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Pedro the Vast
Simón López Trujillo‘s ‘mind-blowing’ (Gabriela Cabezón Cámara) debut takes readers into a dry and degraded, fire-prone landscape where humanity has encroached a step too far into the natural world, and a deadly fungus mounts its own resistance.
In the disorienting, devastatingly tense world of López Trujillo, a eucalyptus farm worker named Pedro starts coughing. Several of his coworkers die of a strange fungal disease, which has jumped to humans for the first time, but Pedro, miraculously, awakes. His survival fascinates a foreign mycologist, as well as a local priest, who dubs his mysterious mutterings to be the words of a prophet. Meanwhile Pedro’s kids are left to fend for themselves: the young Cata, whose creepy art projects are getting harder and harder to decipher, and Patricio, who wasn’t ready to be thrust into the role of father. Their competing efforts to reckon with Pedro’s condition eventually meet in a horrifying climax that readers will never forget.
For readers of Jeff VanderMeer and Samanta Schweblin, López Trujillo is a next-generation Bolaño with a fresh, speculative edge and a mind that’s always one step ahead of us.
In the disorienting, devastatingly tense world of López Trujillo, a eucalyptus farm worker named Pedro starts coughing. Several of his coworkers die of a strange fungal disease, which has jumped to humans for the first time, but Pedro, miraculously, awakes. His survival fascinates a foreign mycologist, as well as a local priest, who dubs his mysterious mutterings to be the words of a prophet. Meanwhile Pedro’s kids are left to fend for themselves: the young Cata, whose creepy art projects are getting harder and harder to decipher, and Patricio, who wasn’t ready to be thrust into the role of father. Their competing efforts to reckon with Pedro’s condition eventually meet in a horrifying climax that readers will never forget.
For readers of Jeff VanderMeer and Samanta Schweblin, López Trujillo is a next-generation Bolaño with a fresh, speculative edge and a mind that’s always one step ahead of us.
144 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
March 18, 2026
“There are things we carry inside us that no one else can see, and they grow quietly until they become everything.”
Okay, this one… wow. This book completely crawled under my skin in the best (and slightly unsettling) way.
Pedro the Vast, translated by Robin Myers, feels like stepping into something you don’t fully understand, but can’t look away from. It’s eerie, philosophical, and quietly intense, like it’s asking you questions you didn’t realise you were avoiding. The writing is hypnotic (truly, that word gets thrown around a lot but it fits here), and there’s this constant sense of unease that lingers the whole time.
It’s not a fast paced, plot heavy read, it’s more about atmosphere and ideas. You kind of drift through it, piecing things together, and then suddenly you’re like… wait… what just happened to me?
What I loved most is how it doesn’t spoon feed you anything. It trusts you to sit in the discomfort, to interpret, to feel. I finished it with that slightly haunted, contemplative feeling that only certain books manage to leave behind.
If you like your reads a little strange, a little existential, and beautifully written, this is absolutely one to pick up.
I Highly Recommend
Thank you Scribe Publications for my early readers copy.
Available Now!
4.5
Okay, this one… wow. This book completely crawled under my skin in the best (and slightly unsettling) way.
Pedro the Vast, translated by Robin Myers, feels like stepping into something you don’t fully understand, but can’t look away from. It’s eerie, philosophical, and quietly intense, like it’s asking you questions you didn’t realise you were avoiding. The writing is hypnotic (truly, that word gets thrown around a lot but it fits here), and there’s this constant sense of unease that lingers the whole time.
It’s not a fast paced, plot heavy read, it’s more about atmosphere and ideas. You kind of drift through it, piecing things together, and then suddenly you’re like… wait… what just happened to me?
What I loved most is how it doesn’t spoon feed you anything. It trusts you to sit in the discomfort, to interpret, to feel. I finished it with that slightly haunted, contemplative feeling that only certain books manage to leave behind.
If you like your reads a little strange, a little existential, and beautifully written, this is absolutely one to pick up.
I Highly Recommend
Thank you Scribe Publications for my early readers copy.
Available Now!
4.5
January 13, 2026
Eco Retaliation
Simón López Trujillo's debut novel, “Pedro the Vast,” presents an intense and atmospheric narrative that merges eco-horror, speculative fiction, and sharp social commentary. The work is set in rural Chile, centering on the themes of corporate exploitation and a rapidly accelerating climatic shift.
