If you are a fan of VanderMeer's work, this book is worth reading if only to see how VanderMeer's craft has grown and he handles the conventions of an eco-thriller spy narrative.

If you are a newcomer to VanderMeer, this book is by no means a bad entry into the author's work, particularly if you like blockbuster-style stories of espionage, but have grown tired of amnesiac super spies as protagonists.

As I made my way through the narrative, I understood why certain moves and decisions were made. I struggled to buy the main character's obsessive behavior, and ultimately felt that the genre conventions of the personal thriller required a suspension of disbelief I couldn't quite muster about the timeline of events that propelled the main character to her final decisions.
The story's successes are in spite of its A-plot. VanderMeer's character work and worldbuilding and prose work together to evoke an existential dread about the extinction-level crises our planet is experiencing due to human behavior, while also creating a memorable main protagonist and villains.

VanderMeer's books have always been a bit tough for me to get into. I WANT to like this but something about the writing style seems to throw me off. I ended up going back to this book multiple times before I could actually get into a grove reading it. I know that a lot of people enjoy them, and the story itself was really good, but given that it took me multiple attempts to try and get into this, I had to rate it pretty low.

I went into this one completely blind and I absolutely loved it.

I was engaged the whole time and I really enjoyed the story.

I highly recommend for fans of fiction!

Reader Lisa Flanagan inhabited "Jane Smith" in a way that added depth to Jeff VanderMeer's narrator. Our anonymous narrator, "but you can call me Jane," is a formidable woman -- "six feet tall and two-thirty," a high school wrestler, college weight lifter, and former semi-pro bodybuilder. She works as a security consultant in a semblance of the Pacific Northwest. Yet nothing about her life, her future, or the world will remain secure, as she travels down a rabbithole spurred by a message from the mysterious ecoterrorist Silvina. VanderMeer weaves in fascinating natural history details as his narrator and supporting characters navigate a world sickened by climate change, pollution, rampant wildlife poaching, and pandemics. It feels so close to real. The book starts in media res and the stakes mount from there. Jeff VanderMeer fans, climate change fiction fans, and readers who enjoy twisty, cryptic mysteries will not be disappointed.

[Thanks to Blackstone Audio and NetGalley for an opportunity to listen to an ARC of this book in exchange for my opinion.]

As usual, when reading Jeff VanderMeer, I finished the book and have no clue what I read. But the cover is stunning. "Jane" is our main character and narrator who received a taxidermied hummingbird and sets off a series of events that become more confusing and violent as the book progresses.

I found "Jane" to be a very frustrating character. She's not particularly likable, very cryptic, and makes the most idiotic and mind-boggling decisions ever! I mean, who receives a taxidermied animal from someone you don't even know and makes the immediate decision to throw their life away over it?! If you like other work by VanderMeer, though, I think you might still enjoy this. It felt similar to his book Annihilation to me.

This book was a great mix of a thriller and social
Commentary. This was set in a semi post apocalyptic world where species are going extinct and there are serious climate issues.

We follow a woman who goes on a bit of a wild goose chase following the clues her dead friend left behind. She finds a stuffed hummingbird and chases down a salamander on the path to understanding, hence the title of the book. The ending was a bit of a downer and left me wanting more from the story.
I do wish I read this story rather than listening to it. I found myself getting interrupted at important parts or getting distracted and not following the characters correctly.
This was a solid story but definitely one out of the norm.

I unfortunetly decided to DNF this book at 25%. I've always heard amazing things about Jeff VanderMeer's books, but I think this one isn't for me. I really enjoyed the writing style and I'll probably look more into his other books. My biggest problems with the book are that I wasn't very interested in the mystery and I couldn't stand the main character.

Eco-thriller is not a genre I run to, but damn, this was fantastic. Thought-swirling and mind-bending in just the right way. I recommend this to everyone I meet.

quite confusing and left me with so many questions through out. I did like the narrator and appreciated that the book came together at the end.

