A review by obiterocelot
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Read if you love: New Zealand accents, the Fox and Ferret bar, gardening, a likeable bad guy, bunkers, hippy communes, not having a clue what is going to happen, young people problems, awkward social relationships, Marxist manifestos, descriptive prose, drone strikes, environmental terrorism.

Avoid if you love: cosy stories about gardening, fast paced and action packed thrillers, happy endings, stories without trigger warnings, hooking up with good guys, conspiracy theorists being wrong.
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Ok, but what an ending. And everything really happens in the final 5%! 
The way the mystery unfolds is with one giant twist after another until it feels like you are reading a completely different book than the one you picked up. In the best way possible.
I would never have expected the story to have ended in a complete TPK. Kind of fitting given the environmental themes in the stories. Everyone will go down together.
And I’d put money on that being fully intentional. She is an intelligent woman, Eleanor Catton. Between this and the Luminaries, I’ll pick up whatever she writers.
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