VanderMeer's story starts off introducing readers to "Jane", or that is what she calls herself. Given a key and a cryptic clue, she finds herself in possession of a rare stuffed hummingbird which then leads her on an obsessive search. Hummingbird Salamander is not my first experience with the author's writing. Vandermeer has a great ability to create atmosphere and emotion with a type of stream of conscience writing. Almost immediately, Jane's telling of events creates an atmosphere of confusion, obsession and paranoia. That being said, she is a somewhat unlikable character. Her contempt for her life and past as well as her callus approach to her family makes it really hard for the reader to cheer for her. I think that is the point, though. I think it mirrors those who throw away everything in the pursuit of a cause, idea, or even obsessive need. The story is a bit predictable in places, but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. The story also lags quite a bit in the middle, but picks up quickly in the end. Overall, the book is good. It would easily lend itself to literary analysis, discussion of symbolism and character motives. I enjoyed VanderMeer's writing style and the story did make me think.

HUMMINGBIRD SALAMANDER is a complex and convoluted tale with multiple layers of "down the rabbit hole" journeys and epic quests. Although the foundations are all too dismayingly real: Climate Change and subsequent destruction of Habitats, extinction of Endangered Species, greedy wildlife trafficking (just as real and ugly as trafficking of humans); still one is hard pressed to discern whether one is observing a complicated outworking of a covert epic journey, or instead a descent into madness. My difficulty with this was compounded by the first-person narrative spewed by a grossly unreliable narrator. While narratives of the Endangered (possibly) extinct?) Species were fascinating in exquisite detail, nevertheless I felt as if I read a memoir by an intelligence spook who had remained "out in the cold" far too long.

"Jane Smith" out of nowhere gets handed a envelope containing a key to a storage locker. The Storage locker contains a taxidermied hummingbird with very few clues as to why. The dead woman, Silvina, that is behind this gift is a reputed ecoterrorist and Daughter of a Argentinian industrialist. Investigating the hummingbird and Silvina leads "Jane" down a rabbit hole that spins out of control endangering her family and co-workers.

I struggled with so much in this book. Mostly it was the POV voice which is first person and feels so claustrophobic and paranoid. Even when "Jane" is talking to other people you feel like you're all alone. I understand from reading other VanderMeer books that this is just his style of writing but I feel its impossible for me connect with the characters or feel any enthusiasm for whats happening. Jane's inner voice drains me of joy, I feel like I'm living in droopy dog's head, or walking through Silent Hill. I just cant connect on any level with the character. The fact that she doesn't tell you her real name, only going by Jane smith adds to a certain disconnect. You feel you're in the head of someone with serious depression and paranoia which apparently the author does so well reading it started triggering my own feelings.

A lot of the story just defies explanation for me like VanderMeers books 2 & 3 of the Annihilation series did. Jane gives up everything including her family, throwing away her job, life and any personal concern for her own well being to chase this mystery which comes out of nowhere, I mean she literally walks out the door and is handed an envelope by staff of the establishment she is leaving and that's all it takes. To be honest I never felt she had any real connection with her family or co-workers anyway, as she treated them poorly and is a very unlikable character, but it just feels like such an extreme and unrealistic choice.

The Book is cryptic, and confusing, and despite being in the narrators head you are given very little real information most of the time. The plot feels thin and most advances in story are usually because "Jane" makes some leap in logic or just jumps to some conclusion. And to be honest the reveal was a little underwhelming. I do want to say I appreciate Jeff VanderMeer love of Nature and Ecology and fully support him of this aspect and if you consider yourself an ecowarrior or ally then there may be some extra in this book for you to connect with.

Bottom line is IF you are already A Jeff VanderMeer fan then Buy this book you will love it!
If You have never read Jeff VanderMeer and are wanting to try him then I say Buy this book or at least borrow it from the library because he is certainly a unique writer and you may love him even if he wasn't for me, his is a style which should be experienced at least once. I feel most this was a personal preference and if you may very well love his style.
If you don't like Jeff VanderMeer's writing style than this wont do anything to change your mind.
The book isn't horrible it just doesn't work for me as the POV characters voice was not enjoyable.

