I was expecting a darker horror sci-fi story, but it's more of a cosy horror sci-fi with a pacing that was just too slow for me.

The prologue was gutwrenching, and I expected the rest of the story to carry the same tone. I read horror because I want it to get under my skin. Unfortunately, it failed to meet this expectation for me as it felt stale.

Anastasia, ironically, felt like a plant to me. She's just there. Her whole personality was being the harbinger of a future alien invasion, but in such a way that no one believes her. There's no charm about her. I wanted to enjoy this story so badly, but in the end, this just wasn't for me.


•••

I received an ARC from Netgalley. My opinions are my own.

It has been a while since I've read a science fiction novel, so I was excited to read this one!

Anastasia Miller is an alien disguised as a human. Since she was a child, she has been telling everyone that aliens will invade Earth, but, alas, no one believes her... until the invasion begins.

I was very interested in this concept and where this story would go. I think the pacing was, unfortunately, a little bit too slow for my liking. The majority of this novel is set pre-invasion, and while I enjoyed the beginning a lot, I would have liked the invasion to have been a bit sooner and lasted a bit longer.

There were a lot of side characters, and it felt like a lot of them were not developed enough. I would have loved a bit more time with some of them.

Overall, this was an interesting novel, but sadly, just not for me.

If you enjoyed Little Shop of Horrors, you might also like this one.
I've noticed criticisms around the heavy handedness of the themes, and leaning more young adult; I disagree. The themes of "other" and finding where one belongs/support were handled well.
I feel it should be mentioned that there is a rather graphic scene at the start of the novel, but holds meaning and importance throughout the rest of the plot, check trigger warnings.
If slower paced stories usually work for you, I would give it a go. I personally enjoyed this a lot more than Feed, but zombies don't really work for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC.

I loved it, and it is for sure one of the best books I’ve read lately! This is what I mean when I say I love Sci-Fi, because despite being set on Earth, the Sci-Fi elements facilitate a lot of important conversations.

This book has great characters with a nice found family dynamic, interesting themes, intriguing plot, and great pacing. It really kept my interest and I was always looking forward to finding time to read more.

I’ll keep picking up books by Mira Grant for sure.

There are some clear themes about othering in this book, and the choice to side with the other... which I'm all for... but when it's mixed up with the murdering of children it becomes very very problematic, and suddenly the initial positive message it is trying to make is very much overshadowed by another very big issue in society that is much too horrifyingly common to be swept under the rug as a gimmick, especially when you know the statistics on child abuse in the US.
It made me very very uncomfortable that the predatory behavior on children is displayed by people "transitioning".

Mira Grant is one of my favorite authors, so I think maybe I had too high expectations for this book, and that's why I couldn't give it 5 stars in the end. As a sci-fi story, it's pretty good. As a horror story, the first and the last chapters are really really good, and the middle somehow never reaches that level, which makes it feel worse.

The main character and her development in the book is really fascinating. The side characters are also interesting, but there's maybe a bit too many of them - a couple of them feel a bit redundant. Graham and Seymour were the best though. I loved reading about a transmasc love interest and how it influenced (or didn't) his view on Stasia.

The aliens were well-developed and had several really good details.

Alien invasion from the other side
—
This book wears its influences on its sleeve: War of the Worlds is quoted throughout, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Blob are noted at key points, and Little Shop of Horrors informs a lot of choices by the main character, Stasia. So you know what you’re in for, right?

Ah, but it’s so much better. Stasia is a pod person, as we’re told at the very start in graphic detail. Whether she’s the same Stasia as was born on Earth is debated throughout and there’s no simple answer, but suffice to say that she’s compelled to tell anyone who asks that she’s the vanguard of an alien invasion. Awkward for making friends or generally fitting in but she has a little found family who believe her and never mind about the rest of the world.

Until the invasion starts happening. Who will Stasia trust now, and who will trust Stasia?

I’ve seen criticism that some of the dialogue feels too YA but I think Stasia hasn’t had as much social experience as other thirty year olds so perhaps it’s obvious why she’s not as well-rounded as her age peers; but also this is fiction, so what are you gonna do?

