Mushroom Blues
The Hofmann Report, Book 1
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Mushroom Blues
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Narrated by:
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Imogen Church
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By:
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Adrian M. Gibson
About this listen
ENTER THE FUNGALVERSE. Blade Runner, True Detective and District 9 meld with the weird worlds of Jeff VanderMeer, Philip K. Dick and China Miéville in Adrian M. Gibson’s award-winning fungalpunk noir debut.
Two years after a devastating defeat in the decade-long Spore War, the island nation of Hōppon and its capital city of Neo Kinoko are occupied by invading Coprinian forces. Its fungal citizens are in dire straits, wracked by food shortages, poverty and an influx of war refugees. Even worse, the corrupt occupiers exploit their power, hounding the native population.
As a winter storm looms over the metropolis, NKPD homicide detective Henrietta Hofmann begrudgingly partners up with mushroom-headed patrol officer Koji Nameko to investigate the mysterious murders of fungal and half-breed children. Their investigation drags them deep into the seedy underbelly of a war-torn city, one brimming with colonizers, criminal gangs, racial division and moral decay.
In order to solve the case and unravel the truth, Hofmann must challenge her past and embrace fungal ways. What she and Nameko uncover in the midst of this frigid wasteland will chill them to the core, but will they make it through the storm alive?
Features original music by Sporer (from the official Mushroom Blues soundtrack). Original vocals (Ch. 14) by Michelle Villafuerte. Production by Chelo Suarez. To access the in-world glossary and map, visit adrianmgibson.com/extras.
©2024 Adrian M. Gibson (P)2024 Adrian M. GibsonListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Mushroom Blues
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Callum
- 12-03-25
Excellent performance for a pretty good story
Before anything else I want to say how amazing Imogen Church's performance was throughout her narration. From a crabby detective to an emotional reck of a human, and even a bit of singing, she was phenomenal.
The story itself was also a good mystery to get your teeth into.
There wasn't really a slow point throughout the plot, with somthing interesting happing in every chapter. Trying to solve a murder all while having to navigate a foreign land and people, most of which would rather be left abandoned then to receive help from a human.
I was really impressed that this is the authors first novel.
Unfortunately there were some issues I found while listening to the story.
Without spoiling anything from the plot, I must admit I was disappointed with how the Fungal race was portrayed. I was excited to hear how this author handled this race that is separate to humans, but all he did was make them Japanese with a fungus aesthetic. Most of them have Japanese names, a lot of the words they use are Japanese sounding, they use honorifics when addressing someone, bow to each other, eat with chopsticks, have shrines and shrine maidens, etc... and along with that, it's never explained where you are: Is it a different planet? An alternative history where fungus people evolved at the same time as humans? Have they only recently come about? Are they actually Japanese but something happened to them?
It's never explained and each of these answers would come with plot holes if any of them turn out true. Of course these aren't major issues, but it still bothered me we never get an answer.
Another issue I had was how over the top the protagonists hatred for the Fungals was portrayed, I understand she's supposed to be grossed out by them, but I found the outright racism displayed lost it's novelty pretty quickly.
I would definitely recommend this to someone who's a fan of Detective thrillers. But maybe not to someone who's a fan of Sci-fi or Fantasy as the unanswered questions about the world would likely distract them from the story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J's reviews
- 03-02-25
A high-speed blend of sci-fi and fungal-punk
Mushroom Blues is a high-speed blend of sci-fi, urban fantasy and fungal-punk, all moulded (see what I did) into a police procedural novel. That should be enough for any reader to know if they will enjoy this slice of noir or not. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the rip-roaring ride as the MCs hunt for a child-killer. It blends in this heady mix a worthy kick at racism and colonialism, though perhaps there might be an argument that this lacks subtlety, but sets up future books in the series to add layers and depth to such observations. The narration was excellent, a real challenge when you consider the ride the MCs are on, and I can definitely recommend the audiobook version where the pacing of the book worked superbly. Overall, a 4.5/5 rounded up due to the quality of the production.
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