Lee Mandelo

Lee Mandelo dives into the minds of wolves in Feed Them Silence, a novella of the near future. What does it mean to “be-in-kind” with a nonhuman animal? Or in Dr. Sean Kell-Luden's case, to be-in-kind with one of the last remaining wild wolves? Using a neurological interface to translate her animal subject’s perception through her own mind, Sean intends to chase both her scientific curiosity and her secret, lifelong desire to experience the intimacy and freedom of wolfishness. To see the world through animal eyes, smell the forest, thick with olfactory messages, even taste the blood and viscera of a fresh kill. And, above all, to feel the belonging of the pack. Sean's tireless research gives her a chance to fulfill that dream, but pursuing it has a terrible cost. Her obsession with work endangers her fraying relationship with her wife. Her research methods threaten her mind and body. And the attention of her VC funders could destroy her subject, the beautiful wild wolf whose mental world she's invading. Also Available by Lee Mandelo: Summer Sons

Feed Them Silence

're constantly talking about how useful stories are for building empathetic understanding—isn't this project a sort of storytelling together with the animal, for everyone else?”

this is such a chilling reminder of how terrifying humans can be when given the absolute freedom to act on their irrational desires and fantasies as rational beings.

lerie

“you're constantly talking about how useful stories are for building empathetic understanding—isn't this project a sort of storytelling together with the animal, for everyone else?”

this is such a chilling reminder of how terrifying humans can be when given the absolute freedom to act on their irrational desires and fantasies as rational beings.

Michaela Hudson

Many thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan/Tor-Forge for this eARC 💖

Honestly, I would love to see more of "Women in STEM but with self-sabotage/moral corruption" like this in sci-fi literature. Yet, despite the captivating premise and all the representations it portrayed, I must admit there are still details that prevented me from enjoying this book thoroughly. 

The story tackled Sean's research on grey wolves and the impact it caused on her relationships, her health, and her career, while her bond with her subject grew into something special via a neurological interface. Although the book started off strong and had many interesting takes on science ethics and methodology, I couldn't help but notice a few logical errors à la survivorship bias, which is fine by me. I'm not enthusiastic about the writing either, for its so many questionable choices of words and not-so-engaging paragraphs made solely for info-dumping. Nevertheless, I still found Sean is a great character with a gritty and morally grey personality I can somehow relate to. With that being said, Feed Them Silence is refreshing for its own plot and is full of potential, but definitely needs some polishing.

Paige mandia 

(3.5 stars)

I enjoyed this novella by Lee Mandelo! Their ability to pack so much into just over a hundred pages was very impressive. It was a super quick read, and I was definitely sucked into the story right off the bat. 

The overall premise––to create a neural connection between humans and wolves––is a very fascinating one, and one I can see coming true in the future (which made this novella all the more terrifying for me.) I loved Mandelo’s descriptions of what the protagonist was feeling and all of the sensory details during her sessions with her wolf, Kate. It all felt very, very real. I’ve always been interested in media examining the human x animal connection, so I really enjoyed the overlying premise and themes here. 

However, I just didn’t find myself truly connecting with any of the characters. As it is only a novella, I wasn’t expecting anything crazy, but I just couldn’t get myself to truly care about what they were going through. The protagonist Sean is extremely unlikable––which I usually don’t have a problem with––but I think mixed with rather undeveloped secondary characters, I couldn’t find anything I truly connected with in any of the characters. 

This is a very personal addition, but I wish the story got a bit darker. I would have loved to go deeper into the characters’ psychological consequences of the events of the novels. There is certainly a level of darkness, especially when the themes of conservation and private funding from corporations were addressed. I just wish it felt more unsettling. But this is absolutely a personal preference, and the novella shouldn’t be knocked for this. 

Thank you to Tordotcom and netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Feed Them Silence

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