Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review copy.
I enjoyed this book, although it is definitely much more sci-fi than horror, and I was not expecting that, based on my previous experience with Into the Drowning Deep. The first half of the book is also much stronger than the second half, which struggles a bit with pacing and stumbles a bit with the ending.

I loved this so much I saw that it was Owlcrate’s first quarterly sci-fi pick and subscribed. Mira Grant is an automatic yes for me. Great writing and an engaging plot. Thank you to the publisher for a chance to read it early. Will definitely be recommending.

Anastasia Miller has been telling everyone that she was an alien sent to earth to foretell the coming invasion. Think Silver Surfer, but way more adorable. For years, no one believes her...until a broadcast comes and suddenly those around her realize she was telling the truth the whole time. Anastasia's biological family is coming for her, and they intend to take over earth, but with their messenger having been raised by humanity questions about belonging and nature vs. nurture seem more important than they once did.

I love a sci-fi/horror book. I really really enjoyed Overgrowth! I read some reviews before I dove into the book and I found that Overgrowth felt more "Little Shop" meets "Independence Day." I say this because both are some of my favorite invasion stories, but also Overgrowth has dark horror moments, and really creepy atmospheric vibes that give the shivers, but there are also very human moments and some slightly absurd moments that lift the reader back up after something scary. Overgrowth by Mira Grant would be good for fans of T. Kingfisher and Grady Hendix. There is some body horror elements but nothing too crazy.

First, thank you to NetGalley & the publisher, Tor Nightfire for an advanced copy of this book (even though I didn't finish it until after the publication date).

Overgrowth by Mira Grant is categorized - on Goodreads - as Horror first then Science Fiction. I was excited for the horror aspect as I read Into the Drowning Deep by Grant last year and loved it. While it wasn't jump-out-of-your-skin scary, it was suspenseful and involved mermaids of a sort so I was set up to enjoy it be default.

I thought the same would be true for Grant's latest novel, Overgrowth which turned its head toward aliens instead of sirens. Unfortunately, my assumptions were incorrect.

Overgrowth, while about aliens and invasion of such, leaned more literary fiction/science fiction and lacked the suspense and horror I believe I was going to get.

In fact, I found very little to justify the horror designation. Near the end of the novel, we get some violence but nothing I would deem as "horror." The descriptions of the other "non-human" aliens was interesting, if a bit too high-brow for my taste, but not frightening.

To make a long story short, I was bored for most of this and then disappointed for the last 10% when I realized things weren't going to get any better.

Sorry, Mira. This one wasn't for me.

A horror sci-fi novel by Mira Grant about an alien invasion many years in the making. The book starts with the seeds of the aliens being spread throughout space and landing in different places on Earth. We then meet Anastasia, a little girl who wanders into the woods alone and is taken over by one of the alien plants, turning her into an alien who answers that she is part of an invading alien armada when asked about herself. Stasia grows up and gets a boyfriend when her alien armada sends a message that it is coming soon. We follow Stasia as she and her friends try to learn what they can about the aliens, and as Stasia wrestles with who she is. Dark and layered. A suggested buy for sci-fi collections where Grant is popular.

I don’t read a ton of sci-fi (maybe 2-3 books a year?) but I loved Grant’s FEED zombie series so I had to check this one out. It was so great and half the time I couldn’t even picture what was going on in my head. There was some excellent commentary on humanity and what it means to be human. I loved not knowing if I was rooting for the humans or aliens and my allegiance changed throughout the novel. The characters were what made this great - they were complex, well rounded and flawed.

While the book was good, it was not for me. I found it interesting that the alien plant people could have been autistically-coded, and I don't want to put that on the author's work if that was unintended, but with all the compulsions and fight against the norm, it seemed like a strong parallel to me. So if it was intended, then it's a very interesting lens in which to look at how society treats neurodivergent people who are living the way they were genetically programmed to. If it was unintended, then it's an interesting look at the subconcious internal biases the author has surrounding neurodivergence. Despite these interesting points, I felt the story was a bit too long, and ended up skipping an entire part and not missing anything other than a minor character death, and was able to follow along to the end just fine.

At three years old, Anastasia Miller began to tell anyone who would listen that she was an alien that had taken over Anastasia's body and that her 'people' were going to return to take her to her true home. That was more than three decades ago and for more than three decades no one listened. Not listened and believed.

