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ANIMALS
From the multiple award-winning author of HIM, Was and The Child Garden comes a powerful, gripping new novel.
ANIMALS tells the chilling tale of a family caught at the heart of a terrifying and transformative epidemic, in an astonishing fusion of beautiful writing and pure horror at its finest.
Teddy has always been a special child. Frightened by other children, described as ‘imaginative’ by teachers, home-schooled by his mother. His closest friend was his father, until he left them for another man.
Now, his closest friends are the family the greyhounds his mother used to breed for racing; the three-hundred-pound family pig Charity and her best friend, a duck; and the stray cat he slowly Little One.
His life has never been idyllic, but it was his, until he and his mother are struck down with an inexplicable fever. Over the course of the hot drought-stricken Oxfordshire summer, all of their animals fall sick. Whatever the mystery illness is, it’s targeting animals… and it’s not long before the animals start to target them…
ANIMALS tells the chilling tale of a family caught at the heart of a terrifying and transformative epidemic, in an astonishing fusion of beautiful writing and pure horror at its finest.
Teddy has always been a special child. Frightened by other children, described as ‘imaginative’ by teachers, home-schooled by his mother. His closest friend was his father, until he left them for another man.
Now, his closest friends are the family the greyhounds his mother used to breed for racing; the three-hundred-pound family pig Charity and her best friend, a duck; and the stray cat he slowly Little One.
His life has never been idyllic, but it was his, until he and his mother are struck down with an inexplicable fever. Over the course of the hot drought-stricken Oxfordshire summer, all of their animals fall sick. Whatever the mystery illness is, it’s targeting animals… and it’s not long before the animals start to target them…
- GenresHorror
284 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 17, 2025
3 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Ryman
97 books207 followersGeoffrey Charles Ryman (born 1951) is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and slipstream fiction. He was born in Canada, and has lived most of his life in England.
His science fiction and fantasy works include The Warrior Who Carried Life (1985), the novella The Unconquered Country (1986) (winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the World Fantasy Award), and The Child Garden (1989) (winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Campbell Award). Subsequent fiction works include Was (1992), Lust (2001), and Air (2005) (winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, the British Science Fiction Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and on the short list for the Nebula Award).
His science fiction and fantasy works include The Warrior Who Carried Life (1985), the novella The Unconquered Country (1986) (winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the World Fantasy Award), and The Child Garden (1989) (winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Campbell Award). Subsequent fiction works include Was (1992), Lust (2001), and Air (2005) (winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, the British Science Fiction Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and on the short list for the Nebula Award).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 25, 2025
Plotttechnisch ist das deine übliche Apokalypse, auch wenn gewisse Momente daran selten-gelesen sind (und ich lese viel aus diesem Genre). Hier funktionieren die Handys während der Handlung noch sehr zuverlässig und es gibt noch das britische Äquivalent zum ADAC, das bei Pannen hilft.
Das erzählende Ich ist der zehnjährige Teddy, wobei dieser rückblickend erzählt und zum Zeitpunkt der Narration eindeutig schon älter ist, teilweise Dinge vorwegnimmt, die erst nach Abschluss der Romanhandlung passieren werden.
Insofern kommt mir die Geschichte nicht ganz zu Ende erzählt vor, wie ein Staffelfinale und alle fragen: Wann kommt Staffel 2? (Wobei ich durchaus glaube, der Roman ist abgeschlossen und keine Serie.)
Der Weltenbau der Pandemie ist sehr interessant, perfektes SF trifft Horror. Einiges ist sehr eklig, vieles ist super-plausibel und die Beschreibung ist klasse, zumal Teddy selbst so stark betroffen ist, dass er schon am unzuverlässigen Erzähler kratzt.
Sehr komplexe menschliche Gefühle angesichts der Pandemie, aber auch angesichts eher alltäglicherer Tragödien wie dem Ende der Ehe der Eltern, hier wegen eines jungen Mannes, mit dem der Vater nun zusammenlebt. Aus Sicht Teddys ist das sehr gekonnt geschildert, auch die Sicht des Vaters wäre sicher interessant, der den Lockdown mit seiner Familie statt mit seiner neuen Liebe verbringt. Gern würde er den neuen Partner mitbringen, aber das lässt der Sohn nicht zu.