The plot revolves around Pedro, a worker at a Curanilahue eucalyptus farm. He awakens from a coma after four of his colleagues die from a mysterious fungal disease, believed to be Cryptococcus gatti, which has jumped to humans. Pedro's post-coma recovery is marked by enigmatic pronouncements. Local priest Balthazar interprets these mutterings as prophecy, compiles them into The Compendium of Pedro the Vast, and subsequently sees Pedro hailed as "a miraculous Christ."
The story is structured around three key narratives. One follows the transformation of Pedro, beginning with him as a victim of a disease and continuing with him as a prophet. A second storyline is provided by Giovanna Oddo, the mycologist, who is called in to study the lethal mushroom, revealing the remarkable intelligence of the species. The third plot thread focuses on Pedro's two abandoned children and how they cope with the events.
The book delves into the complex interplay between human structures—specifically religion, family, and commerce—and the natural environment, focusing on the pervasive eucalyptus monoculture and various fungi. Through this sharp contrast, the narrative ultimately examines humanity's environmental footprint and the profound, fungi-like interconnectedness that binds people, events, and the planet itself.
“If a mushroom were to colonize a human brain, would it think the same things as we do?”
The narrative style uses scientific language, often reinforced with footnotes, to lend realism to the fantastical elements. In addition to these fantastic aspects, the story critiques real-world problems in Chile, including the inherent instability of life in the provinces and the exploitation of forestry resources.
Simón López Trujillo showcases commendable imagination and creativity. "Pedro the Vast" is a challenging but ultimately rewarding read that compels readers to confront humanity’s treatment of the earth. I particularly valued the eco-horror motif, which centers on the environment retaliating against its abuse. However, the narrative could sometimes be confusing. Furthermore, a more comprehensive development of Giovanna’s character arc would have strengthened the story.
Thank you to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #PedroTheVast #NetGalley
Simón López Trujillo's debut novel, “Pedro the Vast,” presents an intense and atmospheric narrative that merges eco-horror, speculative fiction, and sharp social commentary. The work is set in rural Chile, centering on the themes of corporate exploitation and a rapidly accelerating climatic shift.
The plot revolves around Pedro, a worker at a Curanilahue eucalyptus farm. He awakens from a coma after four of his colleagues die from a mysterious fungal disease, believed to be Cryptococcus gatti, which has jumped to humans. Pedro's post-coma recovery is marked by enigmatic pronouncements. Local priest Balthazar interprets these mutterings as prophecy, compiles them into The Compendium of Pedro the Vast, and subsequently sees Pedro hailed as "a miraculous Christ."
The story is structured around three key narratives. One follows the transformation of Pedro, beginning with him as a victim of a disease and continuing with him as a prophet. A second storyline is provided by Giovanna Oddo, the mycologist, who is called in to study the lethal mushroom, revealing the remarkable intelligence of the species. The third plot thread focuses on Pedro's two abandoned children and how they cope with the events.
The book delves into the complex interplay between human structures—specifically religion, family, and commerce—and the natural environment, focusing on the pervasive eucalyptus monoculture and various fungi. Through this sharp contrast, the narrative ultimately examines humanity's environmental footprint and the profound, fungi-like interconnectedness that binds people, events, and the planet itself.
“If a mushroom were to colonize a human brain, would it think the same things as we do?”
The narrative style uses scientific language, often reinforced with footnotes, to lend realism to the fantastical elements. In addition to these fantastic aspects, the story critiques real-world problems in Chile, including the inherent instability of life in the provinces and the exploitation of forestry resources.
Simón López Trujillo showcases commendable imagination and creativity. "Pedro the Vast" is a challenging but ultimately rewarding read that compels readers to confront humanity’s treatment of the earth. I particularly valued the eco-horror motif, which centers on the environment retaliating against its abuse. However, the narrative could sometimes be confusing. Furthermore, a more comprehensive development of Giovanna’s character arc would have strengthened the story.
Thank you to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #PedroTheVast #NetGalley
December 11, 2025
Somewhat interesting ideas about symbiotic mycological relationships, profit-driven ag-corporations, and climate change thrown together in a blender with the result being a chaotic jumble of narratives that never cohere into anything interesting or meaningful. I floated above the story, trying at so many points to dive in, to break into the book and feel immersed in the weirdness, to let the different elements wash over me, but I was blocked at every turn. There's such a distance from the characters that I never cared one way or the other what was happening to them. Trujillo is ambitious in his storytelling, but in my view the execution does a disservice to the plot and ideas he's trying to explore.
