Hummingbird Salamander

I love the Annihilation trilogy but I really struggled with this book. The stakes weren't clear, and I just didn't care about any of the characters. Even by the end I wasn't really sure what had just happened.

3.5- VanderMeer books have become comfort reads for me. I appreciate the way he describes nature and incorporates it into his stories.

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.