Leech by Hiron Ennes is huge wasted potential

!Heavy spoiler, discussion of plot!

I was absolutely obsessed with this book, and binged through it, but was left feeling *very* dissatisfied. The 1/3 of the book is flawless, we get a hivemind parasite that seemed to have found its natural enemy, and the setup for a showdown between two tops of the evolution is set up. Then it’s all wasted. Completely. The protagonist girl wakes up, because apparently she was just dormant all along (strong Get Out vibes), attacks the Insitute for everything, and makes them a villain, which makes about 0 sense because she would have died without the Insitute. If I suffered a lethal injury, and someone offered to take my body, fix it up, then heal people til my body gives in, while my consciousness dies, I would take it without hesitation. I die anyway so might as well help others. The new protagonist(?) lady is so ridiculously self-centered and bland I literally cannot believe the og parasite protag was switched off for her. I feel like the writer had a very good idea, but realized they don’t know how to continue, so they made up the new plot with the awakened protag that’s basically a love story. All this being said, the world building is brilliant, the book is very, very atmospheric, and both the Institute & the pseudomycota are written exactly like they should be. I also loved the side characters, each very unique and add to the atmosphere. I fell in love with the book so much I decided to write a fanfiction deleting the protag girl waking up completely & continuing the og plot (not self-advertising cause I never publish anything lol just showing my love for the book). I am curious about the opinion of anyone else who read it. Sadly, there are very few reviews & discussions about it.

by Meh040515