Marian Womack's latest novel, The Swimmers, is an eco-dystopian novel set in a time where global warming has done all the damage we could have imagined. Yet there were survivors, more or less.

Set in the 2300s, Earth is very different from the one we all know. This is the world that Pearl grew up in. A world divided, as some moved to the atmosphere to continue to lives of luxury. While others continued doing the best they can for themselves on a ravaged surface.

Pearl's life is forever changed after a series of declarations and events, all of which sent her reeling. Now she's questioning everything, including what she thought she knew about those around her – and herself.

Okay, so I really wanted to like The Swimmers. I loved the cover (who doesn't love the idea of giant Venus Fly Traps?), the description sounded cool, and of course I adored the concept of exploring a completely different world.

However, I did struggle pretty hard when it comes to following the narrative of this story. Not because it was too complex, I just found myself working too hard to become invested in it all. Including Pearl's story, I'm sad to say.

I actually had to go and look at other reviews before sitting down to write this one, just to make sure that I wasn't missing something major. Apparently I might have been, as some people think that this novel is heavily inspired by VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy. Not having read that myself, I can't say one way or the other. Though I will be adding that series to my list!

Long story short: The Swimmers had a lot of really cool ideas, but the follow through was only okay. I loved the tech, I loved the atmosphere, but ultimately felt a lack in that essential human connection.

"The Swimmers" pulled me right in from the very first sentence. It's incredibly well-written, with a depth to the characters that surprised me. The futuristic world this is set in is a little bit frightening, as is the plot. I do wish this book had been longer, but I can always hope for some spin-off tales to expand on some characters/events!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Not the book for me. I thought it sounded interesting based on the premise, but once I started to read it, I struggled. I read about 1/4th of the way and had to DNF. I would still read more by the author to give another chance. But this just wasn't the right book.

2/5 Stars

The concept of a climate change dystopia was really seducing, as I like both of those aspects. However, I did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would.

The lore is pretty good. We get introduced to a world in which climate change has divided humanity. The rich and powerful have built a ring in space. Those on the ground suffer heatwaves, mutating plants and animals. That is pretty much all I can say about the plot though. I don't think I understood what the book is really about. It had a lot of description to show how Earth is because of human actions, etc, so it had this moralizing vibe, but that's normal given the topic. It could have been a little less though.

Aside from that, the story is told from different timelines, and I think I got lost in it. I didn't know where the characters were, why they were there, and what was happening. Overall from my perception (because I didn't understand everything), I read a book that describes what could happen in on of the worst climate change scenario.

The characters were ok. I liked reading about Pearl. She is smart and had a nice vibe to her. I didn't like much her future husband (can't remember his name, sorry), so I skipped a bit his chapters. Still, there is a character in the book I absolutely love, and that is Savina. She is the "maid" or similar position to Pearl's family, and she has this mystical vibe about her. She's not a witch but Pearl grows watching her brew potions and beverages that seem to have magical effects. She's the kindest character of the book and acts like a mentor for Pearl, which probably has a huge impact on the way she will grow up. So, yeah, Savina was definitely my favorite character!

In the end, I didn't enjoy this book too much, because I didn't understand it. I'm not sure this is entirely due to the author though. I think my brain got muddled by other things too, and maybe I'll reread it someday and realize it had more to it than I originally thought. Still, it lacked action for me, and this is also why I couldn't concentrate as much. It is definitely not a bad book, but just one that wasn't for me now.

DNF at 58%

I was so happy when I got approved for this book that I started reading it right away. But I’m disappointed to say I didn’t like it at all. I couldn’t even finish reading it.

The Swimmers is set in a post-apocalyptic world of overgrown, dangerous plant life and mutated enormous animals. The premise was very intriguing, full of potential, but unfortunately, the story meandered through in a seemingly aimless way. By the halfway mark, there was no conflict in sight or any sort of build-up to anything.

We follow mostly Pearl’s perspective – from her present self, living in the Upper Settlement, a society perched at the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere as well as through flashbacks of her growing up on the surface of the planet, at the edge of the forest. The narrative focuses mostly on the character’s lives, past and current; on their own preconceived notions of their society and social customs. But the whimsical and strange setting was irrelevant; this story could’ve developed essentially in the same way in a realistic, modern-day setting.