I never came to understand what the addition of footnotes added to the story, the information given there often ended up being information that should have just been incorporated into the main story or entirely extraneous. The worst offender being an overly long footnote in the second to last paragraph of the book inserted right in the middle of the climax. I struggled with the pacing without the footnotes, but their addition only added to my sluggish reading of these mere 140 pages.
There's a lot of potential and creativity here and I'd try Trujillo's next book, but I unfortunately found my experience with this endeavor to be tedious and unrewarding.
I never came to understand what the addition of footnotes added to the story, the information given there often ended up being information that should have just been incorporated into the main story or entirely extraneous. The worst offender being an overly long footnote in the second to last paragraph of the book inserted right in the middle of the climax. I struggled with the pacing without the footnotes, but their addition only added to my sluggish reading of these mere 140 pages.
There's a lot of potential and creativity here and I'd try Trujillo's next book, but I unfortunately found my experience with this endeavor to be tedious and unrewarding.
August 3, 2021
Me alegra mucho que novelas como esta, dígase ficciones propiamente tal, vuelvan a tener el espacio que se merecen. Me entretuve mucho durante la lectura, creo que el comentario cultural es acertado y las imágenes bonitas. También la sentí muy comercial, lo que es un piropo, en realidad.
Sí me quedé con gusto a poco: la novela construyó un mundo muy interesante que no alcanzó a abarcar en su breve extensión. Una pena, pero así son las cosas.
Sí me quedé con gusto a poco: la novela construyó un mundo muy interesante que no alcanzó a abarcar en su breve extensión. Una pena, pero así son las cosas.
April 15, 2026
This took me inordinately long to finish, despite the slim size. Strong on vibes (I mean a rural community taken over by infectious spores and a cult arising, what's not to like?) the execution lacked.
It’s hard to find a precise enormity.
An outbreak of a deathly mushroom infection, powered by two million hectares of monoculture eucalyptus, wreaks havoc on a community. Basically this blurb summarises the whole of Pedro the Vast, and makes it sounds more interesting than the actually reading experience turned out to be. I enjoyed the storyline of the workers in the forestry industry most, the poverty and danger we outsource to countries on the periphery for our cheap products is a topic I find fascinating. The horror of the frequent wood processing accidents is probably the scariest in the whole book. The narrative thread of a western mycologist doing research was comparatively bland, and might be a commentary on how Westerners see the country and economics through a lens of a tourist rather than directly be affected by the grim end of the book. I think this could be a good, moody arthouse movie in the vein of The Substance, but as a novella this unfortunately fell flat versus my high expectations.
Quotes:
To be one and not vast is the trouble.
Maybe fungi are too intelligent to doubt
Can you hear it now? The world hums here and you have to be part of it.
It’s hard to find a precise enormity.
An outbreak of a deathly mushroom infection, powered by two million hectares of monoculture eucalyptus, wreaks havoc on a community. Basically this blurb summarises the whole of Pedro the Vast, and makes it sounds more interesting than the actually reading experience turned out to be. I enjoyed the storyline of the workers in the forestry industry most, the poverty and danger we outsource to countries on the periphery for our cheap products is a topic I find fascinating. The horror of the frequent wood processing accidents is probably the scariest in the whole book. The narrative thread of a western mycologist doing research was comparatively bland, and might be a commentary on how Westerners see the country and economics through a lens of a tourist rather than directly be affected by the grim end of the book. I think this could be a good, moody arthouse movie in the vein of The Substance, but as a novella this unfortunately fell flat versus my high expectations.
Quotes:
To be one and not vast is the trouble.
Maybe fungi are too intelligent to doubt
Can you hear it now? The world hums here and you have to be part of it.
January 5, 2025
Un gran debut en narrativa. Dos capítulos divididos justo cuando se desenfunda el secreto de la novela. Escrito a buen pulso, con cuidada y rica prosa. Utiliza un lenguaje científico para construir la verosimilitud de lo fantástico, se apoya en notas al pie que se vuelven cada vez más extensas, como si la omnisciente se desdoblara. Mucha metáfora con los árboles, mucha presencia de la flora y lo fungi. Hay caramelos de eucalipto, collares de coquito de eucalipto, té de eucalipto, vapor pal resfrío de eucalipto. Ese detalle me recordó un pelín a Paltarrealismo, de Cristóbal Gaete. Critica a las forestales en Wallmapu, sin necesariamente narrar desde la mapuchada. Bellas las descripciones de la conciencia de las plantas que se toman las manos debajo de la tierra. Gracias a Francisca Palma, que me prestó este libro cuando le conté que ando inventando realismo mágico en el sur.
