This book was cryptic eco-thriller was both compelling and confounding. At times it was hard to get invested in the characters and their emotional journeys. A lot of patience is required for the eventual payoff.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I first got Hummingbird Salamander, well, I was really excited to dive into it. Mostly because I really enjoyed the first two books of Jeff's series Southern Reach. Not so much the third book but the first two were very entertaining. So I was hoping that this book would go down the same path of those.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it. The characters were kind of hard to keep track of. Especially when they tried to kill each other. So I'm just going to state that the book has so much action throughout it. Honestly, so many fight scenes.

Then the entire environment was pretty interesting and kind of reminded me of what it was like in Southern Reach. It's just really unfortunate that I wasn't completely invested in anything. I was really bored with most of this book and just wanted to see how it was going to end.

In the end.. was it really worth it all? I guess you will have to dive in and figure it out for yourself.

This book reads like a straight up manifesto and I don't mean that negatively. It's the full evolution of Jeff's work and while a deviation it's exactly what's expected from one of his novels. Dripping with paranoia and a completely unreliable narrator you're left wondering if the world being painted is that of the reality of the novel or just a figment of the narrators head. If it came out that there's an environmental protest planned to coordinate with the release of this book then sign me up. Blessings to Jeff and this work.

The "Annihilation" books are some of my favorite books in recent years, so I was very much looking forward to this book from the same author, Jeff VanderMeer. It starts when an alleged ecoterrorist dies and leaves clues for protagonist Jane to follow, leading to a big conspiracy. This conspiracy though is more than just the usual big corporation or shadow group who wants to rule the world. This is about our very unbalanced ecology and what can happen in the future, including, possibly, the end of the world as we know it. This is dystopian sci-fi that gets into the science, but not in a way that would alienate more casual sci-fi fans. VanderMeer knows how to balance things to reach a wider audience. This is not an easy beach read by any stretch of the imagination, but it is still fun and occasionally gripping. It does talk about climate change and how damaging it is, so if you don't believe in it, you will want to skip this. It probably won't have much of an effect on you, just saying. But those of us who believe in climate science will find the book fascinating and perhaps a portend of what is to come.

🦎BOOK REVIEW🦎

Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller

Synopsis: An ordinary woman receives an envelope with a key leading to a storage unit with a taxidermies hummingbird and a cryptic note from a stranger. This one act sets into motion a wild goose chase of clues, people, and perilous events that lead her closer and closer to a conspiracy larger than she could have ever guessed.

Review: I wanted to love this book so badly. The premise of it was extremely promising, and at times, the allusion of secrets and thrill that the book gave you kept you reading to get to that *BIG MOMENT*. However, the big moment never came for me. I think what was so unsettling about this book was how clueless you were for 95% of it. At one point I even had to pause and return to the beginning to do a quick check to make sure I hadn’t missed something. I believe the intent of the book was to leave you feeling helpless and as caught up in the mystery as the main character. But the result of that was a feeling of constant off-kilter reading and a lack of connection with the characters and events because it all felt so odd. If you are a fan of sci-fi and thrillers, perhaps along the lines of “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch, you MAY want to check this one out.

Favorite quote: “You need know every part of yourself because you never encounter yourself in all situations.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Jeff VanderMeer for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I was incredibly excited to read Hummingbird Salamander as my first Jeff VanderMeer novel. I have read some great reviews on this Southern Reach Trilogy & went in with pretty high expectations. The cover is gorgeous & the plot sounds fascinating. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed.

The story is told by "Jane Smith," a security consultant that is given a mysterious note & key from an eco-terrorist, Silvania Valcapampa, who has since died in a hit & run "accident." The note takes Jane to a bizarre storage facility where she finds a lone taxidermied rare hummingbird. Taking the hummingbird sets off a chain reaction of events that leads to Jane spiraling out of control & obsession with Silvania.

My initial expectation was an end of the world type of event or chain of events that Jane was desperately trying to figure out & maybe try to prevent from happening. After all the introduction to our narrator is this: "Where exactly? I won't tell you. Who am I? I won't tell you. Exactly. But you can call me Jane. Jane Smith. If that helps. I'm here to show you how the world ends."

But what I got was a wild goose chase involving wildlife smuggling. Then, the story just kind of fizzles out at the end. However, it was a wild ride to go on & the right person reading this novel will love it.

