Reviews

Colibrí Salamandra by Jeff VanderMeer

grunzy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Another solid ecological dystopian novel by Vandermeer. I enjoyed it but I think I had different expectations of where I thought the story would go. 

thesneakybird's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jarichan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

sabrinamc's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

3.5

steelfern's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this is one i had to wrestle with!! there are beautiful sentences and moments that kept me tied into the book during passages where absolutely nothing was happening. i'm a big fan of just hanging out with characters in their thoughts, so that wasn't the worst part. for me, the pacing was extremely off though. 

i wasn't bothered by the main characters "unlikability"- i thought a lot of her attitude towards her family was really easily explained by the trauma she went through that's discussed at length. like, the majority of her insane decisions can be chalked up to her childhood imo. anyway. once again here for any book that has nature as a motif, and involves passages of people surviving in the wilderness. 

jennkei's review against another edition

1.0

This was practically a DNF but I pushed to the end because I wanted to know WHY SALAMANDER??? Unfortunately it wasn't very informative even in the end...

jrrgordon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

fallingintofiction's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

wild_and_freckless's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ayanayokie's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0