Now, scientists have picked up signals from outer space - signals too specific to be anything natural - and suddenly people are beginning to believe Anastasia, but now it might be too late. It also becomes clear that travelers from space aren't coming back just for one child - there are many across the world who've known they are not of Earth, only Anastasia has been so vocal about it.

With the arrival of what appears to be an invasion, Anastasia begins to change, shedding her earthly skin and revealing the plant-like nature of her true being. And with her shedding, is taken by a government 'alphabet' agency to be studied - hoping a defense against the invaders can be found. Only Anastasia's human friends can help her before the invasions arrives, but as they are doomed they have no reason to help her. Nothing but their humanity.

I am such a huge fan of Mira Grant (and her other name, Seanan McGuire). Her darker fiction is so powerful, providing not just a good, frightening read, but a deep examination of humanity and what it is capable of in the face of abject horror (as well as the horror that humans can inflict on one another).

What Grant does exceptionally well is make us like Anastasia. Despite being told, just like everyone she knows, that she's not human, we're drawn to her and we like her. There's likely a part of us that isn't entirely sure she's telling the truth - she seems a more likeable human than most! And it's because of this that we are angry when she's taken and experimented on. Are humans more frightening than an unknown, alien species?

I had such a recall to the 1978 movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the 1963 film The Day the Triffids, while reading this, for some pretty obvious reasons. but this definitely stands out for Anastasia's struggle - long knowing that she isn't human but trying to reconcile with the fact that her being alive meant a 3 year old died.

This is Mira Grant, not Seanan McGuire, so expect it to be darker and more gruesome, and also expect to enjoy the hell out of it.

Looking for a good book? Overgrowth by Mira Grant is a dark tale, anticipating the end of the world, with one young woman standing between humanity and an alien species.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Great characters and fascinating story. Was able to also listen to audiobook Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

"Three days and six hours after Anastasia Miller disappeared into the woods, something that looks just like her walks back out."
🌱👽💀🌳🪴
OVERGROWTH BY MIRA GRANT IS OUT AND I HAVE SO MANY WORDS TO SAY ABOUT IT I CAN'T CONTAIN THEM! This alien invasion isn't exactly what you'd expect, it's plant related, meaning those creepy and amazing aliens planted seeds on Earth and will soon be coming for their flowers(the plant people that replaced humans)
I love aliens, and I love plant horror, so this was a perfect combination for me, and THE MC IS MY AGE! Do you know how rare that is for me to find such a character in a book that also happens to be my new obsession? My first ace character was from another Seanan McGuire book and then here's Stasia! Queer, alien, kind and sweet and strong and more human than some people.
There's so many things I loved about this book, first that I have to mention is the names Toni calls Stasia and other plant people, those names made me chuckle and sparked my love for that character. Then there's Stasia, and her trans boyfriend, and the way their relationship was described gave me warm and fuzzy feelings. I usually don't care about romance in books, but these queers had my heart. Also there's not too much romance, it was the perfect amount. Another thing I loved was that the alien plants wanted to eat humans, well human blood, I honestly expected this to be more plant-based(pun not intended) story, but I got so excited that they weren't vegans and were still craving humans. I know, weird thing to be excited about, but that made them somehow even more fascinating.
Despite aliens being described that way and that we were supposed to be scared of them, truly terrifying thing in this book(well in reality too) for me was the government that abducted Stasia and her friends and was keeping them isolated and doing experiments on them and justifying their actions because they were "protecting humanity". Yeah no, sketchy creepy people, not very humane of you.
One thing that I can complain about is that this book was several pages too long for me, but it's not the authors fault, my attention span is becoming shorter and shorter and I need shorter books, even when I end up loving them entirely, I still feel like they were a little too long for my liking. Again not the books fault, it's just me.

Honestly 2025 is becoming my horror year because I’ve gone from not liking these types of books to devouring them. Overgrowth is body snatchers in 2025 with some parts of longing and all parts creepy. I loved this from the start. Mira Grant’s writing is descriptive and truly pulls you right into this world. She’ll make you question so much. I love that this has jump started my foray into horror.

This started out very interesting, but I wasn’t enjoying it by the end. I’m not sure if this was just a “not to my taste” thing, so I’m curious to hear what others think.

