Book Review: Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer

After coming off the intense wild ride that is Annihilation, I was really excited to learn that I got a copy of Jeff Vandermeer’s newest book, Hummingbird Salamander. With a plot just as unique as the title and as beautiful and bright cover, this book was very mysterious, and nothing like I expected. Eco terrorists, murderous strangers, clown stalkers and taxidermy with numbers behind their eyes, I can safely say that I’ve never read anything like this before.

4/5 Stars 351 pages
Published April 6th 2021 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The story follows a woman who doesn’t want you to know her name. A badass bodybuilding and hardworking woman who we just know as Jane, who also has a husband and daughter and a great job. But unfortunately, she’s also a woman caught in the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy theory that has become a reality. And you’re right in there with her, seeing everything through her eyes.

Her life is pulled into a spiral the day the coffee shop barista hands her an envelope. Inside, a key to a strange locker and an address. In the letter, it claims that the writer is already gone, and that the main character is on her own now, but not completely alone. And that’s just the prequel. After arguing with herself about it, she decides to go check it out and finds a preserved hummingbird with a note that just says, simply, Hummingbird Salamander. Like that’s the answer to all the world’s questions. This, if you can believe it, sets the tone for the entire book. A mysterious confusing, and even maddening at times wild goose chase, this amazing book is unlike any other that I’ve read, and I never saw the ending coming.

The only thing that this book has in common with Annihilation aside from the same author, is that it’s just one of those books that are impossible to speed through. If you start skimming over stuff, you’re going to be lost, and it requires the entirety of your attention. A slow burn that has a lot of violence and just really unsettling scenes.

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Overall, this is a really great book, and it’s something I never could have imagined it would be. Better for more mature readers, I recommend it to anyone looking for a good mystery, but also someone with a strong stomach. And also someone who will stick through to the end no matter what. But that’s just coming from me, someone who would buy the book just to display the cover.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can here!

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, he posts a ton of cute racoon content, you can here on twitter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re having a great day.

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Book Review: Forgotten Violets by Martin Niewood

Surrounded by hundreds of miles of frozen tundra, Meadow and her friends have been picked up and imprisoned, and hauled into court to determine just what they’re doing here, because the only other people they’ve found until now that weren’t hostiles, were lost and died in the cold, or have been delivered to them burnt to a crisp. But why?

2/5 Stars 200 Pages Published October 14th 2017

With a rare ability to eat a strange fruit called elsyn, Meadow will eventually play a huge part in uncovering exactly what secrets are really going on here. There are wars, there’s a monster, and there’s a ghost of a man terrorizing civilians, and creating cults. But it goes much deeper than that, and it’s going to tear the entire fabric of the world apart.

That being said, and as interesting and unique as this book is, I had a lot of problems with it. I felt really confused for most of the book. I had this feeling the whole time that I was just dropped into the middle of a series without an explanation. Because of that, I couldn’t fully immerse myself into it, and had problems getting through it. I just was so lost that I wasn’t able to fully pay attention. That being said, maybe this book just wasn’t for me.

The setting was interesting and the plot was very unique, and for those reasons I would say if you’re fourteen and up and enjoy strange fantasy books, why not give this book a shot? It has a beautiful cover, and I can see people really enjoying it. Just because I didn’t, doesn’t mean you won’t either.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can here!

Hope you’re doing well and staying cool out there!

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.ca and affiliated sites.

Book Birthday Review: Expiration Date by Mardine Perrins

4/5 Stars 281 pages
Published March 9th 2021 by Kat Biggie Press

A fantastic new twist on a futuristic dystopia, Expiration Date is set in a world that still looks very much like our own, but has long moved past it’s population and non-renewable resources problem, as well as the damage that we’ve caused to the planet. It’s moving in an upward direction and back on track to being a healthy world, and it has very slight tech upgrades, such as hover cars and holograms. That being said, it’s all thanks to something that changed the entire world as soon as they started showing up, expiration dates on every single human being born in the last century, telling the exact date when a person will die.

With expiration dates came mass hysteria, mostly because people didn’t know what they were at first. A blessing and a curse, knowing your exact death date can be a huge challenge. But somehow that scared people off from having an over abundance of children. No one knows where they came from or why, but it alone saved the planet from the kind of certain doom that we face in our own world, in real life. People mostly calmed down, and everything has been evolving since then. That being said, is it moral to know exactly when you and everyone around you will die? It won’t save you from genetic problems, and if you end up being sick, or having dementia, you’re still forced to live with those problems until you pass away.

