I think this is one of the first books where I, personally, have encountered the “Alien” being the main character and the one who has been telling people her whole life, she is an alien. Honestly, the premise really drew me in because I wanted to know more about how she would act and react as her Plant Race of beings worked their way closer towards earth. I was actually pretty surprised by how she processed the discovery of more of her kind as well as the inner turmoil she faced when having to choose between the people she has grown to love, and the race of being which sent her to Earth to be a Harvest.

When Anastasia was 3, she walked into the woods, drawn by some unknown need to explore, and discovered a flower which smells of all the best things in the world. After three days, she emerged from the woods telling everyone she could that she was part of the vanguard of a race of beings on their way to our planet. Many people believed she was kidnapped and traumatized by the event, but her story never wavered and now in her mid-30’s she is still compelled to tell the same story whenever someone asks her where she is from or if she is an alien.

The book is eerie because I think it does ask some very good questions about humanity and what it means to be human. Though Anastasia is not technically human, she still feels emotions the same way though it does seem the closer her fleet nears to earth, the more her loyalty is swayed into the “Us vs Them” mindset. It’s hard to tell more without feeling I may fall over the line into spoilers, but I think this certainly falls into the realm of the book Annihilation by VanderMeer. The pacing is a bit slow at times, but it does give the reader time to understand what is going on instead of rushing through moments. Sometimes the dialogue gets a bit bogged down and repetitive but I still found the story compelling.

Overgrowth is a contempory sci-fi novel with an interesting concept but a boring execution. An alien plant species took over Stasia's body when she got lost in the woods at three years old. Now over thirty years later, those aliens are coming back, as she always said they would.

Stasia is a character that I found hard to believe has made it this long in adult society. She faces setbacks both at work and with family and friends for being so different, but she is still a functioning adult. The book uses this metaphor, and plenty others, to beat you over the head with the point that people who are different don't deserve to be treated poorly. While it's an idea I agree with, the book goes over this point over and over again, forcing the reader to hope the aliens come sooner so they can be free of it. It makes this book feel more like a character study and a reflection on society than a sci-fi story with an actual plot.

Overall, while this wasn't poorly written, it wasn't capturing any of my attention. While I've seen a lot of other readers really love this, for me, it was a unique concept that didn't follow through.

Alien plants - such a fun concept and I enjoyed this book throughout. I was surprised by the direction the story took and I enjoyed that the aliens weren't as evil as they could have been.

Creepy and thought provoking, Overgrowth is an unsettling tale about an alien invasion told from the alien's POV. Anastasia (Stasia) Miller walked off into the woods one day when she was three years old and was enchanted by an interesting flower/plant. She reaches out and touches the plant and, oops...... When she came back from that fateful meeting, she has been telling everyone that will listen that she is an alien. An alien that traveled through space and sprouted on earth. She has always been honest about what she is, but not many believe her.

This book is told through Anastasia/Stasia’s POV, and her tale begins when she is small and then jumps to when she is an adult and has a boyfriend. An alien message has been received and now people are beginning to take notice of what Anastasia/Stasia has been saying. Her real family is coming to get her. The days are counting down and things are beginning to get interesting.

This is an interesting book that looks at humanity, family, and choices. What happens when an alternative life form is raised and surrounded by humans. Does humanity prevail? What happens when the truth is far-fetched and hard to believe? What happens when contact is made? What happens when something new wants to take over?

As I mentioned this book is creepy and has an eerie vibe. I enjoyed the beginning of this book the most but also enjoyed the take on found family, finding those with whom you can relate, what are you willing to do for those you love, colonization, and speaking your truth. The descriptions are vivid, and this book does contain body horror. I can easily see this being made into a movie. The take on invasion, hiding in plain sight, the drama, the dread, the aspect of invasion, and danger. This was a nice mingling of science fiction and horror.

Mira Grant writes original books which are thought provoking and creepy. While this was not my favorite book by Grant, I did find it to be enjoyable, thought provoking, and eerie. I loved the unease which flows throughout this book. I also enjoyed some Stasia's thoughts on looking human but not being human. The I-look-and-talk like you but I am not one of you feel was very nicely done.

Other reviewers have mentioned the pacing, and I must agree with them. This book did lag for me in places and found myself wishing things would hurry up. But the book does get there in the end.

*I listened to the audiobook and though the narrator did a great job of bringing this book to life. If you are interested in this book, I suggest giving the audiobook a go as it was very well done.