Read
March 23, 2026Personally I could see no good in this book except for the title.
December 14, 2024
La verdad? Prefiero jugar de nuevo a the last of us o mirar la serie. Una falta de originalidad que encima, para mi gusto, esta mal ejecutada. Idea trillada, trama desordenada, y una acumulacion de comparaciones totalmente al pedo.
Una desilucion...
Una desilucion...
Read
April 13, 2026A book with some interesting ideas that, for me, never became more than the sum of its parts—and even those parts were explained rather more articulately in this interview between the author and translator.
The best thing here is the portrayal of working-class life in a lumber camp in Chile. There is also a fungal invasion, which is interesting on the surface but not developed in a very satisfying way.
In fact “lack of development” is probably the chief irritant of this book. It inserts occasional factoids about mushrooms, and places a “character” who is an expert in the field to be our guide on this subject. But the mushrooms, characters and environmental angle are all underdeveloped.
Instead, there are a puzzling array of footnotes, some with irrelevant information, others with very relevant information that surely could have been in the main text.
The best thing here is the portrayal of working-class life in a lumber camp in Chile. There is also a fungal invasion, which is interesting on the surface but not developed in a very satisfying way.
In fact “lack of development” is probably the chief irritant of this book. It inserts occasional factoids about mushrooms, and places a “character” who is an expert in the field to be our guide on this subject. But the mushrooms, characters and environmental angle are all underdeveloped.
Instead, there are a puzzling array of footnotes, some with irrelevant information, others with very relevant information that surely could have been in the main text.
January 25, 2026
I read this book cover to cover in my antilibrary while snowmageddon 2026 continues to whollop us. Even though it's the wrong time of year for fungus to live 'amongus', it was a great excuse to sit in one place and just read... without any guilt.
Pedro the Vast follows three groups of people that are intimately connected to a forest worker who becomes infected by mushroom spores and survives, or appears to survive, because it's kind of hard to tell how much of Pedro is actually still in there... There's a religious group that basically kidnaps him once he awakens from his coma and treat him like a prophet, his son and daughter who are learning to deal with his absence, and a mycologist who is briefly called upon to consult on Pedro's case and its potential for additional contamination.
Trujillo’s writing has such softness to it, a musicality and a melancholy that feels distinctly, beautifully Spanish. The prose stays tender and attentive, lingering on small gestures, quiet moments, and the natural world with a reverence that makes the whole novel feel alive.
As the three storylines work together, the novel becomes less about the horror of Pedro’s infection and more about the ways life insists on continuing, reshaping itself, adapting, pushing forward. It’s quiet, contemplative eco‑fiction with a speculative shimmer, and it will have me thinking about the resilience of living things long after I move on from this book.
Pedro the Vast follows three groups of people that are intimately connected to a forest worker who becomes infected by mushroom spores and survives, or appears to survive, because it's kind of hard to tell how much of Pedro is actually still in there... There's a religious group that basically kidnaps him once he awakens from his coma and treat him like a prophet, his son and daughter who are learning to deal with his absence, and a mycologist who is briefly called upon to consult on Pedro's case and its potential for additional contamination.
Trujillo’s writing has such softness to it, a musicality and a melancholy that feels distinctly, beautifully Spanish. The prose stays tender and attentive, lingering on small gestures, quiet moments, and the natural world with a reverence that makes the whole novel feel alive.
As the three storylines work together, the novel becomes less about the horror of Pedro’s infection and more about the ways life insists on continuing, reshaping itself, adapting, pushing forward. It’s quiet, contemplative eco‑fiction with a speculative shimmer, and it will have me thinking about the resilience of living things long after I move on from this book.
November 12, 2025
South America does it again with Chilean author Lopez Trujillo and this slim novel of weird climate fiction, exploitative and corrupt agro-corporations, and adaptive mushrooms. As soon as I finished the book, I wanted to read it again. It's strange, sometimes hallucinatory, and I felt as if I were an observer peering in until the cataclysmic ending, and then I needed to go back and capture it all once more.