This story follows two sisters, Elisa and Ashlei, and also a man named Claude, as they deep dive into why exactly there are expiration dates, and if there isn’t something disfunctional going on behind them. After  babies start being born with very short dates, I’m talking less than a week of being born, it really kicks into overdrive to really find out what’s going on. And what the three uncover is despicable, and like nothing they could have ever imagined.

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I had a good time reading this book. I thought the plot was very original, and even though the viewpoints of the characters bounced around quite a bit, I didn’t have any problems keeping up. I really enjoyed that we got to see a dystopia in the making, because I think that’s something we rarely get to read about in books like these. If the characters didn’t uncover what was going on, what would have happened to the world? I think it would have turned into one of those dystopias where everyone lives under a dome and people are so heavily regulated that they’re not able to really live. And I thought that was very unique and interesting. The characters were realistic, I had no problems believing that they were smart individuals that could exist outside of the book, and even though it’s not my new favourite, I did enjoy reading it. If you’re into scifi in a world like ours, I think you’ll really enjoy it too.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.ca and affiliated sites.

Book Birthday Review: A Flood of Posies by Tiffany Meuret

5/5 Stars 255 pages
Published February 9th 2021 by Black Spot Books

I have to say before anything else, that this book was so intricate and amazing, and I really didn’t expect it. I definitely thought it would be a good one, a wild ride, but I really just didn’t know what exactly I was getting myself into when I started it. And I’m so thankful I got the chance to read it. This haunting book is something I feel like I will think about for a solid amount of time now that I’ve finished it. It’s horrific and fantastic, but in none of the usual ways. And I’ll explain why.

Following a pair of sisters in 2025 and also in 2026, one ten years older named Doris, and Thea, who jokingly says she was almost named the accident. Their lives are drastically different. Both traumatized by their abusive mother, someone who was obsessed with the image that she presented to the people around her, but not really caring what it took to get to that perfect image, including violence against the two. This lead them to live completely different lives, Doris living with her husband and suffering for her independence after a debilitating car accident, and Thea, an addict living anywhere she can. Everything changes however, when the flood comes. And with it brings the Posies.

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The story rotates between two chapters of before, and two after the flood. It shows both sisters lives, and through these chapters we really get to know each character very intimately and deeply. Easily these two and their mother could be very real people, and there’s no problem believing that. Mixed into that is this fantastically scary world filled with water and death and basically just Thea, or better known as Sestra after the flood, doing what she has to, to survive. This book does an amazing job of describing exactly what it would be like to have to live in the middle of an ocean with no land in sight, and especially no food or water. Starving and dying of thirst, Sestra finds herself on a boat with a man she doesn’t know named Rob, as the two struggle to survive. That’s just the beginning though. Because the Posies are always underneath the surface, just waiting for something to come by. Massive octopus like creatures, they can easily take boats down and crush whatever they can grab a hold of with their tentacles.

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I had a really good time reading this book. As horrific as some of the chapters were, and they really made me scared for them sometimes, I think it did it’s job, and it did it well. This is what I want from a book like this. And I can guarantee that it’ll be something you’re thinking about for a long time after you’ve set it back on your shelf. I think it’s even something I could read again and again, and I very rarely say that. I’d love to have a copy for my own shelf. The breathtaking cover reveals little about what is actually inside the book, and I just really love everything about it. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.ca and affiliated sites.

Fae Child (The Fae Child Trilogy #1) by Jane-Holly Meissner Review

5/5 Stars 220 pages
Published December 15th 2020 by Inkshares

Here’s another one of those books that I finally finished, and thought to myself, why didn’t I read this sooner? With the same old winter and summer courts in the land of the fairies, this book gives a unique twists on the fantasy when a young child is mistakenly pulled through a portal, and left in her place is a changeling. Focusing on both sides of the portal, one with the girl and her journey back home, and the other with her father, an exiled elf from said land who’ll stop at nothing to get her back before it’s too late.