This sci-fi alien invasion story sounded interesting but it stretched on a little too long for my tastes. The narrator did a good job and I would recommend it for fans of the Tom Cruise movie, The war of the worlds. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I absolutely love Mira Grant and I have and will continue to read everything she writes! (That counts for her other name too ;) this book was no exception. I could not put this down. The tension was building so steadily as more and more people became aware of exactly what was coming for them. I could feel the fear and dread as it built to a fever pitch as everything crashed down around our mcs. I absolutely loved this and it may be my new favorite eco-horror book.

Three-year-old Anastasia is playing in the front yard with her toys until she is lured into the woods and encounters an unusual plant. What walks out of the woods is not the real Anastasia but an alien copy of her. Alien Stasia grows up and leads a fairly normal life, except that she tells everyone she is an alien and that her kind will be coming back someday. Nobody takes this claim seriously, and Stasia even begins to doubt this herself, until an alien communication is received announcing the upcoming invasion.

From this premise, you’d think the tone would remain dark and creepy, maybe even sad. But the rest of the book never quite lived up to this promise. Instead, it focused largely on Stasia’s relationships with her friends and boyfriend, which gave a little bit of cozy found family vibes. I don’t typically enjoy cozy sci-fi, but I think I would’ve liked that aspect of the story more if the vibe shift wasn’t so abrupt and confusing.

I appreciated the trans representation in Stasia’s boyfriend, Graham. However, in almost every scene, Graham seemed to be holding back some doubts or feelings about his alien girlfriend. This made me expect some sort of conflict in Graham and Stasia’s relationship that never bubbled to the top, which felt almost like Graham was silenced for the sake of making him be 100% wholesome and the perfectly understanding boyfriend. For as great of a relationship as Stasia claimed they had, it didn’t make sense that they didn’t have a deep conversation discussing Graham’s feelings about having a partner that is one of the aliens attempting to brutally colonize his planet.*

This brings me to another point that bothered me a bit… There are many instances in which the government and society’s treatment of Stasia as an alien is very clearly analogized to the treatment of trans people, POC, and immigrants. I think I understand and appreciate what the author was attempting to do here. I’m just not sure the analogies work because, unlike marginalized people, Stasia IS a threat. Stasia exists only because of the gruesome murder of a three-year-old girl, and the aliens are colonizers invading to harm humanity. The book seems to preach that government and society are the bad guys, but am I crazy to think it is reasonable for the government here to try to protect its own people? It’s okay for society to view Stasia and the aliens as a threat because the aliens announced that they DO NOT COME IN PEACE. Others may not take the analogies as far as I did, but my brain can’t help but follow them to their logical conclusions. I think it’s a bit dangerous to be making the comparison between truly hostile aliens and marginalized people—even if, as in the case of Stasia comparing herself to Graham, the comparison is being made by the unreliable narrator herself.**

I do think there was potential here—particularly with the strong start. However, the inconsistencies in tone and messaging prevented me from fully enjoying this read.

Overgrowth is a standalone sci-fi novel set to publish on May 6, 2025.

ALC provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

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*POTENTIAL SPOILER: After finishing the book, I understand why that didn’t happen. However, I don’t think the ending really satisfied that void for me.

**I recognize that Stasia does have a throwaway line about how society treats Graham worse than her—but I’d argue the comparison was already made, and simply saying “oh but he has it a bit worse than me” doesn’t undo the fact that the comparison has been made at all.

Imagine that life from another planet arrives on earth in the form of seeds embedded in comets. Most of these life forms die before they have a chance to live, but a few survive and go on to grow inside human hosts. No, these aliens aren’t just stopping by to say hello, they’re planning a full scale invasion. The only hope humanity has may lie in one of the humans who was colonized by an alien seed when she was a child. A unique and thoughtful perspective on how the world ends, or how it survives

This book was absolutely fabulous! When she was three years old, Anastasia went into the woods and was forever changed. She told everyone that she was an alien. Now she is in her 20s and the invasion is about to happen. A communication was sent, and she and her boyfriend, Grant, go to see what it says. The journey Anastasia takes is nature vs nurture; the way she was raised as a human vs the plant-based species she is. This book had me asking big questions, and wishing I had more people to discuss this with! Anastasia's boyfriend is a transgender man, which is also how they are alike. Each of them is something that their body does not portray- female/male, human/alien. I loved the way Grant questions and is afraid of things that happen but ultimately supports his girlfriend. I love an alien invasion story, especially ones that make you question everything!

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