Very strange, because for the first 3/4 of the book, I wasn't sure I was understanding what was going on, and thus, I wasn't sure that I liked the novel. Until, of course, everything came together at the end. Well done, and kudos to the author!
My thanks to Netgalley, the pub and author for an early chance to read this book. My opinions are my own.
Very strange, because for the first 3/4 of the book, I wasn't sure I was understanding what was going on, and thus, I wasn't sure that I liked the novel. Until, of course, everything came together at the end. Well done, and kudos to the author!
My thanks to Netgalley, the pub and author for an early chance to read this book. My opinions are my own.
Read
November 12, 2025Mycohorror for the Anthropocene. Or, rather, the Plantationocene. A short novel well worth your time—whether you’ve heard of Donna J. Haraway or not, but are aware of the wholesale environmental destruction all around us. I only wish it were longer, with a bit more fungal meat, so to speak. The fungal–human symbiont and its quasi-religious discourse are absolutely fascinating.
September 27, 2026
I borrowed Pedro the Vast from the library after the cover caught my eye. It reminded me of the design of Infinite Ground (which I highly recommend), perhaps unsurprisingly as both can be described as environmental uncanny fiction. They deal with the collapse of boundaries between humans and ecosystems. Pedro the Vast is titled for a eucalyptus plantation worker named Pedro, and also features his children and a mycologist. Pedro becomes seriously ill seemingly due to his work. The illness proves to be a fungal infection, potentially exacerbated by chronic exposure to pesticides. While he is in hospital, a local religious leader becomes fixated upon him and his children fend for themselves. The narrative is fragmented, with frequent disorientating shifts in time and point of view.
Pedro the Vast is a novella of 131 pages, so doesn't have space for a complex plot or a great deal of character development. However it successfully establishes atmosphere and includes vivid environmental imagery. I found the stream of consciousness sequences particularly effective at rapidly familiarising the reader with a character, in this case Pedro's teenage son Patricio:
I enjoyed this dense, flowing prose style and found Pedro the Vast interestingly strange, although darting between narrators could also be considered incoherent. The ending certainly makes its point bluntly, though.
Pedro the Vast is a novella of 131 pages, so doesn't have space for a complex plot or a great deal of character development. However it successfully establishes atmosphere and includes vivid environmental imagery. I found the stream of consciousness sequences particularly effective at rapidly familiarising the reader with a character, in this case Pedro's teenage son Patricio:
The air grew damp as night fell. They smoked three joints among the four of them, poorly rolled, coughing hard, laughing like horses, downing six litres as they swung from the monkey bars, simulating Olympics and races on the exercise machines. The test went like this: Each one mounted an elliptical and they'd see who lasted longest while pushing the yellow bars as hard as they could. Eyes closed, Patricio felt his body curve and levitate, as if at any moment he might stumble and wake up again at school, at the interregional soccer championship, sleeping in a bus that stank of defeat, in the truck riding home with his dad, an arm around Cata, sitting very close to each other like a pair of backpacks, needing to pee, his body finally out of the pool, swinging a punch at the cousin who'd shoved him in the water, biting the neck of his first girlfriend, crying at the slam of a soccer ball to the stomach, standing beside a totaled bicycle, a door crushed against a finger, solving problems in a notebook, slouching at the blackboard to present his work, teaching long division to his sister, jacking off in a bathroom stall, in his grandmother's bed, at the kitchen table, stoned on the bus from Curanilahue to Concepcion, head dropped onto a plate of pasta, puke everywhere, crashing into the door of a bar, destroying a bus stop, falling asleep and waking up at the station in another city, hot, pulling himself together after scoring an own goal, wiping his face on the neck of his t-shirt, the reek of sweat and shame, as his father slept on the couch, still dressed, tray resting on his belly, eyebrows speckled with sawdust, stubble, grieving Maria, her cosmetics pouch hidden in a bathroom drawer, medications on her nightstand, jars of honey, her purse packed with underwear, notepads, kleenex, little cases, photos, lipstick, her voice sounding abruptly from the kitchen, as if she were coming this way, as if in his dreams they could still talk to each other, he could ask her how are you, Mama, I'm fine, dear heart, nothing hurts anymore, I miss you, I miss you too, love, his head suddenly unpeeled from the pillow, from the clammy pool on the cloth, flies wheeling in the heat of his room, forgetting the force of his body against the metal of the world, his father's white bed, and his friends, weaker, wasted, arms and legs spent, and him scathed, stoic, martial, eyes still shut, heads steady, legs trembling, clutching the bars as if running and running could keep him in that faraway ellipse for longer.
