laurelbard 's review for:

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

4.0

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The world of this book is too close to ours for comfort. Clearly inspired by current events, as well as, I suspect, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, this book is like Annihilation from the other direction, Annihilation with all the metaphor and pretense stripped away. For that reason, it's not as good of a book. It retreads some old ground in Vandermeer's repertoire. However, it was good enough, new enough, real enough that it gripped me and I could not stop reading. I finished it in two days. I love Vandermeer's characters, his language, and the way characters and language collide. If you like his other stuff, you'll probably like this one. If you don't, I'd recommend you start with Annihilation and Borne, which are both more original and more accessible in my opinion. Nonetheless, 4/5 stars. Reading it in Portland probably helped.