I wanted to like this book more than I think I did, and I think that is more about my state than the books. A set of interconnected short stories, all deeply rooted in Hawaiian culture, was well written and haunting, but I had a difficult time getting into the book. Unsure if it was because I've never been to Hawaii and so so many of the locations were foreign, or the style of collection of short stories. I enjoy the idea of interconnected short stories, have enjoyed them in the past, and thought Riggs did this well, but each short story felt like it was leading me to a novel. I kept feeling like I was caught in the middle -- a snip-it - of some character's life and should have more information than I did. Again, I think this says more about my own shortcomings than the book and I will recognize that Rigg's writes as if she's been doing it for a while, rather than this being a debut work. I know some people will love this collection, but it missed the mark for me.

I wanted to like this debut short story collection that explores the ways in which lives are affected by the U.S.’ manipulative and illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai’i and its continued occupation of the land for military, capitalist, and touristic purposes. Unfortunately, I think that Rigg’s prose and I do not get along.

The melancholic, at times portending, prose had a way of sucking the anticipation and forward movement out of the stories, by often explicitly stating what the outcome will be, not even just foreshadowing it. For instance, in the first story, “Target Island,” we find out when the main character, Harrison, will encounter his “last torpedo” as part of his volunteer efforts to clean up Kaho’olawe (the local island that the U.S. military completely took over to test out their combs) even before he encounters his first torpedo. In the second story, “Dawn Chorus,” readers are told of a storm, and of the significance of Sam and Geri’s relationship, before either has time to develop over the course of the story.

Maybe I’m a more basic reader, but I need writing that leaves room for plot and characters to unfold, rather than to tell me the ending before anything has happened. More immediacy, if you will.

Nevertheless, I think there is still something unique about the way in which Rigg backgrounds her stories against the very real present-day effects of attempting to carve out life for yourself on colonized and militarized land. If you like more literary short stories, don’t mind a distant/retrospective third person narration, and care about exploring the effects of colonialism on modern-day Hawai’i, give this one a go.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco Press for the eARC! This book will release in the US on August 5, 2025.

Extinction Capital of the World by Mariah Rigg is a collection that will easily make you feel cracked open. In ten interconnected short stories set across the islands of Hawai’i, Rigg weaves a haunting, tender, and politically charged tapestry of queerness, intergenerational grief, and the slow, quiet violence of colonialism and climate collapse. Her characters are often fractured—by family, by empire, by time—but never entirely broken. Whether it's Sam and Geri’s fleeting teenage love on a disappearing atoll, or a granddaughter weighing the cost of leaving the grandmother who raised her, each story pulses with longing—for land, for belonging, for a version of love that isn’t conditional.

Rigg’s prose is luminous and intimate, blurring the line between memory and present moment. She often shifts between second- and third-person narration, allowing the reader to inhabit both the ache of personal loss and the larger historical wound of settler colonialism. In stories like “Target Island” and “Poachers,” she shows how the destruction of ecosystems mirrors the unraveling of family, and how queer kinship can be a lifeline when blood family fails. Her writing is thick with sensory detail—salt air, scorched land, calloused hands—and yet never overwrought. The heartbreak is quiet, cumulative, and so very real.

What struck me most was how Rigg holds grief and love in the same breath. So many characters in this collection are searching for home—not just geographically, but emotionally, relationally, ancestrally. Queerness here is not always celebrated, but it is deeply felt, and often interwoven with tenderness, survival, and the hope of chosen family.

If you love queer stories that interrogate imperialism, if you’re drawn to the liminal spaces between land and water, memory and myth, then this collection will stay with you. Extinction Capital of the World is both elegy and love letter—to Hawai’i, to those who came before, and to what still might be saved.

📖 Read this if you love: anti-colonial environmental fiction, intergenerational queer narratives, and lyrical prose that holds both grief and tenderness.

🔑 Key Themes: Settler Colonialism and Cultural Erasure, Queer Love and Chosen Family, Climate Collapse and Ecological Grief, Motherhood and Generational Trauma, Belonging and Displacement.

Content/Trigger Warnings: Gore (minor), Child Abuse (minor), Alcohol (moderate), Cancer (minor), Death of a Child (minor), Miscarriage (minor), Infidelity (minor), Bullying (minor), Domestic Abuse (minor), Abandonment (minor), Alcoholism (minor), Drug Use (minor), Vomit (minor), Blood (minor), Animal Death (minor), Death of a Parent (moderate).

A compelling book of interconnected short stories with vivid characters and lots of family drama set in Hawaii.

This collection is an incredible work that cleverly explores the complicated relationships between heritage, family, place, and queerness with the most compelling writing I've read in a long time. Rigg's storytelling is absolutely masterful.

