Book Review
Title: The Cipher by Kathe Koja
Genre: Science Fiction, Dark, Fantasy
Rating: 3 Stars
I didn’t know anything about the Cipher before I started it other than it was a dark science fiction, fantasy novel which I have been reading a lot more of in recent years. We are introduced to Natoka and Nicholas who are former lovers who drifted apart after Natoka became obsessed with something they call the Funhole. The Funhole is essentially a black hole of sorts that seems partially alive or at least sentient. Natoka encounters Funhole for the first time and shows it to Nicholas which is the beginning of her obsession. Natoka ends up bringing both a variety of bugs and a mouse to the Funhole to see how it affects them, all end up dying and sometimes in an explosive fashion but everything has been mutated and covered in runes. Both speculate what it would be like to go into the Funhole but neither risk doing it especially after beginning to see what it is capable of. Funhole actually brings Nicholas and Natoka together but he realises the next morning that in a way it was the Funhole he took to bed last night not Natoka showing us that it might have the ability to influence thought and project itself into the minds of others. It was a particularly unique or interesting opening to the novel but I was intrigued and can’t wait to see what happens with Funhole and these characters.
Natoka’s experiments surrounding the Funhole are getting worse in Nicholas’ eyes but he helps her whenever she asks for it because of his confused feelings for her. Eventually she asks him to steal a camcorder from the place where he works so they can film inside the Funhole and he does even though he knows it is the wrong thing to do and they shouldn’t be messing with whatever the Funhole is. After they film the Funhole they return to Nicholas’ place to watch it and it is one of the strangest things either of them has seen but very soon Natoka becomes obsessed with it re-watching it constantly and falling under its spell almost like she is possessed by the Funhole. Things get even worse when Nicholas wakes in the middle of the night to find Natoka gone and he knows she has gone to the Funhole so he races there to prevent her from doing something stupid. By the time he arrives, he sees Natoka preparing to throw herself into the Funhole and he acts to save her life restraining her and even been bitten and shoved by her. However, during the struggle Nicholas’ hand drops into the Funhole which leaves him with a strange hole in the palm of his hand. The hole doesn’t hurt despite its constantly weeping and he realises pretty quickly that the hole acts like a miniature version of the Funhole in his hand and does his best to keep it covered and ignore it but as it blackens and the effect it is having on him worsens, it seems like Nicholas is losing his mind.
Things get even stranger when Nicholas and Natoka have an argument and she begins telling someone else about the Funhole and they come to Nicholas because according to Natoka the Funhole isn’t active without him being present. At first Nicholas refuses to believe her but when the trio head there he decides to play around the Funhole to prove them wrong only for both of them to claim that he was levitating in the air which he also denies. However, as he seems to be able to do more and more strange things around the Funhole he begins to think that the Funhole infected him with a small part of it which is why he is able to do these things. This obviously takes a massive toll on Nicholas’ sanity and he does even sticking his hand into the Funhole again which only enlarges the hole in his palm. Realising this he decides to get as far away from the Funhole as he can by staying with a friend, Nora. At Nora’s he notices that his hand is beginning to behave oddly almost like it is dying being so far away from the Funhole and this causes Nicholas to sink into a depression where he sleeps for days only waking up to occasionally eat, drink and use the bathroom. Honestly, seeing Nicholas be “chosen” by the Funhole was interesting as Natoka was the one that wanted something like that to happen to her and Nicholas didn’t really want any part in it he was just following whatever Natoka wanted to do because he cares for her in his own messed up way.
Nicholas begins losing his sanity and contemplates taking his own life but as he prepares to do this something clicks in his mind and I am not sure what it was but he does a full 180. He leaves Nora’s and returns to his own place and calls Natoka to meet him there. When she arrives, he demands that she moves in with him and even asks for Randy and his girlfriend to also move in and while you think it might be because he is afraid to be alone it is actually because he wants witnesses for what he is about to do. Nicholas has decided he isn’t going to be afraid of the Funhole anymore and he is going to spend a lot more time around it alone and observe what happens during this time. The first few nights he spends just outside the room but he can literally feel the Funhole calling to him and he eventually enters. However, Natoka quickly disturbs the moment of peace he has found and he hurts her by telling her the Funhole doesn’t want her despite how much she wants it as it has chosen Nicholas and he has finally accepted that. This marks a downturn in their relationship as they speak less and less despite living together and their sexual relationship has vanished. The more time Nicholas spends with the Funhole, the more he can seemingly understand what it wants and begins bringing the idea up to more people possibly spreading the Funhole’s sphere of influence but it asks the Funhole to explain what his true role is before he brings more people into this madness that he was sucked into.
While I was hoping for some clarity on what was happening it never really came, the experiments Nicholas and Natoka perform on the Funhole got bigger and more elaborate and there is a huge amount of body horror but it leaves you with the question; what did it all mean? Due to this there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to this book but considering it is a reprint after being out of print for 30 years it really fits the horror style of the 80’s/90’s and reminds me a lot of Stephen King’s early work where it is designed to make you question your own sanity as well as the sanity of the characters. The Cipher was the literal embodiment of a psychedelic trip and not the good kind and personally for me it was a wild ride but I just would have like a bit more substance behind the horror.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from Edelweiss
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