Content warning: the prologue depicts the death of a young girl.

The protagonist of this story is Anastasia Miller (Stasia). There was a little girl of that name, who found a strange flower in the woods. The flower seized her, consumed her, and created a perfect facsimile with all her memories. She goes home, tells Stasia’s mother that she’s not her daughter, she’s an alien, and Earth is going to be invaded soon. And she grows up that way, with the adults in her life gradually shifting from “oh what an imagination she has!” to concern over her delusions. But she’s never a danger to anyone, it’s just a quirk she has, so she basically grows up and lives normally. Just also knowing she’s an alien and the invasion is coming.

Fast forward to her 30s. She’s got a job, roommates, a boyfriend, and a cat (named Seymour, as a little joke towards the fact she’s a carnivorous alien plant out to eat all the humans). And an observatory announces they’ve detected a signal, proof that humanity isn’t alone - and Stasia somehow knows it’s her people, that the invasion is here.

The first part of the book was great. Stasia grappling with her own identity as both a human & not. Her friends and loved ones dealing with it as well - even those who sincerely thought they had believed her were nonetheless shocked to learn that she was actually telling the literal truth. I’d describe it as an allegory for the challenges involved in interactions between the neurotypical and their loved ones who are neurodivergent and/or struggling with mental illness, along with some political commentary about humanity’s rather impressive ability to ignore problems far longer than we should.

The back half of the book, featuring the actual invasion, was much weaker. The reaction of the actual-humans to the arrival of aliens was very cliched, in my opinion. It all felt like the kind of “wow humans suck” that I’ve read many times in science fiction, which is fine as a point, but I’ve seen it done much better. As for the ending, I didn’t like it at all. Left a definite bad taste in my mouth.

Averages out to a middling book, overall. Interesting premise, started strong, finished poorly.

I've been waiting for another Mira Grant book for years, and this one is certainly worth the wait. Grant is back with a bunch of science-y horror goodness, and on top of that packs a punch with her found family and discussions of humanity. The alien invasion that Grant has concocted here is a fascinating one, with so many different elements in play; it's clear that a lot of thought has been put into the invading species, and the invasion as a whole. I loved Stasia as a main character, and her internal debate and coming of...alien-ness was a fascinating one, and made the story more interesting than it would have been if we had just seen it through the eyes of a regular human. I think the only thing that made this miss a full 5 stars for me is the fact that the level of science felt reduced compared to the other Mira Grant novels that I've read. Previously you could tell how much research she put into each of her books, and it really showed, but with this one I didn't feel that quite as much and I feel like it made it seem like something was missing. We once again got a diverse cast of characters though, and all of them were wonderful (or well, most of them were wonderful) and the whole thing makes you wonder what you would do in a situation like that, what kind of person you would be. While it's certainly not my favorite Mira Grant novel, it was still an enjoyable time, and I do believe that more people need to read her work, so I will definitely be writing a shelf talker for this one and recommending it to whoever I can. Fingers crossed we get another Mira Grant novel soon (or at least sooner than we got this one compared to the last), and that this one will bring her the recognition she so clearly deserves.

This was a heartfelt, exciting, wonderfully complicated characters in gnarly, life/world-altering situations, this novel has everything I love in Mira Grant’s writing. The writing is really delightful, with convincing dialogue and a strong interiority that is emotional and descriptive without ever feeling purple. The prologue is a storytelling narrator, talking to the audience, and that really draws you in, makes you complicit in the story. This was a complex story with the internal intricacies, it was also an incredibly eerie read about an actual alien invasion.

Thank you to publisher and to Netgalley.

I'm always excited for new books from Mira Grant (Into the Drowning Deep has long been a favorite of mine), so as soon as I saw Overgrowth announced I knew I was going to have to check it out. This premise sounded pretty wild, and if anyone can tackle weird, it's Mira Grant.

Anastasia is an alien. She has known this since she was a kid, and she has made sure to tell anyone and everyone this fact, along with the additional information that one day her fellow aliens were going to invade Earth. Naturally, no one believed her. But one day, an alien signal is picked up by humans on Earth and suddenly it seems possible that maybe, just maybe, Anastasia has not been lying and/or delusional her entire life...

What a premise, right? I was certainly intrigued to see what Grant would do with it, and while I appreciated the story she created, I'll be honest that I was left feeling this story was a bit hit or miss for me.