I loved this book: I thought it covered difficult subjects with nuance; it gave voice to the other side of the argument (any argument!) in the delightfully unfiltered Toni; I liked how Graham’s character was handled throughout, even in the misgendering bits; and I really liked how Grant explored the legacy of the aliens’ past invasions and what it meant for the Earth. Because, to be honest, we aren’t doing a great job of stewarding it right now, so perhaps burning the whole thing down—as the Earth is doing—is the only way to fix the problem of humanity.

Four and a half stars

This was such an interesting book, and unlike the books I usually read. I like to sometimes branch out to different genres.
And I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed this book. Very well written and a fascinating read!

This book feels so refreshing, with its more comedic style that still retains character introspection and interesting relationships. I would have liked more character development for Stasia's friends, I feel like the only one I got a good grasp on was Toni. In particular, I expected more on Graham, especially as it feels like he comes in quite late given his importance as a fulcrum for Stasia's character.
As the narration is primarily on Stasia, this also translates into a very focused narrative. I did enjoy learning about her during the slow start, but once the plot starts going it does feel a bit restrictive.
It was a fast and engaging read, a mix of elements from some of my favourites (I think this book is perfect if you love Warm bodies, The 5th wave, and just a sprinkle of Annihilation) but I felt like I couldn't connect so deeply with the character or her motivations, and a couple of unadressed issues did bother me a bit, making the ending a bit unfulfilling.
Overall, I enjoyed the novelty of this take on the genre, it managed to still be unpredictable at times while making sense for the characters, even if I would have loved to explore more of the sci-fi elements.

Overgrowth had really fascinating world building, a great concept, but disappointing execution.

We start off with a fantastic prologue - dark and gripping, a brutal look into the very beginning of this alien invasion. It's confronting and scary - and then in chapter one we skip forward to 20-something years later, Stasia's going to her normal office job, thinking about her cat, her roommates, and office politics. It's tonally jarring, and all of the tension built up in the prologue immediately dissipates. Then once the alien invasion becomes plot relevant it immediately slows down again, and there's a lot of "we know they're coming, but we don't know exactly when and what will happen when they do". I loved the world building so much - the alien society, their reasons for invading, Stasia's alien-ness - all the scifi bits were so interesting! When the invasion actually started invasion-ing everything we learnt about the aliens and their way of life was really cool. Unfortunately the plot from then on felt like a series of chase scenes interspersed with new versions of the same 'for or against' argument.

Stasia and Graham were well written and their relationship was really lovely. The aliens are interesting and their perspectives feel very appropriately inhuman and, well, alien. The rest of the human characters were kind of meh. Toni especially was so confusing - she hated the aliens because of what happened to her as a child so she was against them, but she also hated humanity because she blamed them for what happened after that so she was kind of helping the aliens, but she wasn't and still hated them and was going to give all her research to humanity to help them fight, except she didn't do that? It felt like she was there to provide a more antagonistic anti-alien viewpoint, but that didn't really go anywhere.

I really wanted to love this one, and it had a lot going for it! Unfortunately it didn't stick the landing.

This was pretty good, but I found it difficult to get into. Giving it 3 stars for now, until I can give it a reread once my head is in a better space.

Overgrowth by Mira Grant is a compelling addition to the horror genre, but its marketing has unfortunately fallen into missteps that may leave potential readers (myself included) feeling misled. The promotional materials heavily emphasize intense action and horror, suggesting a fast-paced, gore-filled experience. However, the novel delves much deeper into atmosphere and psychological suspense, which seem to have been super understated in early marketing campaigns.
This mismatch may have your expectations clashing with the more slow-burn, eerie tone that Grant has written.

That said, the book excels in creating an unsettling and creepy setting that gave me that eerie lingering feeling of lurking danger. Grant’s world immerses you in an almost dystopian landscape, where nature has begun reclaiming its territory in bizarre and terrifying ways to the point where the environment itself becomes a character - dark, overgrown, and haunting while adding a layer of dread that permeates every page. Grant’s writing delivers spine-chilling moments without relying solely on graphic horror despite being sold that body-horror dream...

Overall, Overgrowth is a novel that favors suspense over sensationalism but fell a little flat for me after the halfway mark.

A huge thank you Daphne Press and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really wanted to like this but I think maybe the genre wasn't for me. The story was a great setting however this was a bit slow paced for me in parts. I'm willing to explore this genre more but I feel that it was wrong book, wrong time.

