by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I hate writing reviews for books I didn't like. Unfortunately this is one of those. And to think it's a Jeff VanderMeer book! But alas I have to be honest, the reality is I was psyched for Hummingbird Salamander and ended up massively disappointed. Here's why:
Genre Confusion
Part of the problem with VanderMeer's novel is that it is really toted as a science fiction book in it's classification and marketing. But I found there was really nothing sci-fi about it until the last 75 pages. Which means you have to slog through 250+ pages of what would be classified as a weak mystery novel. Unfortunately it was just boring to me. I'm not much of a mystery/thriller (on it's own) reader so I struggled through a lot of this.
Narrative Voice
First off, I hated (yes I mean hated) our leading lady who narrates the novel for us. She seems to be rambling, confused, and in need of some serious mental health help at every turn. At about 80% through the novel VanderMeer reminds us that this is supposed to be a written account of the events that happened. I had completely forgotten that tidbit from the beginning. Why were we not reminded more often? Why did the prose not read that way? It felt like Interview with the Vampire for me which was an attempt to have a personal narrative but flopping badly because the voice is not strong enough or just not consistent enough to feel like someone is telling (or writing) the story down.
The Ending
I'm surprised I made it to the ending. Honestly if it was an unknown author I would have DNF'd Hummingbird Salamander for sure. But because it was VanderMeer I kept thinking there had to be something up-coming that was worth the wait. I wasn't totally let down. The point or morale of the novel is very good in the end. But I'm not sure why it took 250+ pages to get to it. I almost feel like the last 75 pages was a great novella at some point and someone made a poor decision to make it a full length novel. The first 250+ pages could easily have been put into a paragraph at the beginning of a novella to get you into the story and then explode into the epic ending from there. I felt no value to the lost, confused, and boring narrative leading up to the sci-fi section of the novel.
That said I do get what VanderMeer is making a political/societal comment here. And so I really appreciated this quote; especially given the crazy amount of misinformation during the pandemic to date:
It's really too bad that the majority of this novel is not for me. If you like super slow burning, disjointed stories with very little foreshadowing then you'll maybe enjoy this one. If you're hoping for a fast paced science fiction novel (like you'd expect from VanderMeer ) then step away slowly and find something else to read; I wish I had. And while yes I did enjoy the ending it was simply not worth it. Maybe there is a screenplay here that might play out better with more character development and really good acting chemistry, maybe. But honestly I'm not sure it's salvageable at all without cutting the first 2/3 out and just working with the last bit.
This won't turn me away from VanderMeer as I've enjoyed this short stories in the past. I'm sad it was my first novel by him. But I have a few others of his on my shelf that I will definitely try in the future. He is after all a Canadian, like me, and I always try to support my fellow Canadians! For now I need to move onto something with some true science fiction elements and maybe a bit snarky to get over my bitterness...Murderbot anyone?
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review. (less)
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My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I hate writing reviews for books I didn't like. Unfortunately this is one of those. And to think it's a Jeff VanderMeer book! But alas I have to be honest, the reality is I was psyched for Hummingbird Salamander and ended up massively disappointed. Here's why:
Genre Confusion
Part of the problem with VanderMeer's novel is that it is really toted as a science fiction book in it's classification and marketing. But I found there was really nothing sci-fi about it until the last 75 pages. Which means you have to slog through 250+ pages of what would be classified as a weak mystery novel. Unfortunately it was just boring to me. I'm not much of a mystery/thriller (on it's own) reader so I struggled through a lot of this.
Narrative Voice
First off, I hated (yes I mean hated) our leading lady who narrates the novel for us. She seems to be rambling, confused, and in need of some serious mental health help at every turn. At about 80% through the novel VanderMeer reminds us that this is supposed to be a written account of the events that happened. I had completely forgotten that tidbit from the beginning. Why were we not reminded more often? Why did the prose not read that way? It felt like Interview with the Vampire for me which was an attempt to have a personal narrative but flopping badly because the voice is not strong enough or just not consistent enough to feel like someone is telling (or writing) the story down.
The Ending
I'm surprised I made it to the ending. Honestly if it was an unknown author I would have DNF'd Hummingbird Salamander for sure. But because it was VanderMeer I kept thinking there had to be something up-coming that was worth the wait. I wasn't totally let down. The point or morale of the novel is very good in the end. But I'm not sure why it took 250+ pages to get to it. I almost feel like the last 75 pages was a great novella at some point and someone made a poor decision to make it a full length novel. The first 250+ pages could easily have been put into a paragraph at the beginning of a novella to get you into the story and then explode into the epic ending from there. I felt no value to the lost, confused, and boring narrative leading up to the sci-fi section of the novel.
That said I do get what VanderMeer is making a political/societal comment here. And so I really appreciated this quote; especially given the crazy amount of misinformation during the pandemic to date:
"Impossible to tell how fast society was collapsing because history had been riddled through with disinformation, and reality was composed of half-fictions and full-on paranoid conspiracy theories."Overall
It's really too bad that the majority of this novel is not for me. If you like super slow burning, disjointed stories with very little foreshadowing then you'll maybe enjoy this one. If you're hoping for a fast paced science fiction novel (like you'd expect from VanderMeer ) then step away slowly and find something else to read; I wish I had. And while yes I did enjoy the ending it was simply not worth it. Maybe there is a screenplay here that might play out better with more character development and really good acting chemistry, maybe. But honestly I'm not sure it's salvageable at all without cutting the first 2/3 out and just working with the last bit.
This won't turn me away from VanderMeer as I've enjoyed this short stories in the past. I'm sad it was my first novel by him. But I have a few others of his on my shelf that I will definitely try in the future. He is after all a Canadian, like me, and I always try to support my fellow Canadians! For now I need to move onto something with some true science fiction elements and maybe a bit snarky to get over my bitterness...Murderbot anyone?
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review. (less)
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1 comment:
This is...weird. I went to read the blurb, and still have no idea what this is about. Not sure I'd pick it up after reading your review as well!
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