Sogar das Verhältnis zu Tieren (Hunden, einem Schwein, einer Katze) wird interessant geschildert und da ist viel Tragik dabei, als die Seuche zunächst die Tiere befällt.
Das erzählende Ich ist der zehnjährige Teddy, wobei dieser rückblickend erzählt und zum Zeitpunkt der Narration eindeutig schon älter ist, teilweise Dinge vorwegnimmt, die erst nach Abschluss der Romanhandlung passieren werden.
Insofern kommt mir die Geschichte nicht ganz zu Ende erzählt vor, wie ein Staffelfinale und alle fragen: Wann kommt Staffel 2? (Wobei ich durchaus glaube, der Roman ist abgeschlossen und keine Serie.)
Der Weltenbau der Pandemie ist sehr interessant, perfektes SF trifft Horror. Einiges ist sehr eklig, vieles ist super-plausibel und die Beschreibung ist klasse, zumal Teddy selbst so stark betroffen ist, dass er schon am unzuverlässigen Erzähler kratzt.
Sehr komplexe menschliche Gefühle angesichts der Pandemie, aber auch angesichts eher alltäglicherer Tragödien wie dem Ende der Ehe der Eltern, hier wegen eines jungen Mannes, mit dem der Vater nun zusammenlebt. Aus Sicht Teddys ist das sehr gekonnt geschildert, auch die Sicht des Vaters wäre sicher interessant, der den Lockdown mit seiner Familie statt mit seiner neuen Liebe verbringt. Gern würde er den neuen Partner mitbringen, aber das lässt der Sohn nicht zu.
Sogar das Verhältnis zu Tieren (Hunden, einem Schwein, einer Katze) wird interessant geschildert und da ist viel Tragik dabei, als die Seuche zunächst die Tiere befällt.
July 5, 2025
You ever hear of the Nancy Pearl rule? Named after a famous librarian, it says that you should give a book fifty pages – if it's not working for you by then, the chances of it working later are slim.
But not nil.
Geoff Ryman is known for thoughtful, perceptive takes on science fiction, fantasy and history. So when I saw that the author of such startlingly original books as “'Was”, “The Child Garden”, and last year's “Him” had written a horror novel about animals, I thought What? I don't usually read horror.
But it's Ryman, so I had to check it out.
It's a novel with a plague that affects animals in horrible ways, and the first-person narrator of a ten-year-old boy is engaging and effective. The way he is affected by the plague and the ructions in his family are well combined. As the book progresses, the escalation of the plague and especially the body horror (a LOT of body horror) is gripping. It's also an 'as told to' story, actually narrated by the boy forty years after the action, and pausing periodically to explain items that are common in our world, so you know he survived, but wonder just what kind of a world he's living in.
But anyone could do this, right?
This is where I broke the Pearl rule. I knew there was more to it than that in a Ryman book. And sure enough, in the last few pages he blows the lid off the whole concept, tying together the entire natural history of the world with the poignant story of the young boy and his family.
I've never seen anyone do anything quite like it.
I'm not sure what drove Ryman to write this book, although I could point to Covid (acknowledged in the book) and the political situation in the world. In any case, I'm glad I broke the Pearl rule and stuck it out for the big reveal at the end.
Some books are like that. You have to trust the author to take you to place you've never been before. Ryman does it most reliably.
But not nil.
Geoff Ryman is known for thoughtful, perceptive takes on science fiction, fantasy and history. So when I saw that the author of such startlingly original books as “'Was”, “The Child Garden”, and last year's “Him” had written a horror novel about animals, I thought What? I don't usually read horror.
But it's Ryman, so I had to check it out.
It's a novel with a plague that affects animals in horrible ways, and the first-person narrator of a ten-year-old boy is engaging and effective. The way he is affected by the plague and the ructions in his family are well combined. As the book progresses, the escalation of the plague and especially the body horror (a LOT of body horror) is gripping. It's also an 'as told to' story, actually narrated by the boy forty years after the action, and pausing periodically to explain items that are common in our world, so you know he survived, but wonder just what kind of a world he's living in.
But anyone could do this, right?
This is where I broke the Pearl rule. I knew there was more to it than that in a Ryman book. And sure enough, in the last few pages he blows the lid off the whole concept, tying together the entire natural history of the world with the poignant story of the young boy and his family.
