Book Review: The Merry Dredgers by Jeremy C. Shipp
Title: The Merry Dredgers
Author: Jeremy C. Shipp
Release date: April 25th, 2023
Our brains process information, it seems to me, in two distinct ways. One way is A-B-C-D. The other is A-M-E-P. One is a straightforward intake and processing, the other is a scrambled mess of stimuli that gets stacked into an ordered piece of data within their heads. This is how I feel when I read anything from Jeremy C. Shipp. Their work is layered and complex but will ultimately lead to a richly rewarding experience. I’d compare it to listening to Faith No More versus Mr. Bungle. If you know what that means, then you’ll understand what you’re in for.
With ‘The Merry Dredgers,’ I was intrigued with how this particular story would be told. After having read a few of Jeremy’s works now, I knew it would task me like few others do (I’m an A-B-C-D reader), but I also was super curious about this cult tale set at an amusement park.
What I liked: The story follows Seraphina, as she finds out her sister, who’d joined a cult and seemingly sworn off contacting her, has a strange accident and ends up in the hospital. She vows to discover the truth and the only way she knows how to do it is by infiltrating this strange and odd group of people.
Shipp has a unique way of approaching their storytelling, so we start off with an almost light-hearted approach, only for things to darken fairly quickly. Throughout, Phina finds herself struggling with several things. The first is that she’s seemingly found love. The second is that she actually enjoys being around these people and within their mantras. And the third is that she simply can’t make any end roads towards what happened to her sister, Eff. Jeremy keeps us guessing and wondering just what will Phina do and what ultimately will occur.
The ending was really well done, which I was so happy with. The ‘spiral’ narrative or abstract way of telling the story within an almost riddle labyrinth (at least in my brain) comes together and ultimately completes the puzzle in a really well done way.
What I didn’t like: It took me a bit to feel engaged with the voice of how Jeremy was telling this story at the beginning. It felt almost too light and not aggressive enough for me, but that shakes itself out down the road.
Why you should buy this: Fans of Shipp’s will be very happy with how they craft this one and the story that is told. It’s dark, it’s textured and it pushes the reader to the far reaches that are expected when reading one of their pieces. Shipp does a fantastic job of controlling the chaos and the reader is richly rewarded because of that.
4/5
