured it in just two days.

[Matteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

La detective Henrietta Hoffman della squadra omicidi, in fuga da un passato traumatico, è da poco giunta a Neo Kinoko, città conquistata dall’uomo nella sanguinosa Guerra delle Spore.
Da poco operativa sul campo, la donna viene incaricata di indagare sulla morte di un ragazzino della popolazione autoctona, affiancata da un altro “fungal”, il novizio Koji Nameko.
Disgustata dalla necessità di condividere il proprio lavoro con un essere ricoperto di funghi, Hoffman dovrà fare i conti con una missione che la porterà a riscoprire sé stessa e un mondo che vorrebbe solo abbandonare.

Gibson opta per una prosa snella e funzionale, perfetta per il genere del romanzo: un thriller con elementi investigativi che fa del ritmo il suo punto di forza, senza tuttavia disdegnare alcuni momenti più riflessivi.
Frasi brevi e incisive e una quasi totale mancanza di infodump rendono il testo scorrevole e mai noioso: dal punto di vista delle scelte lessicali, inoltre, ci sono alcune situazioni interessanti e non così scontate. L’autore dimostra una buona padronanza della lingua riuscendo a optare, di volta in volta, per un uso dei sinonimi che non tutti gli autori inglesi decidono di mettere in campo.

Vero punto di forza del romanzo, la città di Neo Kinoko, chiaramente ispirata al Giappone contemporaneo, è pulsante e vivo sulla pagina come non mai.
Il mondo degli Hopponesi, popolazione di esseri simili agli umani ma con escrescenze fungine, è affascinante, magico, ricco di contaminazioni dagli universi spirituali e religiosi del mondo asiatico. Usi e costumi vengono delineati con chiarezza attraverso dialoghi, momenti di esplorazione, indagini sul territorio che ben si sposano con gli accadimenti della trama.
Con numerosi elementi di originalità, Gibson fa centro e affascina il lettore dalla prima all’ultima pagina.

Mushroom Blues è ottimo fanta-thriller, che fa della crescita dei personaggi e del worldbuilding i suoi punti di forza, con una trama in crescendo e un ritmo sempre sostenuto.
L’originalità di fondo non è mai fine a sé stessa, ma fornisce una struttura solida e caratteristiche che impreziosiscono un intreccio ben bilanciato. Forte di alcuni colpi di scena collocati nei punti giusti, la vicenda saprà catturare tanto gli appassionati del genere quanto chi, attirato da un connubio particolare, vorrà tentare una lettura diversa dal solito e dal sapore autoconclusivo.

[Athena (OneReadingNurse) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughts for SPSFC on hold while the others read it and find me a Sci Fi element

In general:

I like weird and I like crime thrillers

I like detective noir and the weirder the better

The depictions get a little repetitive and if I had to read "fruiting bodies" one more time, I was ready to scream. Spoiler alert: I screamed, a lot.

Mushroom Blues is a very readable, fast paced book that crams a lot of impactful revelations over a two day period in which I'm not sure a phobic racist could really be totally converted.

It's a good idea and I don't have any real complaints except that for its length, the story still felt very rushed. If we have a mile high mushroom we can have a detective get abysmally lucky and bring down a huge organized crime ring in two days.

Author, you go be that weird little mushroom you've always dreamed of being

[Dave Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very well written book that’s not really what I expected. I’d heard it classified as urban fantasy. For me, it’s not that at all. I’d classify it as a bit more like sci-fi, but in general, I think it’s a police procedural noir. It felt like post-war Japan but set in the year 2000 but with mushrooms. I really did not care for the main character, but her character growth was really well done. The world is lovingly created, and like I said, the writing is great, but in the end, this isn’t really the book for me. I like characters I can root for, and this, sadly, was not that book.
I listened to the audiobook, which was incredibly well-done.
If fungal noir sounds like your thing, check this book out!

[Liis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mushroom Blues has had a decent amount of hype, so frankly, everyone in the SFF circles has at the very least heard about this book by now. The audience seems to fall firmly into two, from what I have seen and felt myself with this book. One side, where they love it, truly love it. The other half just can’t get past the certain details which in one way or another have interfered with their reading enjoyment.