I enjoyed this dense, flowing prose style and found Pedro the Vast interestingly strange, although darting between narrators could also be considered incoherent. The ending certainly makes its point bluntly, though.
September 21, 2023
Marqué varias cosas para investigar de este libro, sé poco y nada sobre el mundo fungi y el 'idioma chileno'🤭
Me gustó más la segunda que la primera parte pues, fan del drama. Dejando eso de lado, esta distopía plantea un tema interesante del que no he visto mucho. Me gustó esa mezcla entre realismo mágico y ciencia ficción.
Se nos plantean dos líneas narrativas principales, la que sigue a Pedro y sus hijos, y la de Giovanna y su pareja. Ambas muy distintas, pero se terminan uniendo por algo que sucede y que deberían descubrir por sí mismos, es lo más loco de esta historia👀
Lectura Conjunta de Club La Delicia de @holadelibooks
Pendiente desde: septiembre 2023.
Me gustó más la segunda que la primera parte pues, fan del drama. Dejando eso de lado, esta distopía plantea un tema interesante del que no he visto mucho. Me gustó esa mezcla entre realismo mágico y ciencia ficción.
Se nos plantean dos líneas narrativas principales, la que sigue a Pedro y sus hijos, y la de Giovanna y su pareja. Ambas muy distintas, pero se terminan uniendo por algo que sucede y que deberían descubrir por sí mismos, es lo más loco de esta historia👀
Lectura Conjunta de Club La Delicia de @holadelibooks
Pendiente desde: septiembre 2023.
October 29, 2025
Weird lit meets spore horror. At the beginning I didn’t understand enough of what was going on to appreciate the flow elements. At the end it all came together and I wanted more of the novella and more of the sermon. It’s the kind of thing you want to read twice because you didn’t fully appreciate what you were reading until the second half. I wished it was longer!
Great for fans of weird lit (which I am). But if you need everything in a plot to make sense right away, the first half of the novella may challenge your brain.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
Great for fans of weird lit (which I am). But if you need everything in a plot to make sense right away, the first half of the novella may challenge your brain.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
June 22, 2022
Sobre empresas madereras, hongos, trabajadores y cultos religiosos, esta novela de López Trujillo se mueve con una prosa poética bien ágil que va dando cuenta de la complejidad de sus personajes. Aprovecha muy bien la plasticidad de la novela para incluir hartos registros y eso lo valoro un montón porque tenían sentido dentro del libro.
Me gustó mucho la novela, harto, pero creo que al personaje de la micóloga le hubiera dado más fuerza, creo que su parte quedó coja.
Muy recomendado para leer algo de las nuevas generaciones de las letras chilenas 🪵.
Me gustó mucho la novela, harto, pero creo que al personaje de la micóloga le hubiera dado más fuerza, creo que su parte quedó coja.
Muy recomendado para leer algo de las nuevas generaciones de las letras chilenas 🪵.
Did Not Finish
October 30, 2025DNF @ 52%
This feels like bits and pieces from a novel/novella rather than something coherent and fully realized. It very much reads like a rough draft filled with a bunch of freeform interconnected short stories.
I like The Last of Us-esque fungus human infection idea, but at halfway through the book, it feels like a very prolonged setup instead of an actual story. The POVs are supposed to be emotional, but it feels too detached.
Thank you to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for this arc.
This feels like bits and pieces from a novel/novella rather than something coherent and fully realized. It very much reads like a rough draft filled with a bunch of freeform interconnected short stories.
I like The Last of Us-esque fungus human infection idea, but at halfway through the book, it feels like a very prolonged setup instead of an actual story. The POVs are supposed to be emotional, but it feels too detached.
Thank you to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for this arc.
August 5, 2021
Nunca más veré a los eucaliptos de la misma manera.
July 17, 2026
I don't mind a weird little book every once in a while, but this just wasn't engaging... It took me an inordinate amount of time to get through just 140 pages.