Extinction Capital of the World is a beautiful, melancholic exploration of life impacted by colonialism and imperialism. Once I picked up the book, I had a hard time putting it down. The writing is calming, even when the subject matter is heavy. These short stories, that are loosely connected by character or place, are honest in their humanity. The bring to life the multi-layered complications that is living in a place that has become so deeply intertwined with the very recent impact of colonization. The characters and storylines were relatable; the interactions and reactions that took place from character actions where believable. I find this is the type of short story collection I will be returning to.

I love short stories so I had high hopes for this collection. I don’t usually like when the stories are interconnected. Also every story takes place in Hawaii which made this collection feel too repetitive. I like more variety when it comes my short stories. The writing style was average. I think the author can write but I didn’t feel a strong connection with the material. It’s a mixed bag for me.

This debut novel by Mariah Rigg follows a variety of interconnected narrators telling the story of generations of Hawaiians. Parents, children, lovers and friends trace the tragedy of modern Hawaii, as well as its ever present beauty. Each story in this intertwined collection broadens the scope of the one before it, pieces of a puzzle than in themselves are complete pictures. The resulting collage is a masterpiece by any measure. There wasn’t a point where I wanted to put this book down! An absolutely amazing debut by Rigg!

These stories hum with quiet rage, aching beauty, and the deep pulse of place. Rigg writes Hawai’i with the intimacy of memory and the clarity of witness, threading queerness, grief, and ecological tension into something tender and sharp. It lingers like salt air on skin—impossible to shake.

Beautifully written short stories characters that draw you in to their lives their stories.Hawaii as the location of this novel is eye opening being drawn into this state was wonderful.I will be recommending thieve short stories definitely one of my favorite books this year.#netgalley #ecco

Easily one my favorite reads this year, and for sure one that I'm already recommending to whomever will listen. As other reviewers have noted, you really get invested in each of the characters, whether or not they're the protagonists. I like, too, how most of the characters are related to each other in some way, and how even passing references to them make sense for each story.

I'm so blown away by this and would never believe that it's Mariah's debut work. Every story is united by an incredibly strong sense of place in Hawaii. Even if the story doesn’t directly take place in Hawaii, each protagonist is impacted by a childhood or a connection to this sacred, exploited, complex place. And Mariah embraces that complexity, not shying away from the fraught conflict around land rights, national identity, colonization, the isolation of the islands, and the endangered natural beauty.

Each story is individual, but they're also all fundamentally about relationships: an aspiring museum curator and her art-loving art museum custodian grandmother; two best friends with a fraught relationship worn by time; a mom threatened by her overbearing aunt’s relationship with her daughter; a burgeoning, innocent childhood romance on Midway; a man who wants to do his small part to erase the legacy of war on Hawaii for his granddaughter.

None of Mariah's stories fall into the two usual traps I see in short story collections: (1) a lack of a full plot arc or (2) placing an abrupt ending on a story that doesn’t really have an ending because you can get away with it in this form. Mariah doesn't use the short story as an excuse to avoid developing her characters fully and giving them real, rounded personalities and lives. There are no clickbait-y premises to reel you in. Every story is beautifully thought through, with strong narrative arcs, all told by main characters that feel real, flawed, and complex. Her writing is lyrical and memorable.

I can't wait to see what else she puts out! Thank you to Ecco for the early copy.

The Extinction Capital of the World was a read I ate up quickly that left me wanting more. The author has a handle on creating simple but striking comparisons that had me re-reading portions of text and taking notes. Rigg is able to give us a unique sampling of the complexities of Hawaiin lives and their relationship to the land and colonization. The relationships and timelines Rigg has fabricated in each short story feel complex and real, both grounded and made spiritual through the descriptions of native plants, animals, and terrain. I would be interested to read more books like this from Riggs in the future, perhaps with a single narrative.

This is a beautiful collection of short stories. I initially was not going to leave feedback because I wasn't sure what my thoughts were.

It takes some time to process this one.

It's just so beautifully written, so well-done, and so heartbreaking all at once.

I had difficulty keeping up with everything but Mariah Rigg did an excellent job of guiding the reader and providing context when possible.

Will definitely look for this one once its released so I can cherish this artwork. Thank you to Mariah Rigg, the author, for making this art.

I am leaving this feedback voluntarily. I received an ARC copy. Thank you!!

Thank you Ecco and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available August 2025.

Whew - it's been a while since I read a collection of short stories as captivating as Mariah Rigg's Extinction Capital of the World. Told through a variety of narrators who are all interconnected, this collection attempts to capture the beauty and tragedy of modern life on the islands of Hawaii. What seems like one isolated tale slowly unfurls itself into a beautiful, colorful tapestry of domestic life and its political weight. Looming in the background is this ever present sense of loss - loss of parents, of children, of lovers, of land and history, of life itself. Yet Riggs balances it by showing us the new ways life carries on and on and on. Excellent work!