I fall into the latter. The first 20% of the book, I am sorry to say, felt quite superficial as everything felt like it was delivered by skimming the surface only, by delivering a series of hard facts to get the introductions out of the way, and personally, due to missing the depth, I found myself rather disengaged. Maybe it’s also down to the story being plot driven rather than character driven, or the balance being tipped more towards plot than characters anyway. The second half of the book, however, picked up exponentially. I started seeing the characters more, I felt their purposes more. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment where I went – Finally! I now feel the emotion that the story wants the reader to feel! – and it was the scene in the police station where a bullying incident happened and the chief let loose. And, it’s worth noting that some would enjoy the slower pace of the first half to the fast/paced second half.

Then again, where most would point out the very unlikable main character, I didn’t mind her grittiness as much. Clichéd as she was with her alcohol problem and personal drama. Personally, I didn’t think that she overcame her racism too quickly. She overcame her dislike towards the fungals because she was finally pushed into a corner by having a fungal partner and shit hit the fan. So, that change of tune in her made sense to me.

I understand that a lot of folks enjoy the fungal aspect, the police procedural, the politics and crime aspect. Yes, solidly written, Mushroom Blues follows noir fiction down to a T with the bleak world, corruption and blurred lines in between right and wrong, and yet it somehow didn’t feel noir. I can’t put my finger on it when I try to explain why. The story certainly had these dingy locations and scenes galore, so maybe it is because of the fungal layer? It took most of the focus to this rather unique angle? I don’t know. Anyway, the fungal approach was a clever move to freshen up a story which without the fungal aspect would have simply and comfortably fit alongside others in the genre without rocking the genre boat. Whilst it sadly wasn’t a book that blew me away, it has most certainly blown away many others, and for potential readers that means, you won’t know it until you try it yourself. Mushroom Blues has, with the backing of its fans, managed to sprout the feeling of FOMO in the reader community, so yield to the FOMO and give it a go!

[Douglas Lumsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough good things about this outstanding book. I'm a big fan of noir urban fantasy, so I knew this book was likely going to be right up my alley when I heard it was coming. I'm happy to say that it exceeded my wildest expectations. This is some serious noir, taking on such heavy topics as bigotry, colonialism, resistance, and family dynamics. It's also, in many unexpected ways, inspirational.

When I saw that this was going to be a story about a hardboiled copper and some mushroom people, I was prepared for a sendup of the hardboiled detective genre. Wow, little did I know what I was in for! What I found instead of a lighthearted romp was an emotionally charged sizzling thriller in a setting inspired by American-occupied Japan in the aftermath of World War II. Our troubled main character, Henrietta Hofmann, enters the story every bit as bigoted as her peers toward the utterly alien-seeming fungal citizens of the island nation of Hoppon. When she discovers a horrific crime involving the murder and mutilation of a Hopponese child, she is forced to partner up with the only Hopponese cop on the occupying nation's police force. Hofmann finds herself in deeper and deeper peril with every step she takes as she strives with dogged determination to solve a case that becomes intensely personal to her. The case is much more than it seems, and Hofmann soon finds that solving it may have to take a back seat to surviving it!

This is a story that's going to grab you by where you live and drag you into the muck and mire (right along with the main character at some points). It's going to make you question whether someone with despicable worldviews can truly be a hero, and whether people you are anxious to root for can actually be villains. It's going to make you consider whether bad people can do good, whether good intentions can be a cover for selfish desires, and whether bad intentions can be honorable.

And those mushroom people? Don't be too quick to judge them one way or the other, because they are equal parts strange and familiar, even though they are as human as you or me. One thing they are not is silly.

One final word: Yes, this book is heavy, and it gives the reader a lot to think about, but it is also a true pulp thriller with a terrific mystery, twists and turns galore, and lots of intriguing characters. Mushroom Blues is the first book in a series, and I can't wait for the next one!

[Miggins (Hobbit Hole Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mushroom Blues is a tightly written trip through the criminal underbelly of a cyberpunk inspired city. Themes of colonialism, trauma and addiction deepen the central narrative whilst the plot races feverishly to its powerfully psychedelic climax.

Whilst our 2 main protagonists receive absorbing character development, the antagonists did suffer a little in comparison, despite attempts to tie them into the emotional backbone of the city Neo Kinoko. A little more time in the latter half of the novel devoted to exploring our villains more closely would’ve elevated Mushroom Blues into one of my first five star reads of the year.

As it stands, devotees of both crime and post apocalyptic SFF should find plenty to dig their teeth into with this socially conscious sci fi captivating me from start to finish.

Full RTC!

Gibson is using the forces of nature (mushrooms) to *become* a force of nature in the SFF world. Bring on spore city!!

[Bernhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fungaltastic debut which doesn't leave mushroom for improvement.

"When the storm subsides, we find renewal where others find destruction."

[Marco Landi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aspettavo a gloria di leggere questo romanzo!! Sapevo che sarebbe uscito per LettereElettriche e quindi ho voluto aspettare la traduzione in italiano.. e devo ringraziare la traduttrice Raffaella Corini per l eccellente lavoro svolto.. sono d'accordo con lei con le sue scelte di traduzione come indica nella sua nota a fine libro, con molte suggestioni non facili da tradurre, rese alla perfezione in italiano..

Il libro mi ha ricordato tre altri libri e autori che amo: David Peace di Tokyo Anno Zero per le stesse vibes efferate e crude del suo noir nella Tokyo del dopoguerra.. William Gibson con la Trilogia del Ponte per le atmosfere contaminate e interconnesse dalla rete, qua più fungina che informatica.. e China Mieville con la sua Bas Lag per tutte le stranezze weird e follie assurde delle razze umanoidi e per la stratificazione politica e sociale.. il tutto traslato qua, in una città fungoide e con una sua creativa originale, assurda e visionaria!!

Detto questo.. Neo Kinoko dal forte sapore nipponico, è una città oppressa, sottomessa dagli umani, con la popolazione fungina schiacciata dagli eserciti invasori che hanno vinto la Guerra delle Spore.. due detective, l umana Henrietta e il vituperato fungino Koji, dovranno indagare le brutali e raccapriccianti morti dei bambini micotici.. da qui la storia, un procedurale di polizia ben costruito come i migliori noir richiedono, si dipana tra gang di fungoidi criminali, mafie, intrighi politici, orrorifiche rivelazioni, inseguimenti, sparatorie e combattimenti.. razzismo e pregiudizio la fanno da padrone..

Oltre la trama imprevedibile e zigzagante, e i due personaggi principali costruiti in modo eccezionale, il Worldbuilding la fa da padrone!! Adrian è un folle genio visionario, che ha creato qualcosa di completamente diverso e straniante, che unisce la meraviglia alla repulsione.. le pazzesche panoramiche che crea delle varie parti della città sono uniche e davvero avvolgenti.. odori, sapori, sensazioni escono fuori dalle pagine.. unire tutti gli aspetti dei funghi alle infrastrutture, agli oggetti d'uso, agli esseri viventi, è stato per me davvero divertente e creativamente pazzesco.. così accurato e credibile da pervadere anche modi di dire ed espressioni, come pure imprecazioni e preghiere..

Un libro diverso da tutto, un debutto dei migliori.. non a caso ha fatto incetta di premi e riconoscimenti..
Un libro adulto, maturo, divertente e pure sensibile.. i temi trattati non sono leggeri..
Soprusi e abusi, ignoranza e rancore, rabbia e avversione per il diverso.. il rancore che a volte si nutre per gli altri che nasconde rabbia verso se stessi e i propri sbagli.. un romanzo che parla di spezzarsi, risollevarsi e redimersi.. ma lo fa in modo così appassionante, ma anche profondo e toccante, da sentire la mancanza una volta finito.. ma adesso voglio subito un altra avventura in questo mondo straordinario!!

[Abel Montero · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid story with characters that grow on you (like a fungus?).

While the writing often lacked subtlety or finesse, this was nonetheless an imaginative and enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading whatever Gibson writes next.

[Blaise · Rating 5 out of 5]

And Done! Wonderful Detective Noir in a weird fantasy world. Adrian is a fantasy author to put on your radar! Full review to come!

[Kaden Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark, visceral, fungal mystery that leaves the reader in a lighter place.

Gibson is a master of clashing cultures with every ugly and beautiful trait to match it. Detective Hofmann begins as a woman hardened by past mistakes and trauma, but becomes a close friend as we see her journey. Koji wins my heart as a genuinely great person and character, never failing to lighten the darkest chapters.

The Hōpponese people are one of the most beautiful and rich civilizations I have ever met in fiction. Gibson makes these people real through language, culture, customs, and trauma.

Mushroom blues is more than a mystery, it is a tragic masterpiece with a message of hope, forgiveness, and love.