I've never seen anyone do anything quite like it.
I'm not sure what drove Ryman to write this book, although I could point to Covid (acknowledged in the book) and the political situation in the world. In any case, I'm glad I broke the Pearl rule and stuck it out for the big reveal at the end.
Some books are like that. You have to trust the author to take you to place you've never been before. Ryman does it most reliably.
November 11, 2025
‘Animals’ by Geoff Ryman is a horror novel and a family story with a large degree of anthropomorphism in it. The anthropomorphism in the novel is not cute, like Disney characters, but instead has a pseudo-scientific rationale. Ryman, an experienced author who has won several awards for his fiction, ensures you’re in good hands when embarking on this thrilling journey.
The story is told in the first person by a fellow named Teddy Spaulding, remembering incidents that happened when he was ten years old. He’s an excellent writer because he grew up with vegans who listen to BBC Radio 4 instead of watching ‘Love Island’ like ordinary folk. An imaginative child, he was homeschooled by his mother. Teddy admits that one reason he didn’t fit in at school was that he didn’t talk like other children. If he ever watched television, it was old films where the people’s manner and the language spoken are more formal. Throughout the narrative, written when he’s an older man, Teddy makes wry comments about how we lived in his past, namely now. He has sensible things to say about television, social media, junk food and shopping.
The supporting cast are Teddy’s family and some neighbours. His mother is referred to as Mom because she’s an American who came to England to work as an actress but then got married. She is helped at home by Faith, a neighbour who does the cleaning. Faith is a superbly competent woman with tonnes of common sense and plays a key role. All the major characters are well-rounded, believable human beings, and the minor ones are often the kind of eccentrics you will find in a typical English village. Ted’s father, Mike, is a veterinary researcher for the Well Being Institute but deserted his wife and child for a man named Ken in London. He comes back to visit on weekends, tolerating Ted’s aloofness, and stays with them when they both fall ill with a strange fever over one long hot, dry summer. Mike is the first to notice that something is killing animals. He’s the first to notice that something is bringing them back.
The antagonists are the animals, though they start off as friendly. Teddy lives in a cottage in Oxfordshire with a big garden and many pets, including a cat called Little One, greyhounds, a huge pig and a duck. There is also plenty of wildlife in the surrounding countryside: cattle, sheep, deer and foxes. The local hunt has a pack of hounds. It’s not the best place to be when animals become killers.
As with any good horror story, this builds slowly with odd incidents no one can quite believe and develops into a full-blown national emergency. Teddy is on the front line because his father is researching the new pathogen that seems to be emerging, which is neither a virus nor a bacterium. Mike is in contact with the Well Being Institute and even appears by video link on the news when startling developments occur. Like any public figure, he gets attacked on social media by idiots.
The premise of the animal kingdom suddenly turning on humanity has been done before, classically in ‘The Birds’ by Daphne Du Maurier and more recently in ‘Zoo’ by bestseller James Patterson with Michael Ledwidge. Geoff Ryman has a sort of scientific rationale for his story and takes the scenario in a different direction than you might expect, an original twist on the theme.
It’s a pleasant, interesting and amusing read in the opening sections, a real page-turner when the crises mount. Even then, there are funny characters, like a dedicated AA breakdown mechanic trying to help everyone. I did wonder if award-winning literary author Geoff Ryman tried to write a best seller with film potential here to garner some loot for his old age. If so, he did a great job, and I wish him every success.
The story is told in the first person by a fellow named Teddy Spaulding, remembering incidents that happened when he was ten years old. He’s an excellent writer because he grew up with vegans who listen to BBC Radio 4 instead of watching ‘Love Island’ like ordinary folk. An imaginative child, he was homeschooled by his mother. Teddy admits that one reason he didn’t fit in at school was that he didn’t talk like other children. If he ever watched television, it was old films where the people’s manner and the language spoken are more formal. Throughout the narrative, written when he’s an older man, Teddy makes wry comments about how we lived in his past, namely now. He has sensible things to say about television, social media, junk food and shopping.