I really liked getting to know Anastasia, or Stasia, and I enjoyed learning about how she has lived her entire life in this world as someone who believes/knows that she is actually an alien and isn't actually the same human as everyone else. It's also a fascinating dynamic to have her aware that there is an impending invasion set for Earth, but also to not know when or how or exactly what. She's clever and very perceptive, but also intensely introverted and prefers not to be overly social, and I appreciated hearing her thoughts and takes on the world and people around her. Stasia is also currently in a relationship with Graham when the story begins, and this was a couple I found quite lovely to follow. Their dynamic felt real and full of empathy, respect, and understanding. I particularly appreciated some of the background we got about some of their past relationship struggles and how they worked through them to be the strong couple they are today. I know this book isn't about their relationship and it's not a romance, but it is about the human race and I thought they provided a really good example of what human connection is and how empathy and passion can build even when it's not expected.

What I found didn't work for me with the characters was the fact that they felt much younger than they were. If I recall correctly, I think they are generally supposed to be in their thirties (?), and throughout this book I would've easily believed they were early twenties at most. And this also leads me to the fact that this book really felt like it could've been a YA story. I never say that as an insult or to disparage YA, but there is definitely a vibe these days in YA and a lot of tropes/types of characters that show up, and I kept having to remind myself that this was not, in fact, a YA story. It felt like a lot of the adult books that YA authors have now been writing, or a lot of the adult stories that show up in popular book box subscriptions, etc., where they are basically YA but just... older. The main positive I will say is that Grant is generally very good at writing characters, and that does appear to hold true here. No matter what age or perceived age people are in this story, they are typically fairly well-developed and have some interesting insights to bring to the story based on their own perspectives and experiences, which I always appreciate. Grant just knows how to build an atmosphere and develop some really compelling, complex characters.

I also think Grant generally handled this entire premise well, but the execution didn't always work for me. The pacing felt quite glacial at times, and it just didn't feel like there was always that many worthwhile things happening, but rather some filler here and there. This book's page count is in the high 400s, and I really don't think it needed to be. I would think, "surely this must be close to the end," and then realize I still had 20-30% of the story left. If I think back on the book right now, I couldn't even tell you what fills all of those pages. There is a lot of introspection by our characters to be sure, which isn't a bad thing, but also a lot of minor plot points or just very slow movement that didn't feel like it needed to be there.

What I did love about Grant's writing in this book was her tackling of some many themes and moral questions that popped up. For instance, what's the morality around aliens vs. humans? Is one inherently more full of worth than the other? Is that worth affected by whether one is able to feel more emotions than the other? What about invasions--especially if the ones being invaded aren't taking care of their planet? And what exactly is humanity--what makes up being a human? And how does that differ from other living beings? All of these and more are explored, and it's topics like these that are really why I read and love speculative fiction so much. We don't get to experience things like what happened in this book in our everyday lives (which is probably a good thing, don't get me wrong), so I always relish the chance to explore new ideas and questions whenever I can through creative stories.

Overall, I truly enjoy exploring the ideas in Mira Grant's brain and am so grateful she writes these stories to share them all with us. Overgrowth is a solid alien invasion sci-fi that I think will be a big hit for many readers.

⭐️2.5⭐️

This story follows Anastasia ‘Stasia’ Miller, who, since childhood, has claimed to be an alien disguised as a human, and warns every person she meets of an impending invasion. As the invasion looms, Stasia and her group of human friends attempt to make sense of their situation, prepare for the arrival of the alien plant species, and come to terms with what it will mean for Earth.

I was so excited to dive into this story, as this was my first Mira Grant book and I have heard so much praise for her writing. I easily fell in love with her writing style and was instantly sucked into this story. This book highlights a lot of heavy themes and isn’t afraid to point a glaring finger at humanity’s ugliness. This is evident in Grant’s environmental themes, and how people handle the complexities of identity of those who don’t fit into social structures. And while this book does have some positive themes of found family, hope, and loyalty, I couldn’t shake the anger toward humanity that clung to the pages.