Read
November 6, 2025Disfruté mucho esta lectura, me pareció sobre todo un libro inteligente, no en el sentido de hacerte sentir tonta como lectora, si no que lleno de ideas en torno al lenguaje y la trama. Entra en una mirada vegetal/fungí muy curiosa. Usa varios temas potentes sin ser panfletario, pero me hubiera gustado un poco más de desarrollo hacia el final, más páginas, que fuera un tanto más largo.
September 30, 2026
Скажем, что это было для расширения кругозора. По аннотации ожидала бодренький постапок в мире, который поработили грибы. Получила некоторое количество фактов и фотоснимков грибов и две-три сюжетные линии из ниоткуда в никуда.
March 5, 2026
For the seriously weird mushroom girls. Like Fever Dream with a dash of Our Share of Night and so much fungus and lichen. Delicious writing. Satisfying.
January 30, 2025
Lo consiglio a chi vuole un romanzo dalla costruzione fuori dall'ordinario, dalle atmosfere weird, grottesche, con una trama e uno svolgimento molto particolari e originali. Sicuramente un lavoro interessante di un autore che va tenuto d'occhio.
Ne capisco l'intento e le potenzialità, purtroppo però non l'ho trovato proprio un genere di libro in grado di catturarmi. Ma è puramente una questione soggettiva in questo caso.
Ne capisco l'intento e le potenzialità, purtroppo però non l'ho trovato proprio un genere di libro in grado di catturarmi. Ma è puramente una questione soggettiva in questo caso.
September 5, 2026
This book felt like an outline. There were so many fascinating ideas here, a mysterious fungal outbreak, environmental horror, a father who becomes something kind of mythological, and his kids who are left to grow up in the aftermath of his absence. Yet somehow, none of those elements are given enough room to fully develop. Most of the story follows Patricio and Cata as they navigate life without their father, Pedro. This part could have been the emotional heart of the book, but I never felt like we were given enough substance to truly connect with either of them. We weren’t given enough of their relationship with their father, or enough intimate detail about how his absence affected them. The book acts like it wants us to feel that this loss is enormous, but it never gives us the emotionally connectivity needed to actually feel it. And that was my biggest issue with the book as a whole. It just felt like we were constantly brushing up against something interesting without ever really diving into it at all. Pedro himself was a good concept, but I never felt like I truly knew him as a person. The same could be said for almost every character. The book is very short, and unfortunately, I think that really worked against it. It felt rushed and strangely emotionally distant.
November 15, 2023
Cada escritora o escritor tiene una primera novela. Puede ser la única o ser una entre tantas pero lo que distingue a esa obra —la primera— de las demás es precisamente esa singularidad que solo sucede una vez para cada autora o autor. Para Simón esa primera novela es “El vasto territorio” y las palabras se quedan cortas…
“El vasto territorio” —merecidamente galardonado con el Premio Municipal de Literatura de Santiago— es una novela que habita en el terreno de lo distópico pero se desmarca de las temáticas habituales que aborda este tipo de literatura y se decanta por una historia donde un hongo amenaza con provocar un desastre ecológico en el sur de Chile.
Ustedes se estarán preguntando ¿qué tiene esto de original? Es legítimo hacerse la pregunta: tanto el cine y los videojuegos —“The Last of us”— como la literatura —“Melanie. The Girl With All the Gifts”— ya han incursionado en el tema de los hongos como amenaza biológica pero Simon nos ofrece una mirada diferente. Después de todo, un buen escritor o escritora se nutre de lo que ya hay para crear algo nuevo, diferente.
El valor de esta novela reside en la capacidad de Simon para traer algo nuevo a la escena literaria. “El vasto territorio” tiene apenas algunas notas distópicas, porque a su autor no le interesa ahondar en las infinitas posibilidades que le otorga la ciencia ficción, sino muy por el contrario, hurgar en conflictos vigentes en Chile —la explotación forestal, la precariedad de los pueblos de provincia, el conflicto mapuche— y explorar las emociones humanas a través de Pedro que trabaja en una forestal en Curanilahue, Patricio y Catalina —hijos de Pedro— y Giovanna, una doctora en micología.
Un gran debut para este autor y una forma diferente de aproximarse a la ciencia ficción. Lo que ha hecho Simón, en definitiva, es escribir una buenísima primera novela y ofrecer algo nuevo al género distópico.