The supporting cast are Teddy’s family and some neighbours. His mother is referred to as Mom because she’s an American who came to England to work as an actress but then got married. She is helped at home by Faith, a neighbour who does the cleaning. Faith is a superbly competent woman with tonnes of common sense and plays a key role. All the major characters are well-rounded, believable human beings, and the minor ones are often the kind of eccentrics you will find in a typical English village. Ted’s father, Mike, is a veterinary researcher for the Well Being Institute but deserted his wife and child for a man named Ken in London. He comes back to visit on weekends, tolerating Ted’s aloofness, and stays with them when they both fall ill with a strange fever over one long hot, dry summer. Mike is the first to notice that something is killing animals. He’s the first to notice that something is bringing them back.
The antagonists are the animals, though they start off as friendly. Teddy lives in a cottage in Oxfordshire with a big garden and many pets, including a cat called Little One, greyhounds, a huge pig and a duck. There is also plenty of wildlife in the surrounding countryside: cattle, sheep, deer and foxes. The local hunt has a pack of hounds. It’s not the best place to be when animals become killers.
As with any good horror story, this builds slowly with odd incidents no one can quite believe and develops into a full-blown national emergency. Teddy is on the front line because his father is researching the new pathogen that seems to be emerging, which is neither a virus nor a bacterium. Mike is in contact with the Well Being Institute and even appears by video link on the news when startling developments occur. Like any public figure, he gets attacked on social media by idiots.
The premise of the animal kingdom suddenly turning on humanity has been done before, classically in ‘The Birds’ by Daphne Du Maurier and more recently in ‘Zoo’ by bestseller James Patterson with Michael Ledwidge. Geoff Ryman has a sort of scientific rationale for his story and takes the scenario in a different direction than you might expect, an original twist on the theme.
It’s a pleasant, interesting and amusing read in the opening sections, a real page-turner when the crises mount. Even then, there are funny characters, like a dedicated AA breakdown mechanic trying to help everyone. I did wonder if award-winning literary author Geoff Ryman tried to write a best seller with film potential here to garner some loot for his old age. If so, he did a great job, and I wish him every success.
November 23, 2025
A pandemic sweeps Great Britan that kills animals and then brings them back to life - and they are hungry.
This book is really about Teddy, a ten-year-old boy who is homeschooled because he's afraid of kids his own age. His mother is a vegan who spends her days taking care of Teddy and a garden. His father, living apart from them, is a veterinary researcher who makes fancy beehives. Teddy has a fever that results in his beginning to bark and understand the intentions of animals. It's unfortunate that the intentions he recognizes mostly involve hunting for 'good food' which are the humans that used to offer them food and have now become food itself.
I think this is the most horrifying book I have ever read. It takes 'animal/pet death' and makes it the center of the story but not at all in a shock value way. This author just has the guts to play out how the world would change if livestock and pets (pretty much anything except songbirds) began to die and then rise to attack the living.
There was a chunk of this that I read with my head turned to the side, reading out of one eye, with my face scrunched up because it just continued to build on the dread - and I didn't even realize I was doing it at the time I was reading it. There were bits where I sobbed. Every time I relaxed because the bad thing was over and they had survived, an even worse thing began. I don't think I'll ever forget Teddy and Little One. Major kudos to the author.
This book is really about Teddy, a ten-year-old boy who is homeschooled because he's afraid of kids his own age. His mother is a vegan who spends her days taking care of Teddy and a garden. His father, living apart from them, is a veterinary researcher who makes fancy beehives. Teddy has a fever that results in his beginning to bark and understand the intentions of animals. It's unfortunate that the intentions he recognizes mostly involve hunting for 'good food' which are the humans that used to offer them food and have now become food itself.
I think this is the most horrifying book I have ever read. It takes 'animal/pet death' and makes it the center of the story but not at all in a shock value way. This author just has the guts to play out how the world would change if livestock and pets (pretty much anything except songbirds) began to die and then rise to attack the living.
There was a chunk of this that I read with my head turned to the side, reading out of one eye, with my face scrunched up because it just continued to build on the dread - and I didn't even realize I was doing it at the time I was reading it. There were bits where I sobbed. Every time I relaxed because the bad thing was over and they had survived, an even worse thing began. I don't think I'll ever forget Teddy and Little One. Major kudos to the author.
May 23, 2025
Awesome horror!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews