We Can Never Leave

[cornerofmadness]

We Can Never Leave by H.E. Edgmon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a hard one to rate because it leans heavy on the unreliable narrators which is a trope I don't enjoy much. Also this is super light on plot. It's purely character driven and we spend time in all of their heads. The caravan criss crosses the country made up of those not-quite-human enough to remain among humans. Their bohemian lifestyle includes a lot of dancing around the fire and stuff I won't be spoiling in the review but that takes me to the copious content warnings: domestic violence, child abuse, murder, violence, suicidal ideation, mentions of cannibalism.

We have several young people Bird, the golden child of the group, non-binary, human enough to live for a while in the human world and the novel opens with them returning to the group. They aren't exactly welcomed back by the group, especially Hugo, the young man with buck antlers and can spit fire. They were formerly a couple but now his love (a very offputting possessive sort of love) has flipped to rage. Felix, his younger brother (even more deer like) is the dreamer of the group. His powers seem to be blind optimism that becomes reality. Cal, the wolf fanged girl with the deadly venom is no more welcoming to Bird and finally there is Eamon, the mystery boy with the red eyes, new to the caravan and no one trusts him and his total amnesia.

Quickly the story kicks off with the adults of the caravan disappearing as if they never existed. Out of desperation the young teens all take off to Haven in Portland so they could meet up with others of their kind and that is the main plot. And honestly this is half forgotten for the entire book. As I said it is light on plot and there isn't much of an emotional response to their parents just disappearing (potentially dying). And oddly enough I could accept guys with horns and enbies who glow much easier than I could a bunch of older teens driving an RV cross country with enough money to gas up, pay park fees and eat when they can't earn money (how silly was that hang up)

Each character has trauma, like a lot of it. Each chapter is one of the above characters' pov and to make things harder to follow is it flip flops to the past and then back to the present and that's how we get to know them all. To make things a wee bit less enjoyable for me is Felix's point of view which is the only one not first person. No it's all fourth wall breaking narrator stuff (not felix) to tell us about how they're all liars, that it won't have a happy ending etc.

So based on plot I would have rated it lower but the characters are fascinating (even if you dislike them because trust me I did not like Hugo). The ending is what I expected but found intriguing none the less and the final paragraphs were open ended and with the promise of something could be revisited.

So if you don't like fourth wall breaking (I do if it's Deadpool, otherwise not so much), multiple povs and shifting timelines you'll want to give this one a pass. It's also quite dark (well it's horror) I found it well worth the read. Also it does have queer rep (not exactly happy rep but it's there and at the forefront)



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