First impressions review: Little Mushroom, by Shisi
This two-volume story (‘Judgement Day’ and ‘Revelations’) is a really fun (and completely bonkers) blend of gritty sci-fi apocalypse and slow-burn enemies-to-lovers queer romance. This review will - unusually for me - contain no comment on the scientific accuracy of the scenario because…well, because the protagonist is a humanoid mushroom, for god’s sake! The tale takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the mysterious disappearance of earth’s magnetic field has led to an environmental crisis. Faced with a variety of dangerous mutated monsters, human civilization has shrunk and is now confined to two bases. But that’s not where the story starts. It starts in a cave, where a semi-sentient fungus had attempted to rescue a wounded human named An Ze. In absorbing his blood, the mushroom takes on his appearance and some of his memories. With the dying man’s blessing, he adopts his identity (with the name variant An Zhe) and makes his way to the Northern Base.