What I didn’t expect from this book was how childlike and innocent it managed to stay throughout the story, whether it was battles with goblins or wolfs or other wild creatures or on the other side of it, as a father battles his own feelings trying to pretend that the changeling is in fact the daughter he knows is missing to save his wife from finding out the unbelievable truth about the whole situation. Though the characters went through some stressful times in the story, I didn’t feel stressed out reading it, which is something I really appreciate especially with my headspace lately. I couldn’t ask for more from this book.

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The worlds that it’s weaved into are really easy to imagine, and the characters are loveable even when they’re being a touch frustrating throughout the story. I really couldn’t put it down once I started it, and I think my favourite characters were probably Foster, a young child guardian of the summer court, and of course Abbie, our main character. I’d love to get to know them better in the future. Since this is a trilogy, I can’t wait to see what’s next in the storyline. Will the characters be older? Will it be completely different characters in the same world? Why aren’t half elves really allowed to exist in either world? These are just some of the many questions I’d love to have answered in the next installment.

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Overall, if you’re looking for an exciting story built out of an old classic, than I highly recommend checking out this book. It has a beautiful cover that would make a lovely addition to any bookshelf, mine included, and I think really anyone from young teen to adult would enjoy this, and I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t, unless they’re just really not into fantasy like this.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here through my Amazon Associates link!

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great day, and are doing well.

Book Birthday Review: And Then She Vanished (Joseph Bridgeman #1) by Nick Jones

5/5 Stars 350 pages
Published February 2nd 2021 by Blackstone Publishing

Something I don’t get to read very often, are these kind of time travel stories. Ones without tech and the usual aspects of science fiction. It’s not in the future, it’s in the now, and it doesn’t have any of the flashy bells and whistles. And that’s exactly what I love about them. It’s gritty, it’s raw, and it’s just so interesting to me that I absolutely cannot get enough of it. This book was no exception. From the moment I picked it up I knew I would be hooked, and to my delight, it won’t end at the last page. It’s something that will continue to bring me joy in the future. And I’m almost ecstatic about it.

As a young teenager, Joe’s life was torn apart when he took his little sister Amy to a local fair. Trying to win a prize for her, he took his eye off of her for only seconds when she vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. No one ever found out what happened to her. It destroyed his family, and his sense of self worth. As an adult, Joe finds himself drinking himself to sleep every night and quickly running out of money, as well as being on the verge of losing his house. But Joe has a secret, a special power that seems unrelated to everything else. Sometimes object speak to him, they tell him their story through a kind of vision on his head when he touches them. And then after losing too many nights to insomnia, his friend convinces him to try hypnotherapy. That’s when everything changes.

After his first session he feels like it hasn’t really done anything, but that night he time travels back in time, just an hour. He watches himself do his nightly routine, all the while, he’s frozen with fear. And then it happens again, only farther back, and for a longer time. And then he starts trying to do it. That’s when he realizes that he might be able to change his past, make his life better, and even save his sister, and his entire family.

This book was amazing from the beginning until the end. I didn’t want to put it down for a second, for fear of missing something, even though I know it’s a book, and I can just go back and re read it if I do. Joe’s story, and the world crafted around him, is just so intense and interesting that it’s almost believable. The emotions portrayed in this story are so real and raw, that the characters really seem like actual people you could know. And the best part of all, is that I wasn’t left with any questions at the end, which I think is a pretty hard thing to do. Everything was like a perfectly put together puzzle, and I couldn’t get enough of it. We get to watch Joe go from a depressed hermit who’s lost everything in his life but his few friends, to someone who actually wants to put effort into his life again. And I think the most important part, is that the story really teaches you about having to let go the things that you can’t change, and you have to start living your life before it’s too late.

I think this book is for anyone looking for a really heartfelt story with a scifi twist that’s not too overwhelming. If you are a fan of books like How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, and The Time Traveller’s Wife, I think you’ll really enjoy this. It has the same kind of subtle scifi aspect as those books, and I loved this one just as much as I did those. I can’t wait to see what comes next for Joe, and I think that with the absolutely breathtaking cover that this book has, it would make a beautiful addition to anyone’s bookshelf.

If you’d like to check it out for yourself, you can grab a copy here, through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can on Twitter here!

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day.

