The Works of Vermin, by Hiron Ennes
19 Nov 2025The Book
Synopsis:
He was sent to kill a pest. Instead, he found a monster.
Enter the decadent, deadly city of Tiliard, a metropolis carved into the stump of an ancient tree. In its canopy, the pampered elite warp minds with toxic perfume; in its roots, gangs of exterminators hunt a colossal worm with an appetite for beauty.
In this complex, chaotic city, Guy Moulène has a simple goal: keep his sister out of debt. For her sake, he’ll take on any job, no matter how vile.
As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. These vermin are all strange, and often dangerous. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice.
Guy doesn’t have a choice.
My Review
The Works of Vermin is a dark fantasy novel written by Hiron Ennes and published by TOR Books. A proposal that blends together grim fantasy with horror elements to deliver a quite unique novel, creating an imaginative worldbuilding that also helps to build a satire that criticizes a rigged system; a dense and rich story that demands attention from the reader to be fully enjoyed.
Our story is set in Tiliard, a decadent city carved into an ancient tree, where our main characters live. Among the roots is Guylag, a young man taking the worst jobs in Tiliard just to keep his sister out of debt, currently working as an exterminator for the Borisch Company, eliminating the vermin that appears in the tree. Guy is just struggling, trying to get along while his coworkers and bosses make decisions, just hoping to stay afloat and avoiding the wrong side of the exterminator's trap.
In the overcity, we have Astherita Vost, a talented perfumer working for the second most powerful man of Tiliard; slowly dying by the contamination that comes from her own art. A lifetime of servitude that also puts her in a privileged spot to observe the dangerous political game that goes behind the scenes of the authoritarian regimen that asphyxiates the city.
Ennes weaves a rather weird novel around those two characters, almost creating a slice of life proposal that focuses on scenes that paint a full portrait of Tiliard; the plot is quietly hidden between those, like one of the multiple vermin plaguing the tree. A place that is undergoing many changes, and with a vivid obsession for the art in the higher spheres (especially towards opera); a higher class that lives for power and show, an opulent life that contrasts with how the lower strata is struggling to barely afford food, in a parallel that could be tied with the robber barons era. Our characters are merely passengers on a train that is going too fast.
The writing is quite dense, requiring the reader to stay focused, but trust me when I say the pay-off is outstanding; the worldbuilding can be a bit overwhelming, as Ennes' imagination proves to be difficult to match, gifting us with a city that is the perfect scenario for this story. In terms of pacing, it is true that the first two-thirds land a bit on the slower side, as it puts the foundations needed for a thrilling finale.
The Works of Vermin is definitely an experience, a novel that blurs the line between genres to deliver a rather unique proposal that is not afraid of critiquing rigged systems while also rewarding the reader with stuff worthy of nightmares. A great sophomore novel by Hiron Ennes.
