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erin_s's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Certain action sequences are written with quick pacing and detail that motivate you to keep reading, but the story dragged on way too long. After a while, the climate change/environmental apocalypse themes felt cliched. Overall, the book thinks it is more clever and interesting than it actually is. By the end, I was reading it just to finish it, not because I was particularly invested in the characters or the mystery.
Mentions of things like pandemics, political unrest, wildfires, species extinctions, etc. were probably included to make the collapse of our planet feel current or plausible, but it came off as obvious and unoriginal. Also after all the plot twists and build up, the “big reveals” weren’t that surprising or very interesting (E.g., An “ark” to outlast humans and the environments we’ve ruined, preserved animal DNA). As much as the plot is driven by Jane’s obsession with Silvina and Silvina’s mission, I never found Silvina’s character compelling..
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Gun violence
erikwmj's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Child death
Minor: Sexism
aileend's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Violence, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
mandkips's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Violence and Gore
Minor: Animal death and Infidelity
winn_e's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Child abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death
lieano's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
v171's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Rambling, nonsensical, and pointless. I have so much I could say about why I think this was a failure of a story, but it's not worth the effort. Better than Dead Astronauts though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence
kelseyland's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.5
An eco-thriller set in the near future, in which a security consultant turns detective to unravel the mystery left for her by a radical environmental activist. It's an unsettling, timely, and captivating book in which VanderMeer examines (among other things) the consequences of human action and apathy on the natural world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Child abuse, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Violence and Gore
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
forrestefires's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder
sorryiambooked's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I don't even know where to start with this book.
When I looked up the author’s name to check spelling, I saw that under his Wikiepedia page, it says that he’s a part of the literary movement New Weird. Which is probably the most accurate thing I’ve read. VanderMeer excels at bringing a new level of interesting and weird in speculative fiction/ science fiction (even though I’ve only read two of his books so far, including Hummingbird).
The thing is, I didn’t love this book. It’s touted as an eco-thriller yet the thriller part wasn’t at the level that I personally prefer and enjoy. Hummingbird, I found, was a lot more subtle with the thriller aspects, playing the long game with the reader. Keeping me interested just enough to keep turning the page. Which tends to be more of a least favorite kind of thriller. Even though one of the twists was really good, I started to suspect about halfway through the book.
I also went in with a high level of expectation of the writing. When I read Annihilation, I was enamored with VanderMeer’s writing. This book, however, VanderMeer’s writing is more direct with shorter sentences and less awesome descriptive writing. Though I will acknowledge that having that kind of writing wouldn’t have fit into this book.
I did enjoy the commentary on how humans and our behavior, without bothering to realize, are slowly killing the Earth by ruining fragile and important ecosystems. Which in turn tends to make us more fragile and less likely to be able to adapt to major changes in our natural environment; where we don’t stand a chance when something like a pandemic hits. This book clearly was published at an interesting time and hits fairly close to home with current events.
However, the whole of the book was too meandering for me. I didn’t much care for our MC “Jane Smith” and because of that I disliked the parts where she tells a story about her childhood; those parts rarely felt necessary to me and while meant to be a look into the characterization of Jane, I rarely cared.
Honestly, I think this is going to be one of those books where a reader will either enjoy it or not enjoy it. Even though I find myself in the middle, I’m not sure that the characters and overall plot matter so much as the social commentary that VanderMeer makes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Car accident, Child death, and Death of parent
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