Whilst I appreciate others who are into this genre will enjoy it and the writing style is good, this is my first try with this genre and unfortunately it’s just not for me, but that is only personal preference and not a reflection on the author or their work.

Books featuring sentient plant life are like catnip to me at the moment, so when I read the blurb for Overgrowth I knew that this would be a must-read! A really intellectual and thought-provoking look at alien invasion, and incredibly human too! I loved Stasia, and the relationships she had with her friends, human and plant alike! A minor gripe would be the length - I mean minor in that I felt like it was taking me forever to read, but at the same time I was thoroughly enjoying the ride! I think the slow build-up was necessary for me to feel the stakes as a reader. More like this please!!!

Review time 🌱👽🛸

It’s been over a week since I read this book (thank you NetGalley for the ARC) and I have a lot of thoughts.

Overgrowth begins horrifically, a child is born and we learn in a distant third person narrative that this child then wanders into the woods at three years old and is graphically devoured by a plant and then replaced by an alien clone of herself that walks right up to her mother and says ‘The aliens took your real baby. They left me. I’m sorry’.

After this the book switches to first person and we the reader experience the rest of the story from the perspective of Stasia, who has lived her whole life knowing she is an alien and there is an invasion coming but being told she is crazy and will just grow out of it. She has fallen in love with a trans man called Graham (his identity is important to the story) who has accepted that she is an alien even though there is no evidence for it as she looks and acts completely human and she lives with two roommates who also both accept that what she says is at least true to her.

Then the invasion begins and our girl Stasia begins to show her true colours (literally and figuratively). She is torn between whether she should join the invasion or protect her friends, or both.

Don’t get it twisted though. Even though the invading aliens are carnivorous (mainly for humans) they aren’t the bad guys here and Mira Grant is not subtle with her messaging. How humans choose to treat the aliens when they are revealed to exist is linked in the book directly to how a lot of humans treat trans people and immigrants. I do take issue with conflating an invading species that is actually dangerous with immigrants/those seeking asylum and I don’t feel like it was the authors intention to say that immigrants actually are dangerous but that’s how it comes across through the comparison.

This book was a fun read with a few unexpected twists and trigger warnings for body horror, graphic violence and death of a young child, creepy plant things and blood devouring. There’s a lot more to it but I don’t want to give away spoilers.

The POV is enticing, a vanguard of alien species coming to invade the Earth. The characters were enjoyably flawed and humane and carried the story. The body horror aspects were also fantastic. Sometimes the pacing, especially in the latter half felt a little uneven. And while I don't expect speculative fiction to be too realistic, I still felt that there were times when for example agencies procedors didn't feel believable at all and that took me little out of the story. Overall still enjoyed this a lot.

DNF this book unfortunately. I had seen some positive chat on Instagram for this book and wanted to give it a try outside my usual genre. I do read sci-Fi but not horror.
Firstly I think the concept is great. A conflicted alien POV invasion. Exploring nature vs nurture in a unique way and I do love a found family trope.
The opening image with’s encounter with the alien species is dark and sets a certain tone for the book. I think this changes quite quickly and from what I read went almost to a cozy vibe. The pacing was off and for a dramatic start then got really slow.

I found the messaging a little to obvious from early on and feel it could have been woven better into a more subtle delivery. As interesting a concept it really wasn’t holding my attention and I didn’t find myself wanting to come back to finish it. I think if it is more your genre preference would be more enjoyable as you’d be more captured by preferred tropes.

Whilst this one had an incredibly compelling first chapter, my interest dwindled from then on. I read around 35% before I just had to admit that I was bored. I typically love alien invasion stories and have heard great things about Mira Grant’s other books but the pacing and characters weren’t for me. It very much like I was being told a lot rather than shown and some of the themes were heavy handed in a way that distracted me from the story. It also didn’t feel like much of a horror (which I felt is was pitched as) and I struggled to suspend my disbelief or feel invested in the story as time went on. It’s much more of a slow burn story than an alien invasion horror and ultimately wasn’t what I’d hoped.

DNF at 31%

I was expecting this to be more comedy sci-fi horror and instead it is more sci-fi action. The tone is also a little all over the place as it starts with a fairly graphic description of child death, and then flips to this much lighter style.
I think it might have worked better as a YA. The characters, despite being in their 20s, certainly already read very young.