Book Review: The Cipher by Kathe Koja

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The Details

Media Type: Ebook
Title: The Cipher
Author: Kathe Koja
Publisher: Meerkat Press
Pages/Length: Paperback; 260 pages
Release Date: September 15, 2020
Source: Publisher

Add it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Meerkat Press | B&N

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and Locus Awards, finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award, and named one of io9.com’s “Top 10 Debut Science Fiction Novels That Took the World By Storm.” With a new afterword by Maryse Meijer, author of Heartbreaker and Rag.

“Black. Pure black and the sense of pulsation, especially when you look at it too closely, the sense of something not living but alive.”

When a strange hole materializes in a storage room, would-be poet Nicholas and his feral lover Nakota allow their curiosity to lead them into the depths of terror. “Wouldn’t it be wild to go down there?” says Nakota. Nicholas says, “We’re not.” But no one is in control, and their experiments lead to obsession, violence, and a very final transformation for everyone who gets too close to the Funhole.

The Review

This is a tough book to review, for a myriad of reasons, but I promise to do my best. See, The Cipher is something completely different from most of the horror novels that I have read in the past few years. There’s something raw, dangerous and downright uncomfortable about this story. Kathe Koja doesn’t write about Nicholas and Nakota’s experience with the Funhole, she drags the reader into that terrifying space with them. I still have goosebumps, and my thoughts are all over the place.

Let’s start with what I liked about this story. First off, I actually appreciated the fact that Nicholas and Nakota feel so realistic. I had a few friends tell me before I started this story that they didn’t like how unlikable these two are. For me, it was kind of a breath of fresh air. Koja doesn’t care whether you like Nicholas and Nakota. What matters is that they are people. Real, gritty, possibly unlovable, people. As the story twisted and turned, I found myself caring less about how much I liked them and more about the fact that their decisions were leading them closer and closer to certain doom. The feeling of their descent is visceral. It claws at you and, whether you like them or not, you’ll end up following them down.

Another aspect of this book that I appreciated was the way that Koja never really gives away the ending. I won’t spoil it for any other readers either. Still, I can guarantee that you might think you know what you’re headed into but you’re probably wrong. The story takes moments that seem cut from any other horror novel, and manipulates them into something even darker. There were portions of this that I had to read twice over, just to even understand what was unfolding. Poor Nicholas.

So what made me ultimately give this book a three star rating? Quite honestly, it was was the writing style from the middle onwards. As Nicholas becomes consumed with the Funhole, the book becomes almost a rambling stream of consciousness. While I understood the intent, he repeats himself constantly and it grated on my nerves after a while. This book already had an odd punctuation style, which I took at face value since it benefitted the feel of the story inside. However at Nicholas’ worst points it became something that was almost unreadable. I was a little frustrated at how slowly I had to read, to fully understand what was happening.

Do I think that The Cipher is a story that others should read? Absolutely. Provided that you are okay with some gore, a lot of darkness, and the kind of uncomfortable dread that follows you for days after you flip the last page. This is a horror story on a whole new level. I’m still not sure if I’ll ever forget it.