What are we (the people of the world) going to do about climate change, getting to zero emissions, endangered species, and the myriad of other problems that we face? VanderMeer posits that we aren't going to do anything and catastrophe is coming. The problems are too big, the players are too greedy and contentious, the goals are too diverse and seemingly contradictory. It's a very compelling premise. However, maybe just maybe there are persons that can do something so strange and unexpected that it just may work. This is a strange book that you just have to give yourself over to and hope that he may be right.

I was given an advanced copy by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I was excited about this book after reading the synopsis. I stopped after 100 pages. After reading that many pages I only knew that the main character revived a dead hummingbird in a box and it meant something to her. She went on a business trip to try and figure out the mystery of the person who had sent the bird. That’s it...that’s all I know. And it’s not enough to keep me interested. I rarely stop a book, but this one is shelved.

What starts as a breezy search to locate an Argentinian, eco-terrorist woman turns tense and paranoid in Jeff VanderMeer’s Hummingbird Salamander, out April 6. It reminded me both of Alan J. Pakula’s 1974 corporate conspiracy thriller Parallax View (Warren Beatty), and Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, only here the Kurtz Search is by a woman for a woman.
*
VanderMeer often features women protagonists—remember the four female scientists in Annihilation—, and here Jane Smith, a 6’2” suburban mom, is thrust into the spy genre to great, original effect. Netflix, naturally, has the rights.
*
VanderMeer has done what Ray Bradbury did: transcend his SciFi and Fantasy domain. Ultimately, this one goes into the new literary hot trend, the Climate Novel or Eco Fiction, of which Lydia Millet’s Children’s Bible is exemplar.
*
2021 is shaping up to be a strong year in fiction.

#netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreviewer #hummingbirdsalamander #klarandthesun

from my instagram account: literary vagabond

I have been going back and forth in my mind over this book for the past few days. I love the writing style of this author and requested this book based on my only other experience with it Area X. While this book had the same style it didn’t have the same intrigue. This was a good book but not a great book. I say that if you like Jeff VanderMeer’s books, you should pick this one up and you will not be disappointed. If you have never read any of those books, this one is an easier introduction than Area X. It moves fast and pulls you right along.

VanderMeer excels at bringing a new level of interesting and weird in speculative fiction/ science fiction (even though I’ve only read two of his books so far, including Hummingbird).

The thing is, I didn’t love this book. It’s touted as an eco-thriller yet the thriller part wasn’t at the level that I personally prefer and enjoy. Hummingbird, I found, was a lot more subtle with the thriller aspects, playing the long game with the reader. Keeping me interested just enough to keep turning the page. Which tends to be more of a least favorite kind of thriller. Even though one of the twists was really good, I started to suspect about halfway through the book.

I also went in with a high level of expectation of the writing. When I read Annihilation, I was enamored with VanderMeer’s writing. This book, however, VanderMeer’s writing is more direct with shorter sentences and less awesome descriptive writing. Though I will acknowledge that having that kind of writing wouldn’t have fit into this book.

I did enjoy the commentary on how humans and our behavior, without bothering to realize, are slowly killing the Earth by ruining fragile and important ecosystems. Which in turn tends to make us more fragile and less likely to be able to adapt to major changes in our natural environment; where we don’t stand a chance when something like a pandemic hits. This book clearly was published at an interesting time and hits fairly close to home with current events.

However, the whole of the book was too meandering for me. I didn’t much care for our MC “Jane Smith” and because of that I disliked the parts where she tells a story about her childhood; those parts rarely felt necessary to me and while meant to be a look into the characterization of Jane, I rarely cared.

Honestly, I think this is going to be one of those books where a reader will either enjoy it or not enjoy it. Even though I find myself in the middle, I’m not sure that the characters and overall plot matter so much as the social commentary that VanderMeer makes.

