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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse
Minor: Fatphobia, Pandemic/Epidemic
I’ve never read something so anticlimactic.
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Annihilation worked better for me personally. This one was just a nice book to read but nothing more to me. Neither bad nor good.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A quick read! When I sit and think about it in a more detached way, the story probably is worth 2 stars, and overall the book might pull 3, which makes sense. I, however, liked it a lot. It was nice to have something a little more coherent than Dead Astronauts, but also a little unhinged (intentionally). There is a slightly otherworldly feel in here a lot of the time, but it’s definitely this world. Nothing supernatural. No future tech. Just, consequences of our actions sort of weird. So did I give it an extra star because I liked the vibe? You better believe it. Far from a perfect book, but a book I can see myself picking up again in 10 years (if we haven’t ruined everything by then).
I have to confess that I love the Southern Reach Trilogy and I had a lot of expectations for this book. In the beginning, I could feel echoes of that trilogy: the mysterious/aloof protagonist, the preoccupation with strange flora/fauna and feeling that you're constantly being kept in the dark. I felt that Hummingbird and Salamander began really well; it set up an engaging premise, and I wanted to know more about it. However, as the book progressed, it felt more and more like crumbs laid out in the beginning which never really went anywhere. I was very excited to see the Humboldt reference in the novel; there is even a picture from his expeditions, but this was just dangled in the text and was never developed. I felt the same about Silvina- she's present in bits and pieces, as journal entries (similar to Southern Reach), but at the end of the novel, it seemed that she was only a plot device for intrigue. I would have liked to see more of her journey. The protagonist of this book felt a little stiff, with dialogue that didn't work for me. This is not to say I didn't enjoy reading the book; however, the book feels like a novel haunted by the possibilities of what could have been.