DuMort, a gaslamp horror novella by Michelle Tang, is set in the fictional gothic city of Myndalla. An oppressive, creepy place where one cannot discuss the dead, and to raise them will send you to the gallows, or worse.
Miss Mina Kwan, aka Lady Mina Braithwaite, seeks out a famous occultist in Mydalla. She crashes a party to meet him and pleads with him to help her while the host is showing her the door. The occultist, the famous DuMort, demands she stay. Ghastly Alexandre DuMort with his rippling robes and dark, angular features proves he can speak to the dead. When the law arrives to imprison everyone, DuMort and Mina escape. After they get a moment to slow down, Mina describes how the ghost of her dead sister is victimizing her and hurting her when she falls asleep. DuMort agrees to help her as long as she serves as his assistant.
From there, the novella twists and turns, leading the reader through interesting encounters, attractions, and horrifying locations. Scenes of DuMort helping others, being evasive about his sick wife, or interacting with Mina crackle with tension. The last third of the book takes an unexpected narrative swing with Mina, and the ending pays off the dread mounting through the pages.
Not only are the plot and setting stunning, but Tang’s prose is morbidly beautiful. Passages pull readers in and keep them there. Her description of falling out of love (“we were once flowers, now dried into husks; we were marble busts, crumbling into dust”) reads like poetry. Or her description of one oozing package as “wet decay and liquid horrors,” provide the right amount of revulsion in so few words. The writing unfolds like a fever-filled dream with a nightmarish conclusion.
Beautiful yet grotesque, gentle yet harsh, this novel takes the reader on a riveting journey of horror and fascination. DuMort is an intriguing, attention-grabbing gaslamp horror fantasy. It evokes the dread and mystery of similar novels in the genre, but does it in a refreshing style all its own.