What I liked: The writing style. Some don't care for the train of thought type writing style or short fragmented sentences. But, in this type of story, it works. I don't know if his other novels are like this, but I have to say I truly enjoyed it. The story is entertaining. I wanted to know where all the clues were going to take Jane & why.

What I didn't like: The main character, "Jane Smith" pretty much sucks. She completely abandons her husband & daughter to go on a wild goose chase & is just an ass in general to people. Also, there were so many nicknames for people & the flipping between Jane's nickname for them & their real name that I got confused at times. One person's nickname starts as "Hellbender" then changes to "Hellmouth" at some point.

Hummingbird Salamander is a crazy roller coaster ride filled with bits of sci-fi, thriller, some family drama & a dash of dystopia.

Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and Jeff VanderMeer for this book in exchange for an honest review. This was an action packed, fast paced thriller that I could hardly put down. I enjoyed it and gave it 🌟🌟🌟🌟.

It's really hard to review this one. It's an interesting story that takes you on a very broad adventure. After receiving a note, our narrator Jane is off to try to understand its meaning and chase the life of someone by the name of Silvina. Silvina has a messy past - ecoterrorist or environmental warrior and savior - Jane doesn't care either way, just wants to try to understand why she left her a note. But pretty quickly, Jane realizes the note is dangerous and there are others who don't want her to know or understand what Silvina was dabbling in.

However, the story didn't feel like the quick paced, action packed story described above. There is a lot of environment and the world breaking down around Jane. She is also struggling with her own demons as she untangles all these loose ends. It bogged down at times and definitely confused me at times, but I did feel entertained, I wanted to know the ending and I am glad I finally made it there.

<i>An e-ARC was provided to me by the author and publishing via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

Thank you for granting me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review! This review will be published on my blog, pagesandprose.net, as well as on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/106742245-sara) on Friday March 19, 2021. The link will be shared on Twitter as soon as it's posted. I also plan to discuss this in my March wrap-up video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJNlMVN7vvA75iTmiiswXKQ) in the very beginning of April.

I had read the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer a little while ago, and even though there were many points along the way where I felt confused and questioned whether I was smart enough to read these books, I knew by the end of the first book that VanderMeer was one of those uniquely weird authors whose works were just going to stick in the back of my mind for a very long time. Hummingbird Salamander proved to be no different in this aspect.

VanderMeer has such a distinct way of writing that I have grown quite fond of. Hummingbird Salamander is written as one long letter to the reader from our main character, Jane, and VanderMeer does a great job of blending a conversational tone with narration and prose, so that you get both the sense of a story being recounted to you, as well as experiencing the story alongside Jane at the same time. He has also perfected the art of creating a sense of other-worldliness and dread. Between his sometimes strange word choices and choppy, occasionally fragmented sentences, the atmosphere of this story envelopes you almost instantly. I found myself so caught up in the emotion and intensity of this story that there was a particular scene where I could feel my heart rate picking up and I found myself getting startled.

Even though VanderMeer has an almost inherent sense of other-worldliness to his writing style, this story was set in a world that felt very much like our own. VanderMeer likes to focus on more environmentally-centered science fiction, but in Hummingbird Salamander in particular, the environmental events don’t seem that far off from something that could really happen in today’s reality. This only adds to the sense of dread and suspense that this book conjures. Then if you add in Jane’s job as a security consultant, there’s a whole layer of paranoia for both Jane (and the reader) as she experiences the events of the story, but also for the reader in a broader sense as you think about the general scope of her job in terms of surveillance and hacking.

I will admit, this story is confusing. There are several characters that seem to switch sides at various points in the story, and we always seem to be missing key information right up until the very end. There were a few points where I felt like Jane’s obsession with the hummingbird and salamander, as well as her paranoia, clouded her ability to coherently explain to the reader what was happening. (Although that is definitely a stylistic decision that I don’t count as negative criticism.) My biggest piece of advice for anyone picking up this book (or any of VanderMeer’s books) is to not fight the confusion, and just go with it. You will be rewarded in the end. However, don’t expect to get all of the answers, but I actually think this is part of what makes this book so good. I’m one of those readers who is very picky and typically gets frustrated about open endings and writers leaving unanswered questions. VanderMeer has turned this into an artform, though, because he makes it feel so right that the reader cannot possibly get all of the answers to how this story ends. From the decision to have the main character be blindly thrown in to this whirlwind of events that is so much bigger than herself, to having the story formatted so that it’s basically a letter written to the reader, realistically it makes sense that she would not get all of the answers, so the reader would not get all of the answers. But we get enough that it’s still very satisfying when we come to the end, and I had almost a sense of perverse satisfaction when I realized I wouldn’t definitively know everything. It’s the not knowing and the way I wasn’t frustrated with it that kept me thinking about this book long after I read the last sentence.

