Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

’Frankly superb. This pummelling eco-thriller camouflages the true ‘understory’ of societal collapse, and glows in the dark with original thinking’ David Mitchell, author of Utopia Avenue A speculative thriller about the end of all things, set in the Pacific Northwest. A harrowing descent into a secret world.

If you're looking for something like Annihilation or Borne, this isn't quite in the same vein. I'm used to turning to VanderMeer for New Weird, but this only barely touches the edge of science fiction. It's much more of a thriller with a conservationist core. VanderMeer does not pull punches reminding the reader exactly how thoroughly we have ravaged our planet, and uses the arc of the thriller to get readers to ask themselves some tough questions. It's fast-paced, well-constructed, and often surprising with some Roshamon levels of perspective thrown in as well. It's not what I was expecting, but it was definitely worth the read.

Beautiful, slow, introspective and sad

I unfortunetly decided to DNF this book at 25%. I've always heard amazing things about Jeff VanderMeer's books, but I think this one isn't for me. I really enjoyed the writing style and I'll probably look more into his other books. My biggest problems with the book are that I wasn't very interested in the mystery and I couldn't stand the main character.

Thank you to Blackstone Audiobooks and NetGalley for providing me with an Audiobook copy to review.