James Nicoll Reviews

Mina Ikemoto Ghosh’s 2023 Numamushi is a stand-alone historical fantasy novella.

The great nameless snake calls the river home. When a badly burned baby human floats by, the snake’s first instinct is to put the infant out of its misery. Its second impulse, the one it acts upon, is to rescue the little human, treat its wounds, and raise it as the great white snake’s own child¹.

The snake names his foundling son Numamushi. Numamushi names the snake Father.

Father teaches Numamushi the snakely arts: how to catch prey, how to shed skin, how to survive in a river. Father does not teach Numamushi human skills, because Father is a snake and, save for one ill-fated romance long ago, has avoided the human world.

Mizukiyo is a retired priest. During the war, he used his oratorical skills to provide imperial Japan with legions of men eager to die for the glory of the emperor. Firsthand experience of war convinced Mizukiyo that his efforts were not merely futile, but wrong². He welcomed the escape provided by an unexpected inheritance: a mansion that has sat empty ever since its owners were brutally murdered, years ago.

Numamushi is fascinated by Mizukiyo, who in some ways reminds the boy of Father. Mizukiyo is fascinated by the odd boy, who he decides to mentor in calligraphy and other human arts. Father tolerates the boy’s obsession with his new teacher, but avoids Mizukiyo. Father knows that Mizukiyo carries a curse, and that for the great snake to meet Mizukiyo would be Father’s death.

Father has a well-honed sense of self-preservation, exceeded only by his protectiveness for the boy. If circumstances force Father to embrace his doom, who then will raise Numamushi?

~oOo~

I selected this novella for several reasons. One is its brevity. I would have preferred to (and will at a later date) review this author’s Hyo the Hellmaker, but it’s dance season and I could not fit in a 544-page book. Another is because it’s useful to remind readers that publishers other than tor dot com publish worthy novellas.

The text doesn’t tell readers when this story is set, but it’s easy to work out.

• There was a war five years ago.
• The National Railway Mysteries³ happened the previous year.

The National Railway Mysteries occurred in 1949, which means the war was World War II, and the year is 1950.

Unifying themes of this work: ​“mistakes were made” and ​“what now?” For example, Father once loved a human woman and that worked out very badly for everyone involved, but most especially for the human woman and her family. Mizukiyo used his considerable talents in service of a deranged state. That too worked out very badly, most especially for all the people whose deaths Mizukiyo facilitated.

Having made terrible errors, the characters are then confronted with what do with the rest of their lives. Isolation has its attractions (snakes in particular are aces at living under bridges), but not even the most determined hermit can avoid the world. Thus this story.

This was an entertaining introduction to an author whose work was previously unknown to me. Often, such an introduction means frustration, if there’s no second work to sample. In this case, there’s Hyo sitting right there… as soon as dance season is over, in thirty days.

Numamushi is available here (Lanternfish), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Bookshop US), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

I did not find Numamushi at Bookshop UK.

1: Snakes are not generally known for parenting skills, but great white snakes who may very well be river gods are an exception.

2: USA delenda est.

3: These were the Shimoyama incident, the Mitaka incident, and the Matsukawa derailment.