What didn’t work for me was the pacing toward the end of the book. I felt the concept of this book was stronger than the execution. I was left wanting more and feeling frustrated with the reason behind the invasion. It was explained constantly, and yet, I still struggle to understand the ‘why’ behind it. While the deterrence was meant to be a twist, I found it to be ridiculous. I also found the motives of the characters to be unbelievable. Multiple characters, who openly despised the main character, constantly helped her throughout the entire story, but annoyingly complained about it the whole time. I believe this was meant to be comedic banter, but it just got tedious and added nothing to the story.

Overall, this book was a miss for me. The writing was strong in the start, but I was hoping for more of a War of the Worlds vibe. This book felt too juvenile for my liking. I am still looking forward to reading Grant’s Into the Drowning Deep and hope it holds up to the praise!

A special thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the eARC approval of this book in exchange for my honest review.

**3.5-stars**

When she was just 3-years old, Anastasia Miller, wandered into the woods to locate a beautifully-smelling flowering plant. It was then that she disappeared. A massive missing person search ensued, only to have Anastasia come back home, visibly unharmed days later. It was at that point that her story truly began.

She'd been abducted by aliens. Her purpose now was to prepare, or warn, the humans about the coming invasion. She told everybody she could, her whole life, even into adulthood. People came to assume it was a quirky character trait stemming from the trauma she must have suffered during the period of time she went missing, but no one seems to really believe she's an alien.

When an alien signal broadcast around the world starts to get picked up, it's validity undeniable, it seems maybe people should have taken Anastasia's warnings seriously. The invasion is coming. Stasia's bio-family is finally on their way and their intent could put all of humanity at risk. They were warned. It's too bad they didn't listen.

This novel had such a great start. The first 25%, I was so intrigued. The audiobook narration was fabulous, and perfect for Anastasia's perspective.
The pace was very solid in the first half. I enjoyed the side characters a lot. Stasia's boyfriend, Graham, and her roommates, they all played huge roles in this story, and I liked the found family feel of their group.

The tone reminded me quite a bit of the Alchemical Journeys series by Seanan McGuire. In fact, I had to remind myself a couple of times that this wasn't just another installment to that series; even the cuckoos were mentioned.

Unfortunately, this started to lose me in the second-half. The intrigue completely flew out of the stratosphere for me when the aliens flew in. There was just something about the way that was done and presented, the direction it ultimately went, that didn't work for me. I was hoping for a vastly different outcome regarding the conclusion, however, there's no denying the quality of Grant's writing and character development.

She's a master of intentional writing. There are no wasted words and everything has meaning and depth. It's not just entertainment. There's a lot more going on within her stories, which I do appreciate so much. So, while this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me, I'm still a huge fan of Mira Grant and will continue to pick up anything she writes in the future.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and a review. If you're looking for a Alien Invasion story, this is def worth checking out. I know many Readers are going to love this!

On its own, this is not the easiest text, charming as Grant's writing is--as always. Still, this is a urgent and heartfelt romp. Is it horror? Not exactly. For listeners of the audiobook, it will lean more toward a very character-based sci-fi; you can't help but feel for the narrator--she does an excellent job.

While the alien plotline is fun and suspenseful, Grant also seamlessly integrates exploration and expression of gender, as we know it and perhaps as an entire other world would. I think this will be a meaningful and emotional read for many folks. It isn't perfect, but it is timely and so delightful.

I love the way Mira Grant / Seanan McGuire can craft a story. I don't want to say I was rooting for the Aliens, but I was definitely rooting for one Alien, our MC, Stasia, and her friends.
I loved the little nods to Little Shop of Horrors, and despite being in the middle of an invasion and a kidnapping by a government entity, Stasia was still worried about her cat, Seymour. Her priorities were in the right spot. Stasia herself is an introvert; she has found a few people who have become like family, but as for everyone else... well, as long as she's left alone, she's happy.

Overgrowth, while horrifying in the face of like, could this actually happen? Are aliens already here, waiting for something to call the mothership back? I would say it is more character-driven, and I really enjoyed the full aspect. It kept me invested in Stasia, her friends, and the fate of the world from beginning to end, and I can't wait for whatever Mira Grant is going to come out with next!

Ostensibly, there’s nothing really wrong with Overgrowth: I found it to be too long and I enjoyed the first half a great deal more than the second half, but it was an okay read. I guess therein remains the issue. I really don’t have much to say other than that and going into it I was hoping I’d have a whole bunch to say when I was done.


I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or under will not appear on my social media. Thank you.