“El vasto territorio” —merecidamente galardonado con el Premio Municipal de Literatura de Santiago— es una novela que habita en el terreno de lo distópico pero se desmarca de las temáticas habituales que aborda este tipo de literatura y se decanta por una historia donde un hongo amenaza con provocar un desastre ecológico en el sur de Chile.
Ustedes se estarán preguntando ¿qué tiene esto de original? Es legítimo hacerse la pregunta: tanto el cine y los videojuegos —“The Last of us”— como la literatura —“Melanie. The Girl With All the Gifts”— ya han incursionado en el tema de los hongos como amenaza biológica pero Simon nos ofrece una mirada diferente. Después de todo, un buen escritor o escritora se nutre de lo que ya hay para crear algo nuevo, diferente.
El valor de esta novela reside en la capacidad de Simon para traer algo nuevo a la escena literaria. “El vasto territorio” tiene apenas algunas notas distópicas, porque a su autor no le interesa ahondar en las infinitas posibilidades que le otorga la ciencia ficción, sino muy por el contrario, hurgar en conflictos vigentes en Chile —la explotación forestal, la precariedad de los pueblos de provincia, el conflicto mapuche— y explorar las emociones humanas a través de Pedro que trabaja en una forestal en Curanilahue, Patricio y Catalina —hijos de Pedro— y Giovanna, una doctora en micología.
Un gran debut para este autor y una forma diferente de aproximarse a la ciencia ficción. Lo que ha hecho Simón, en definitiva, es escribir una buenísima primera novela y ofrecer algo nuevo al género distópico.
January 18, 2026
The book follows a small logging community in remote Chile. A single father of two falls ill after he, along with several coworkers, becomes infected by a fungus. When he is the only one who survives, attention shifts to him and a series of strange events unfolds.
I picked this up because reviewers compared it to Jeff VanderMeer. While there are faint parallels, the comparison oversells the book. VanderMeer combines high-concept imagination with strong narrative control. Trujillo, at least in this story, offers a mildly interesting idea but weak execution. The premise is solid, though not especially original. The storytelling is the real problem: the characters feel flat, the long detours into mycology add little, the structure is disjointed, and the prose lacks spark.
This would have been far stronger as a tight 30-page story. Nothing essential would be lost, and the focus would improve the impact. As it is, the book drags and never quite delivers on its promise.
I picked this up because reviewers compared it to Jeff VanderMeer. While there are faint parallels, the comparison oversells the book. VanderMeer combines high-concept imagination with strong narrative control. Trujillo, at least in this story, offers a mildly interesting idea but weak execution. The premise is solid, though not especially original. The storytelling is the real problem: the characters feel flat, the long detours into mycology add little, the structure is disjointed, and the prose lacks spark.
This would have been far stronger as a tight 30-page story. Nothing essential would be lost, and the focus would improve the impact. As it is, the book drags and never quite delivers on its promise.
January 19, 2023
Sinceramente lo disfrute, no lo puedo negar. Pero el final fue una total decepción, esperaba algo mucho más creíble dentro de una ficción que pudo haber sido totalmente fascinante, pero que a final de cuentas, fue bastante plana. Destacó lo versado que es Simón, el autor. Siento que en su mente albergan conocimientos sobre diversos temas e índoles. También, muy bien escrito, daba mucho gusto leerlo.
3.5
3.5
October 24, 2022
Una historia que pudo ser mucho mejor si tuviese las ideas más claras.
Durante la primera parte no hay mucho que decir más que elementos repartidos que no parecen llegar a ningún lugar.
Sin embargo, el final de este libro hace que retome el interés y demuestre que en el fondo si es un buen relato, solo que no tan bien ejecutado.
Durante la primera parte no hay mucho que decir más que elementos repartidos que no parecen llegar a ningún lugar.
Sin embargo, el final de este libro hace que retome el interés y demuestre que en el fondo si es un buen relato, solo que no tan bien ejecutado.
March 22, 2026
It was intriguing at first, but the book keeps you as such a distance from the narrative and it's characters that I really really struggled to care. The footnotes added nothing apart from making the whole thing feel even more clunky. We've got to stop comparing books to Jeff Vandermeer purely because they have spores in. I'm so glad it was only 130 pages.
July 23, 2026
Lyrically written but just not my cup of tea personally. I think this book could’ve been an amazing novella. The unique form of the narrative made the plot feel disjointed rather than adding to the storytelling. The prose was beautiful and I liked the premise, but the execution was ultimately pretty boring to read.
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