Starfire Angels (Dark Angel Chronicles #1) by Melanie Nilles Review

4/5 Stars 172 pages
Published December 19th 2013 Prairie Star Publishing

You know how I get, I have a vision of a kind of book in my mind, and I just don’t feel right until I read it. Luckily, it was pretty easy for me to find an angel book in my library, and this one was so interesting I was easily able to dive right into it. A different take on the usual kind of archangel books I’ve read, this one contained a new species of aliens I’ve never read before, ones that look exactly like humans and are able to hide their huge angel wings to blend in. I really enjoyed reading it.

The main character is a girl named Raea, who was orphaned at five years old, but luckily taken in by her aunt and uncle, and two younger cousins. She’s always felt kind of off, but didn’t know why until the topics in this book came up. Turns out she’s actually part of an alien species, and the quiet creepy guy behind her is the only one that can help her. She’s a little immature about the entire situation, wanting to date the hot foreign guy, but what could you ask from a teenager who found out she has mystical powers and insanely huge angel wings? She eventually finds her footing just in time to save her secret.

There is a part that I didn’t really enjoy reading, and that is that there’s a memory that she’s trying to dig out of her brain just so she can know it. While I understand it, I don’t really know why it was added to the story, seeing as it wasn’t important, and I feel like it was just put in there to make you uncomfortable and hate the bad guy in the story more. I didn’t really trust or like him before that, and I feel like the trauma being brought up and just kind of thrown in there wasn’t necessary. Just warning you, if you get upset at the topic of sexual assault than just be warned that they do discuss it in this book. It’s pretty far in, though and it’s really at a time that you wouldn’t expect it.

The story was exciting and the characters were a little cringey at times, but I did enjoy reading it, and I’m interested in the next book after this. I’m hoping that we get to know more about Raea’s family’s home through the portal, and that we get to know more about the species in general. What their language is all about, and what their abilities are all about. Why they are the keepers of alien life forms in crystals and all that. I definitely recommend checking it out if you’re looking for an interesting book about angels to read, and you don’t mind young adult fiction.

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If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates link.

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

The Rising Storm (Paradigm #1) by Ceri A. Lowe Review

5/5 Stars 340 pages
Published April 4th 2018 by Bookouture

Wow, I knew this book would be right up my alley, I just didn’t know how much I would actually love it. And I really did love it. A new and exciting take on the well worn path of a young adult dystopia novel, I really couldn’t get enough. It very much gave me Fallout vibes, and if you know me, you know I’m obsessed with that game. I couldn’t ask for more from it, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book in the trilogy.

Following a fifteen year old boy named Carter, we see his life unfold as he’s forced underground to pay his duties to the community, to freeze himself until they need him sometime in the next twenty years. He’s giving up what family he has left, his grandfather, after his parents passed away, and really everyone he knows. But he knows it’s what he has to do for the good of the world that he lives in. What he doesn’t know, is that someone’s pregnant with his children. And the world he thaws into is much more dysfunctional than the one he was frozen in fifteen years before. And most of all, that they think he’s their only hope for change.

It also follows Alice, a child who’s stuck in the middle of a devastatingly changing world almost ninety years before Carter’s frozen. She’s left alone in the middle of a flooding world, forced to fend for herself until help eventually comes in the form of the Community that eventually blossoms into the world that Carter knows. The two children are woven together in rotating chapters, and like I said at the beginning, I really couldn’t get enough of this book. I powered through it like it was nothing, and it really makes me want to read more dystopia novels, like now.

Exciting and unique, the thing I loved most about this book was how the two children’s stories were put together. They seem very different on the surface, but the more we get to know about them, the more we realize that the stories are a lot more similar than we originally thought. Both go through hardships, and both want what’s best for the community, but they have differing opinions that get them into trouble with the people around them. Originally one was sort of a rebel against the community and the other was everything that they wanted, but as we learn, they turn into something else entirely and find themselves in completely different places by the end of the book. I don’t think I would change anything about it at all, and I’m eager to start the next book in the trilogy as soon as I get a chance. One thing I was confused about however, was if everything was horrifically flooded for the better part of five years, wouldn’t all the houses be horribly water damaged? Or did it just storm and not horribly flood? Anyways, not important. I loved it, and that’s it.

If you’re into young adult dystopia novels with a new take on the subject, than I definitely think you should give this one a chance. Who knows? You might love it just as much as I did. You can grab a copy here, through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here, on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well.