Jeff VanderMeer is an author that I am happy to have make me confused and questioning my own level of intelligence. Hummingbird Salamander is about environmental awareness and sustainability, greed, multi-million dollar company conspiracies, cults, bio-terrorism, and obsession all wrapped up in an under-400 page science fiction thriller. If you want something weird, confusing, and compelling, then I highly suggest picking up this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

If you came here for an erudite, witty, intense review, go somewhere else. I don't give a synopsis of the story, either. Read the book blurb and other reviews if that's what you want.

I'll wait for your return.

Okay. Ready?

As with all this author's other books, this one is... different. That's the experience I signed up for when I opened the book and began to read. The first sentence grabbed me, fingers squeezing my shoulders, eyes piercing mine, and metaphorically growled, "You know I'm not letting you go now, don't you?" And all I could do was nod my head and read on.

At different points I questioned, Why the heck is "Jane" on this quest? Why is she so compelled? But the story doesn't give up its answers easily. And maybe, a little to my embarrassment, I was just as compelled to remain on the quest with her. So then, who was I to question her?

The magic of the book is in the revelation of answers and how they're discovered along the way. How deeply Jane is willing to dig and see truth. And continue her pursuit. Don't get me wrong, the path is sometimes beautiful, but many times it's filthy and reeks and dead-ends, leaving us trapped. So we, I mean "Jane," backtrack, which only leads to darker and more dangerous paths and truth-discovering and, oh my, how-the-hell did it get to be 3 a.m. and I still have pages and pages to go?

The truths are hard to face. And there are so many truths. Some will jump up and bite you square on the nose. Others, you dig for a little and almost wish you hadn't. But now that you've seen them and know their ugliness and realize the beauty they're destroying, how will you let the story change your life, much as it changed Jane's?

I absolutely loved Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, so I had high hopes for this new novel. Unfortunately, the cryptic nature of the writing felt forced and I didn't care where the story led me.

While I really enjoyed Annihilation, I have come to realize that Jeff Vandermeer's writing/stories just aren't for me after struggling to finish the last two Southern Reach novels along with this one.

The first thing is they are very confusing. The Southern Reach trilogy manages to come together in the end and make sense of the overarching story, but Hummingbird Salamander never makes that happen by the time the novel comes to a close. I was left with so many unanswered questions, and left wondering what the point of the whole journey was. The events in this book carry almost no emotional impact because everything is so confusing. I spent most of the book trying to figure out why I should care about Silvina; about the pages and pages and pages spent detailing Jane's seemingly irrelevant backstory; about the continuous bashing the reader over the head with the messages of environmentalism and the surveillance state that Vandermeer is trying to convey; about whatever it is that Jane is trying to accomplish; about who all these random people are and why they're trying to kill each other. I think this is made worse by the author's proclivity to use stream of consciousness style narration in his writing. While I don't mind this technique, I don't think the way Vandermeer uses it works for me as a reader.

I also am left wanting so much more from the authors characters. I have no issue with unlikeable characters in the novels I read, but you have to give me some ability to relate with or to care about them. This was severely lacking for me in this novel. The main character is a terrible person who falls quite flat on the page, that I never found myself caring about where their story would take them. This is partly because she keeps making bad decisions, and even knows and tells the reader they know they are making bad decisions.

If you are a fan of Vandermeer's work and enjoy his writing then you will probably enjoy this one. Just be warned that Hummingbird Salamander has an ending that may leave the reader feeling incomplete. If that doesn't bother you, then by all means, venture down this confusing rabbit hole.

Final rating 2.5

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer is a superb and engrossing read which will keep you reading until the end. Well worth the read!

I'm sorry to say I could not get into this book. It was disjoinred and jumbled. I really wanted to like it - based on the description and firat few pages it reminded me of Dispatches from Elsewhere. But it just dragged on. I wouldnt recommend to my students.

