Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Migrations

When I picked this up, I was excited to dig into it. Station Eleven is one of my favorite books, so seeing all of the comparisons being made between the two earned Migrations a spot on my reading list. By the end of the book, I was confused by the comparisons and the high ratings that this book is receiving.

Franny Lynch (née Stone) is about as unreliable as a narrator as they come and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Aside from being constantly reminded about how ~wild~ she is and how she must always be ~free~, I think her story was well done. My frustration was her trauma is never fully explored. We learn early on that she suffers from night terrors specifically surrounding choking and her sleepwalking is sometimes violent, yet we never really learn the answer as to why that is for sure.

The novel bounces back and forth in time, but I enjoyed this and thought it was well and clearly done. It helped to build up the suspense and answer some questions that are raised about Fanny in the beginning.

My main frustrations were with the issues surrounding the environment. Migrations, we find out in the first few pages, takes place in dystopian present or a not-so-distant future where 80% of animal life has gone extinct due to climate change and human activity. Forests are so endangered that there are years long waiting lists for people to visit them. All megafauna (elephants, rhinos, hippos, pandas, etc.) are extinct. There are no large predators left. All birds, aside from a few species of sea birds are gone. With ecosystems degraded so dramatically, you'd expect the world to be unrecognizable. Coastal cities wiped out. Large refugee populations. Food systems disrupted. Landscapes dramatically changed. Violent storms whipping up frequently, but unpredictably. Remaining animal populations moving in to fill voids (for example, insect populations are expected to skyrocket with climate change and most pest species would fair well, if not thrive).

But, in this novel, the world itself seems fairly unaffected. Coastal cities are still thriving. Village life continues as normal. Ireland is still a lush, green, livable, landscape. Seas are still easily navigable with regular currents and predictable storm patterns. All animal life is just...gone. It's weird. It was frustrating to read.

The book was also fairly disjointed in the writing style. It felt as if the author was still developing as the novel progressed. As a result, in my opinion, the last 10-15% of the novel was far superior than the first majority. I loved the ending. It actually upped my review slightly. I just wish we got more of a conclusion for the crew members.

Content Warnings

bakerreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Tragic, haunting, dark, and beautiful.
This story is set in the near future, where most every wild animal is extinct. We follow Franny Stone, an unreliable narrator with a dark past, as she tracks the last known flock of Arctic terns on their final migration.
This story is fairly depressing, but there’s a found family aspect that I just absolutely adored and loved how the characters interacted with one another (for the most part). McConaghy is amazing at writing complex, and realistically flawed characters. This is a story about love, and loss, and finding your place in the world, and I thought it was perfect.

Content Warnings

lalalena's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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

Content Warnings

adotzam's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

jessietn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

This was a quick read for me but by the end, I felt like I'd been through a journey. I didn't care much for the romance (at least its beginning), and parts of the plot were not believable. Otherwise, it was immersive, melancholic, and beautifully written.

Content Warnings

katehaswell's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

andrea2813's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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