Stream-of-consciousness writing throws off some readers, but I can deal with it. Non-linear narratives don't deter me. But what I really, really need in my fiction is a sense of causality -- things happen BECAUSE . . . The protagonist acting that way was believable BECAUSE the writer had grounded us in her character beforehand.

Didn't find that here. Waded all the way through to the end, still searching for plausibility. Brilliant writing that was a hot mess. I felt cheated, as if the lofty phrases of the publisher's blurb were the writer's intentions, not the achieved result.

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advance readers copy.

1.5 stars. Let me preface this review with stating that I adore VanderMeer's previous works, some of which are truly favorites of mine such as the Borne books or Annihilation, so perhaps this latest book was not meant for me and I had too high of expectations.

Though a perfectly acceptable mystery, I felt Hummingbird Salamander was missing so much of the weird, speculative strangeness and emotional heft that I love about VanderMeer's writing. I found the plot, crafted around a a security analyst known only as "Jane", researching a clandestine environmental activist/ terrorist/ cult leader (?) incomplete and did not find many of Jane's actions believable. Nor was I really invested in the decisions she was making throughout this story, or the outcome of her investigations. *shrug*

I could see this being a popular choice with other readers who are unfamiliar with his other work, or have found his previous books too literary sci-fi, cerebral, strange, etc. Those who are looking for a more conventional thriller with a slight speculative twist involving climate change and impending ecological disaster (is that even speculative at this point?) may enjoy this. Hummingbird Salamander is the most accessible of his works but I was frankly bored through and through, waiting the entire time for some shocking or weird or heartbreaking moment that never came. Again, not the target audience perhaps?

This is the first Jeff VanderMeer book I've read and I now want to try more of his books! Hummingbird Salamander is a great scifi thriller that seems like it's a look into our not-so-distant future.

To be honest, the cover grabbed my attention and the description intrigued me, but it didn't quite seem like something I would normally read and I didn't know what to expect. I was hooked from the beginning and felt like I was going through everything with "Jane". At first Jane's personality was a little off-putting for me, but she quickly grew on me. I felt like she grew in subtle ways throughout the book. The descriptions were vivid and easy to imagine everything.

Thank you to MCD and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is rather a disappointing offering, a quest narrative following an intentionally disruptive narrator, a 6 foot plus, 225 pound female security consultant following the trail of a taxidermist-preserved giant salamander, the key to a mystery that is itself unclear. The salamander is not a statuette, but it's close enough. Get it? One might expect humor in this pursuit, but the book is largely humorless, in fact entirely bereft of emotion. This appears to be hipster fiction, beyond an obtuse boomer like me.

I spent much of this book wondering why Silvina chose Jane as the recipient of the rare taxadermied hummingbird. It really seemed to come out of left field. This unanswered question almost made me put the book down because I just couldn't suspend my belief enough to accept that everything was completely random and Jane just had the bad luck of coming into Silvina's sights at that coffee shop. However, I stuck with it and am so glad I did! Everything came together so suddenly and clearly, like a slap to the face. This is one of the very few thrillers where I didn't figure out the ending before it came! In fact, I was completely clueless!

This is not a light read. It is dense and convoluted, with complex characters and a complicated plot. It really is brilliant in its own way and the writing is top notch. It is also thought provoking and timely, with its themes of climate change and ecoterrorism. I felt absolutely exhausted after reading this book, but it was well worth it.

Hummingbird Salamander is a beautiful cryptic mystery that leaves you hanging by the edge of your seat. The writing is jarring and descriptive, immersing you in the highly mysterious and thought-provoking journey for answers.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an ARc to review. It was a p,easure to discover a new author to follow.

"Hummingbird Salamander" by Jeff Vander Meer is a compelling thriller that also combines the mystery and sci-fi genres. Talented writers, including Connie Willis, have melded genres together for a satisfying read. Vander Meer thus brings his skills to the table and creates a novel that leaves readers musing about the plot long after they finish the pages.

