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paperbacks_n_frybread's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Everything about this book is wonderful. Plot. Characters. World building.
The major problem is it being a novella. It needed to be a full length novel. Not because I wanted more (I 💯 do!) but there’s a glaring plot device that’s never wrapped up at the end and it feels unfinished. As a reader I feel a bit cheated with that ending. Huge build up to just…nothing.
The major problem is it being a novella. It needed to be a full length novel. Not because I wanted more (I 💯 do!) but there’s a glaring plot device that’s never wrapped up at the end and it feels unfinished. As a reader I feel a bit cheated with that ending. Huge build up to just…nothing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Animal death, Blood, and Death
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Theoretically super interesting setting and contemplation on more mundane post-apocalyptic life and bodily autonomy, but unfortunately pretty underdeveloped in practice -- definitely feel like the concepts would fit better in a longer work with more fleshed out characters and relationships.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Animal death
Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Pedophilia, Ableism, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Abortion, and Suicide
Parasitic infection.bessjoyce's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Poetically written unqiue but quite possible imagining of our future at the hands of climate change
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Death of parent
maryellen's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Such a lovely, hopefully book. Preme Mohamed's writing is just gorgeous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
crossbun's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book so much. It's just experimental enough to keep me interested without distracting from the excellent pacing and characterization. I felt so immersed the worldbuilding from human society to the natural environment. Mohamed has an eye for detail and tight, carefully crafted descriptions that pack a punch and tell you so much. The weather and bird motifs were well done throughout: begging Reid for movement, for finding a way forward.
Take a look at the content warnings but as someone who's sensitive to a lot of the things on this list, it was all handled with respect and care and didn't feel gratuitous or out of place.
Loved the ending:I am a bike lover and yelled in delight when her community came through and gave her one. It was such a surprise to see a bike come back after just an offhand mention of bikes being like treasure earlier in the book. It just made me so happy to see bikes as so meaningful in the apocalypse!!
I really thought the book was going to be about her journey and not what it took for her to leave (like a typical adventure story) and it was such a delightful surprise to see that her story was about the choice to take the journey and not the journey its self. It's a story I needed.
I would love a follow up to this, I adored it.
Take a look at the content warnings but as someone who's sensitive to a lot of the things on this list, it was all handled with respect and care and didn't feel gratuitous or out of place.
Loved the ending:
I really thought the book was going to be about her journey and not what it took for her to leave (like a typical adventure story) and it was such a delightful surprise to see that her story was about the choice to take the journey and not the journey its self. It's a story I needed.
I would love a follow up to this, I adored it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Minor: Death of parent, Ableism, Abortion, and Medical content
legiblescrawl's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Vomit
Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Child death
sailormegan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Writing Quality 5/5
Premee does a fantastic job showing us a future damaged by climate change, much nearer than we realize. I enjoyed her use of taking common phrases we use today and having the characters use them but not understand the original meaning behind them. The “See you late, alligator” inside joke amongst the two main characters, Reid and Henryk, is cute and clever. The precarious calmness in the dystopian world Premee created, was well portrayed in her writing, and the possibility of hope and change is well written.
Characters 5/5
As a novella, you would think there wouldn’t be enough time to fully explore the characters and see a character growth. However, each individual was unique and written with purpose. We got to see the flaws of each character and the consequences of them. We got to see strengths overcome challenges and the growth of our main characters. I couldn’t help but root for Reid the entire time.
Plot 5/5
The plot may seem simple at first, but there is so much to unpack with regards to the sense of community and collective survival vs. Branching out on one’s own to find fulfillment and hope. There’s also a very real, internal battle Reid goes through with the parasitic fungal disease within. There are lot of questions that aren’t necessarily unanswered but had me craving for more information. Our present human population gets called out for our environmental destructive ways and couldn’t help but feel responsible for the post-apocalyptic world this novella shows.
Post-reading Rating 4.5/5
I was really hoping to see the University that Reid ventures off too, something that could’ve been explored if this was a full-length novel. Despite Reid leaving her community there was still that sense of community at the end. Superb.
Who Should Read This
-Fans of Climate Fiction
-Fans of dystopian
-Those wanting a quicker read that makes the reader think
-A want for great world-building and character development
Final Rating 5/5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Animal death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, Child death, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Grief
hmatt's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I expected to really like this, and it didn't disappoint.
- Canadian setting that is foolproof (i.e. I can look up locations on Google Maps and they're exactly as described. This is one of my favourite things to do in nonfiction and it was such a delight and added so much credibility to this fictional narrative.)
- Really rich world-building that doesn't feel like its being over-explained
- Nothing happens. Like, things do happen, but the story is mostly about this kind of liminal time in the protagonist's life. It's a very tense, unsure time, and I loved how we were just getting a little glimpse of a bigger world.
- SHORT, ohmygod, I love a short book where nothing happens. 2022 is the year of short stories and novellas for me. This was great to tote around on a couple weekends away where I wanted to travel light, and it's helping me combat a 2-month-long reading slump.
- So many little (but painful) quotable passages, which I will now insert some examples of:
For generations we have waited for it to become normal. And it has not. We are still horrified.
It was not instantaneous, the "end of the world," the way it is in nightmares. The sky didn't tear open around an asteroid, the earth didn't swallow us up. And of course, the world did not end at the same time for everyone. No one back then would have been able to say: This is the day our world ended. Or even: This is the year.
On a human scale it was slow enough that for a long time it did not seem truly dire; on a geological scale it seemed that nothing was happening; till suddenly the feedback cycles tipped over, became too front-heavy to regulate themselves.
I wonder what they do in the domes if they catch someone like this. Or do things like this simply not happen there? No, they must have a system. People are people wherever you go; and they aren't any better than us.
I'm an infrequent Readerly user, but sometimes you just gotta do "book maths", so here's my gist: https://www.readerly.com/gists/4079816 - and here's the maths bit:
- Take the eeriness of the unknown phenomena in Annihilation
- Add the teen-girl body horror of Wilder Girls
- Set it in Canada(ish, lol) and in an established post-apocalyptic society like in Station Eleven
- Throw in a mysterious "other place" that the protagonist is drawn to - same vibes as The Giver
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Chronic illness
Minor: Torture and Suicide
"Chronic illness" tag used in reference to the fictional parasitic infection that is passed down genetically(?)onemamareads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Read my full review here: https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/the-annual-migration-of-clouds
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Death of parent and Suicide
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