I really liked how the human waste and environmental subjects were handled. It makes for a scary possible future of humanity if things continue as they are. And I also loved the writing style. It was entrancing, beautiful at times, and somewhat detached as well.

But overall, I just didn’t care much for The Swimmers. It wasn’t for me.

I was so looking forward to this book, and unfortunately I could not finish it. It was beautiful and lyrical but so messy at the same time. I could not get into it, and it was just not for me.

Thank you NetGalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

Okay. Where to begin...I found this book both fascinating and terrifying to read. The social concepts are interesting and have clever plot points. The terrifying part of reading this was how out of depth I was in the same interesting plot and it's beautiful way its written. It is defiantly a deep thinker book...yes thank Jeff Vandermeer. He is one of these authors whom I love, but sometimes have to read the book a second time to get everything.

Book Review for The Swimmers by Marian Womack
Full review for this title can be found at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

The Swimmers is a furistic fable about how the power of storytelling can be turned into propaganda by those who wish to impose their will on others.

It's messy and, at times, hard to follow. But it's also lyrical and beautiful to read. Chaotically structured and constantly rambling just like the jungle the story takes place in.

There are plenty of poignant comments on the ever-increasing gap between the mega-wealthy and the poor, and how wealth will insulate the 1% from the devastating effects of climate change:

"‘The ultra-rich continued evolving their technology as if nothing that was going on was their problem. First, they had escaped into exclusive compounds; then into orbiting houses; and lastly, into the ring itself. With time, half of us had been abandoned here.’"

An an interesting point of view - that looking to past mistakes won't help us prevent future ones. In fact, obsessing over our past weights us down and prevents us from seeing creative future solutions:

"We were dooming ourselves to the same nonsensical repetition of the same nonsensical mistakes that the pre-Winter men had made. We were weighed down by things that had come to us centuries ago,"

More than once while reading the novel I thought of the heated beauty and chaos of one of my favourite classic novels, Jean Rhys's "Wide Sargasso Sea". I was, therefore, quite astonished to read in the acknowledgements that the author directly refers to Rhys's novel!:

"I have taken my inspiration closely from the novel. Since I first read it, Wide Sargasso Sea has struck me with how closely I could relate to its description of a world in which issues of ‘equality’ and dominant culture proved that nothing as prosaic as the law could indeed make us equal, and that many other undercurrents decide these things for us."

A recommended read for those who enjoy lyrical, beautifully written prose with opaque and complex storylines.

First and foremost thought on this one…Well, someone read and liked The Southern Reach Trilogy very much and decided to do something similar. Albeit, objectively inferior. And some of it is because VanderMeer at his best is tough to beat. And some of it is due to this book’s pacing. It’s kind of…dreamy? I mean, the narrative has a distinct dreamy quality to it, too. But it’s the acing that throws the entire production off, though not catastrophically.
The main basis for The Southern Reach books comparison is due to the fact that this book is so heavily set among the creative flora and fauna of a different world. But otherwise this is a different book and the world within it is very different, also. Womack imagines a dystopia where there has been a split, with some living up in the orbit, with luxury and technology while others are stuck back on the radically changed by climate devastation Earth. So this is a work of climate science fiction, thanks global warming.
The different social strata are very well laid out, the socioeconomic guidelines define denizens of both locations, though it is more complex on Earth, since it is, among other things, a more complex environment. The oceans are held back by walls and the wildlife has grown gigantic, prehistorically so. Since this is where the book’s protagonist lives, the readers get to know this world through her as she navigates her way around it. Some of the novel is spent with her being isolated and pregnant up in the skies, in a world that’s been rumored to have become infertile. Some of it is her life throughout the years on Earth. Alternatively, you also get Arlo’s perspective, her love interest from the orbit, who travels down to marry her. Oddly enough, some of the plot details are already fading from my mind and it’s only been two days and three books since I’ve read it. Must be because the plot never quite lived up to the splendidly imagined scenery, especially toward the end is kind of ambled around. The thing with The Southern Reach trilogy is that for all its magnificent nature writing, the plot has always steadily marched to the beat of its drums, no matter how weird that beat or those drums might have been. This book tended to meander instead of marching.
It was still interesting and original and lusciously imagined, though maybe not quite as streamlined plot wise as I would have liked. Still enjoyable to read and went by very quickly. Fans of literary dystopias, especially with climate angle, might do well to check this out. Thanks Netgalley.