What drew and intrigued me originally to choose this book was the unusual title, "Hummingbird Salamander." Everyone may have different thought memories for these title words. I remembered as an 8 year old child watching a hummingbird hover over a flower as it gathered nectar. I stayed silent and still as I took in the beauty, majesty, and wonder of this tiny bird. Salamanders I have only seen in zoos or as taxidermy on display in museums. One particular museum displayed myriad taxidermy collections from the animal kingdom. A three year old boy viewed an outdoor lumberjack display which included a lumberjack and a charging bear. He inquired of the family if both of these were "stuffed." They were left to explain to him the difference between the lumberjack manikin and the obviously taxidermied bear. How do we explain to the child that our time is limited and that nature is fragile?
Jeff Vander Meer leads us to think about whether man is at a point of extinction and whether we will eventually be just manikins on display on some far away planet.

We as readers reconcile our journey through this novel as we try to work out Silvana's clues that are left for Jane Smith and where they lead. Jane is both tough and rugged and at the same time lost in this world because of present and prior events in her life. Vander Meer's clue tidbits pull us along as we ponder each one. But each step for Smith and for us lead to either dead ends or new trails.
Vander Meer carefully constructs this thriller and surprises us at every turn.

Instead of sending out a message to sea in a bottle, the author leaves us with the message that we must somehow stop the impeding doom of our planet. This book is a call to save our planet, environment, and ourselves.

I wish to thank Net Galley, the author, and the publisher of this book for a copy and an unbiased review on my part.
#NetGalley
#HummingbirdSalamander

I love Jeff Vandermeer’s novels. Why? Because the worlds he creates are at once both foreign and recognizable. You instantly are plunged into a murky web, unsure exactly what has transpired. Here, in Hummingbird Salamander the reader is issued into a world just a bit beyond our present day. Vandermeer addresses his usual themes of climate change, pollution, animal extinction, pandemics, and gradual decline of the environment. The protagonist of Hummingbird Salamander is Jane Smith, a security consultant, six feet tall, 230 lbs, a former wrestler/ weightlifter, who receives a mysterious missive from Silvinia, a woman known as an Argentinian eco- terrorist. You aren’t really sure what’s going on, but you are right in the thick of it while it happens, inhaling the smoke along with Jane, as the world burns. This is a wild ride of a mystery, sure to thrill Vandermeer’s many fans.

DNF @ 41%

This was not a bad book, but it was a little too style heavy, and I wasn't vibing with the style. I have read and enjoyed VanderMeer in the past, but this was not the book for me as a reader.

Thank you for allowing me the chance to read it.

Hummingbird Salimander is a mind-bending apocalyptic mystery with a protagonist who can go toe to toe with literature's greatest gumshoes in brains, brawn and comebacks.

When (let's call her) Jill receives a note passed from a barista, she has no idea she will become obsessed with a mysterious woman, that her friends and family will be drawn in, that the clues will pile up as fast as the danger mounts, or that she will become willing to risk it all to find the truth.

There's a lot to unpack as the author delves deep into the environment, animal poaching, and the end of the world. This would have been a riveting read just as a mystery but it's so much more.

The writing style takes a little getting used to but VanderMeer's cast of complex characters, along with a suspenseful mystery and thought-provoking ideas about who we are and where we're headed, I highly recommend you take this journey with VanderMeer.

I love reading Jeff Vandermeer because the writing is always beautiful, interesting, weird, and suspenseful. Hummingbird Salamander is no different. I struggled to push through in some places and couldn’t wait to read more in others. He kept us in the dark and then illuminated the shadows at the end — I loved the mystery.

“Assume I’m dead by the time you read this”
“Who am I? I won’t tell you. But you can call me Jane Smith.”
I was immediately compelled to jump into this story. Such a curious beginning, I had to know what was going on. Then the book comes to a grinding halt.
So this book was about a woman who works in a security tech company that was handed a note which lead her to a storage room that just had a hummingbird in it. Supposedly it was placed there by a woman who was an Eco terrorist.
But this was an interesting premise, Jane Smith practically abandons her life to pursue a random mystery. I had to keep reading now matter slow it was. I should have stopped.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review