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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Having had my mind completely vivisected and reordered by Jeff Vandermeer’s “Dead Astronauts”, I was tempering my expectations that he could do it twice. He could not. At lease not with Hummingbird Salamander.
.
Not that there wasn’t some interesting things going on: The Importance of Memory, Guilt of Responsibility, Compassion for Non-Human persons, Living within our ecological means and adaptation to an increasingly inhospitable world we’ve selfishly created all figure large.
.
Additionally, I wanted to sympathize with our narrator, but ultimately derailed, trying to find the thread of explanation as to why she’d “abandon her post” as a wife, mother, employee. One spends the novel waiting to find out and, while the past becomes increasingly less anecdotal, there’s nothing to assume other than she was already looking for a way out of her mundane life.
.
The structure is a bit rammbly (narrator herself is a bit rammbly too)…shifting between present events, memories past and her inner life’s reflections. I grew impatient, wishing our narrator would get the point. And as the story picked up pace, and shifts more from what was going on inside her head to what was happening around her, there is a *fantastic*, gripping, eyes-glued-to-the-pages series of climaxes, followed by an absolutely irrelevant and all-too-tidy denouement - it almost felt like Vandermeer was forced to provide this by the publishers…a softball of an ending. None of the wild, weird, almost impossible to comprehend aspects of his previous books.
.
I means, it’s hard to out do the experimental nature of Dead Astronauts or the world-building of the Southern reach trilogy. But you also come to anticipate it. And this just was more of a straight up action/thriller.
.
Not that there wasn’t some interesting things going on: The Importance of Memory, Guilt of Responsibility, Compassion for Non-Human persons, Living within our ecological means and adaptation to an increasingly inhospitable world we’ve selfishly created all figure large.
.
Additionally, I wanted to sympathize with our narrator, but ultimately derailed, trying to find the thread of explanation as to why she’d “abandon her post” as a wife, mother, employee. One spends the novel waiting to find out and, while the past becomes increasingly less anecdotal, there’s nothing to assume other than she was already looking for a way out of her mundane life.
.
The structure is a bit rammbly (narrator herself is a bit rammbly too)…shifting between present events, memories past and her inner life’s reflections. I grew impatient, wishing our narrator would get the point. And as the story picked up pace, and shifts more from what was going on inside her head to what was happening around her, there is a *fantastic*, gripping, eyes-glued-to-the-pages series of climaxes, followed by an absolutely irrelevant and all-too-tidy denouement - it almost felt like Vandermeer was forced to provide this by the publishers…a softball of an ending. None of the wild, weird, almost impossible to comprehend aspects of his previous books.
.
I means, it’s hard to out do the experimental nature of Dead Astronauts or the world-building of the Southern reach trilogy. But you also come to anticipate it. And this just was more of a straight up action/thriller.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I like mysteries that start seemingly small and get progressively larger in scope and stakes. The City and the City by China Mieville comes to mind, which I loved. Add to it the strangeness of the initial premise and I was hooked. VanderMeer is a strong writer. He had the ability to write really vivid passages. There are strong writers who are able to make me feel like I am inside someone's dream and he is one of them. This book didn't have as many of those moments compared to the Southern Reach books, but it did have its weird moments. When he leans in on his weirdness is when I enjoy his work the most.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Darn, this is just so boring. I don’t care, I’m not sure why the MC cares, and everything feels so flat.