Refraction by Christopher Hinz Review

Let me just say that this was one of the most interesting, and well put together books I’ve read in a long time. I did put it off for a while when I was taking a break from reading, but I wish I didn’t. There wasn’t a single thing about this book that wasn’t intriguing, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I also wouldn’t change anything about it. Completely unique, I hope I can read more books this different in the future, because if you’ve read it, you just know that it’s going to be something that’s stuck in your head for a while after you finish it.

5/5 Stars 400 pages
Published November 10th 2020 by Angry Robot

Aiden has a power. It’s not anything he deems special or exciting though, because his power is that sometimes when he sleeps, he manifests a pile of slime somewhere in a ten foot radius from his body. And once he wakes up, it falls to the ground, or into whatever it’s levitating above, and hardens, usually destroying the thing in the process. It’s messy, it’s kind of gross, and his sister hates it. But it’s his life, and that’s all he’s known since he was a kid. Then one day, everything he knows is turned upside down.

After receiving a cryptic phone call from the people who bought his deceased parents house, he learns that his father has hidden a safe behind the old furnace, in the wall, and it’s addressed to him, and not only that, but if it’s tampered with or forced open by someone else, the contents will be destroyed. So he heads to their house after a fight with his sister. But what’s in the safe changes his life forever.

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This is the beginning of the longest week of Aiden’s life. He learns that he was adopted, and that the first eighteen months of his life, him and six other babies were basically science experiments until the project was forced to shut down, and they were adopted out. Six other people who can do what he does, and maybe more. And he needs to get to the bottom of it. But what he finds at the bottom, and frankly, on the way to the bottom, is really crazy and almost unbelievable if it wasn’t happening in real time. He almost gets killed many, many times, makes some interesting friends, and has the adventure of a lifetime. And I couldn’t put it down.

I would say that this is probably one of my new favourite books. When I was describing the events to people I know, it all seemed so crazy. And it really is. That’s just what I loved about it the most.. I think it’s something you just have to experience to really understand it. I highly recommend it to everyone reading this. Even if you think it wouldn’t be for you, just give it a shot. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates link.

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe, and enjoying insane books like this.

Insight (Web of Hearts and Souls #1) by Jamie Magee Review

Sometimes you just need a break from all the rush of the world and all the new books coming out. Sometimes you just want to sink into the kinds of books  you read as a teenager. And sometimes, you just want to relax while you’re reading, and I think this was that book for me. I think the idea of weaving multiple series together is a really interesting and unique idea, and I can’t wait to check more of these books out. Overall, I really enjoyed it.

4/5 Stars 314 pages
Published July 20th 2010

Insight is the story of a teenage girl who’s life is suddenly uprooted when she not only receives a mysterious tattoo after waking from a horrible nightmare, but also when she finds out that her dreams, the boy she’s been meeting in them for as long as she can remember, and that alternate dimensions are all very real things. Not completely ready for the big change, she’s forced to go on the run after the intimidating boy, not her boy but the one from her nightmares, begins hunting her down.

I really enjoyed the powers that the people in the book have, specifically Willow’s, because I think it would be really interesting to be able to know the exact emotions of the people around you. I thought that the characters were pretty realistic from their reactions to the paranormal things going on around them, like going into different dimensions like it’s not an insanely huge deal, going from living in the world that we know in real life to one where there’s complete peace, and even going into a dimension where their world is completely devoid of colour. I think all of those things were really unique and I can’t wait to see how they develop even more throughout this whole series.

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My problems with this book aren’t really big problems. I just expected more action and exciting things to happen, but this is more of a foundation book for the rest of the series. Though exciting things did happen in this book, I think that even bigger events and things will happen throughout the rest of the books. Honestly I can’t wait to see what happens, because there are quite a few. It seems to be a long running series, and that’s really what I could use right now. Just beware, this story is more an explanation for things to come and I think really sets everything up, rather than having all the action here and now like a lot of the other books I read.

Like I said up there, I really enjoyed reading this book, and I think if you’re into young adult paranormal fiction books, you’re going to enjoy this one too. Maybe think about picking it up if you get the chance!

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author on Twitter, you can here!

Thanks for reading! Do you love teen fiction as much as I do? Hope you’re having a great day!