I was introduced to Jeff VanderMeer when I stumbled across the film "Annihilation" on Hulu. I watched the whole thing, going "what the heck am I watching," and then went online to find out more. I learned it was based on a book, so I quickly bought the novel, then the two sequels, and I've been a VanderMeer fan every since.

This book is similarly amazing, confusing, up in the air, leaving you guessing until the last minute. As always, VanderMeer doesn't like to just state what's going on or tell you every detail about what happened. It's up to the reader to figure it out, along with the novel's protagonist, "Jane." We never learn her real name, her address, or any real facts about her, which adds to the mystery and suspense.

I felt the story dragged a wee bit in the late beginning, as Jane diverged into her family story and I wasn't sure why. Everything in this novel, though, has a purpose. There are no divergences that don't have meaning to the story. Pay attention to everything! I should have taken notes. A word that seems unimportant on page 10 might turn out to be super important in the last chapter, who knows. It's a sign of a careful and strong storycrafter.

I loved this book, and keep thinking back to it now that I've finished. As I said, not everything is 100% explained, so I noodle around on things that were left unresolved (in my mind, anyway) when my mind wanders. I love books that keep me guessing, even after they're done!

If you liked Annihilation, you'll like this one.

A unique voice that lends urgency to the climate crisis. A fantastic read!

I started this book casually yesterday, thinking I would preview it before reading it next week. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!

What grabbed me and refused to let me go was the language style. Efficient. Clipped. Urgent. The way the MC communicated set me off balance, made me feel anxious and I couldn’t put the book down. The tension the style created moved the story along. Starting off in second person, the reader is immediately placed in the drama.


Hummingbird Salamander is many things: a mystery, suspenseful, a riddle, a ball of confusion that unravels over pages, timely (dealing with climate crisis), spare...but what makes this book so unique was in its style.

So much for a casual preview!

4 stars

Please see my full enthusiastic review here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3749923238

True to Jeff VanderMeer's previous books that I have read, HUMMINGBIRD SALAMANDER was a trip! I really enjoyed the main character, Jane/Jill, and I almost felt like I could picture what she looked like. I did struggle at times with the writing style and occasionally had difficulty following the constant internal monologue and stories that she was telling but overall I really enjoyed it. It was a thrilling mystery through and through and made me think a lot about his AREA X series; specially the scientific and factual/observational writing style. In some strange way, the book also reminded me of THE GOLDFINCH, the way she is desperate to keep the taxidermy hummingbird that's worth a lot of money, similar to how the main character in THE GOLDFINCH has to figure out where to hide the painting and, later, how to get it back. Very well done and an engrossing story.

This was interesting to say the least, it was super complex and confusing most of the time. I found the actual writing difficult to read at some times. I honestly just think this wasn't for me at all. I do have a few friends that I think will enjoy this book very much and have already recommended it to them. It didn't work for me but I appreciate the opportunity to read this book.

In this twisty eco-thriller, you’re left in the dark much of the time until what’s going on slowly gets revealed. By this point, your heart is pounding, and you’re fully enveloped in the precarious survival of the heroine, or make that possible anti-heroine and unreliable narrator, analyst who ditches her job, marriage, and daughter to unravel a deep mystery with innumerable dead bodies piling up in its wake. Where’s the line between passionate environmentalism and eco-terror, and who’s deciding? Sylvia, a daughter of a wealthy and nefarious Argentinian family, rejects the family business which includes the illegal sales of endangered species. Sylvia instead embarks on a mission to turn back the environmental damage to the Earth, which in this near future dystopian setting has set off radical climate change weather events and refugees from no longer inhabitable zones. But Sylvia has been killed in a hit and run and left behind with a coffee barista a taxidermy preserved endangered hummingbird with a cryptic note for the analyst, “Hummingbird Salamander.” Unraveling this mystery draws us into a world of shadowy killers, corrupt businessmen, a group trying to save the Earth from ruin, and ultimately the mystery of Sylvia herself. As long you’re up for some hard-core violence in this quest, it’s a wild ride with a big reveal ending.

I really enjoyed this book. it was very intriguing, with the classic vandermeer weirdness. as usual, the imagery in this book was quite vivid and compelling. I also thought the mystery element was pretty well done. it wasn't as gripping as annihilation, but I do think fans of weird fiction and environmentally focused fiction would like this.