Title: Noble Rot
Author: Holly Black
In: Naked City (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Humour, Urban fantasy, Zombies
Dates read: 5th December 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: “Don’t like good-byes,” she says.
He’s slowly wasting away. But, there is a beautiful delivery girl that seems to keep his life interesting. Little does he know what she’s turning him into…
I’ve been around enough sick people in my life to know that disease and, the treatments, can completely mess up your taste buds. However, the ways in which this story plays with ideas of messed up taste buds is entirely unique. And more than a little bit gross. Although completely fun. as you can probably tell, I got a few somewhat mixed feelings about this.
There was so much backstory to this tale. Which made me dive in completely. I would also love to reread this, because now that I know what the lead female was doing the whole time… I feel like I’d be able to grasp at some of the hints throughout.
I love that this is about a sick man who is given a second chance at a new life. There is something beautiful, and really tragic about this. Which makes it fit perfectly into the theme of the Naked City collection.
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