While this was my first foray into the weird fiction world of Jeff VanderMeer, Hummingbird Salamander did not scare me off. While I spent a fair amount of the novel basically clueless as to what was going on, I also couldn't turn the book off. After receiving a weird note and piece of taxidermy for a known ecoterrorist, security consultant "Jane Smith," goes on an unsanctioned mission to follow Silvina's footsteps and get to the bottom of the mystery of her death and the rare hummingbird she's been given. Lisa Flanagan's narration of Jane's race through clues held the perfect tension to keep a reader literally plowing forward through the muck with Jane. You may not have any idea what's actually going on till the absolute very end, but you'll be too sucked in to care about being confused. Apparently this embodies VanderMeer's "weird fiction" at its finest and I'm certainly ready for another does of crazy.

I know the intent of this book was to confuse.... To keep you guessing.... But I felt it was just too much!
I honestly couldn't finish.. I tried I really did. I'm hoping to go back and re-listen at a later date.
But it was just too meh for me.
Thanks NetGalley Publisher and the Author for this audio book!

I always go into a Jeff VanderMeer book fairly sure I'm not going to have a clue what's going on, but that I'll enjoy the ride all the same. That was exactly what happened here! We follow a woman who we are told to call Jane as she investigates the mysterious woman known as Silvina - a possible eco-terrorist and daughter of a wealthy industrialist. What follows is a wild journey involving taxidermy while all around her, the world descends into climate disaster. I really enjoyed the noir vibes of this book and thought that 'Jane' was a really interesting character. I didn't understand a lot of the plot, but I thought that there was some great commentary on the state of the planet and where we are heading. Ultimately, I probably won't remember this book in a few months, but I certainly enjoyed the experience while I was in it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A thrilling spy-like mystery set in a not-so-distant dystopian future. Investigates the perceived fine line between eco-activism and eco-terrorism.

“Jane Smith” is a Cybersecurity Analyst who is given a key to a storage locker containing a taxidermy of an extinct hummingbird and this changes her life forever. Told as if through a journal written by “Jane,” we discover that the events take place in a dystopia eerily similar to present day. “Jane” follows a trail of breadcrumbs left by the mysterious Silvina, in the hopes that she is aiding an eco-activist, and not an eco-terrorist — this novel explores the perception of extreme activism in a world desperate for extreme help. “Jane” uncovers her past as she fights to survive and solve the mystery of Silvina’s work.

This definitely reads more like a Spy Thriller/Mystery than Sci-Fi, though there is a lot of tech and ecology. I think that the anonymity of “Jane’s” writing sometimes made it difficult to connect with the characters involved, and after finishing the book I question the need for the anonymity for anything more than a bit of intrigue. This was definitely a fast-paced read, easy to digest, but ultimately I was never hooked. I did really enjoy how the novel’s place in time was quite blurred into present day, and the nods to the pandemics, and masks etc. helped to story to hit home. Definitely an enjoyable read and much more of a 3.5/5 star than a 3 star.

Lisa Flanagan’s narration was perfect for “Jane’s” story.

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback.

One day the sun will expand and engulf the Earth.
Until this day, we have to live with the knowledge that we disappointed Jeff.
Whatever shall we do?
This is a great story of confusion, mental illness, desperation, and fear. Fear for the future, for humanity, for humans in general and specific. We are all trash, especially you reading this right now, you are trash and your face is trash. You should feel bad for existing and your children are particularly ugly and uncreative. If you don't have children, its because YOU are particularly ugly and uncreative.
I understand the point; pollution is bad and humans wrecked the environment and now we have to live (or die) with the consequences of our past decisions. Well, the decisions of humans past and our decisions to not fix things. This seems a fair criticism of humanity and capitalism.
The book is well written. I state that as fact because VanderMeer is a great writer. He gets words and how to use them, and I can't take that away from him.
The story is good. I like the parts that small misunderstandings lead to big consequences because life do be like that sometimes.
My gripe is the soliloquies about how bad humans are. One rant would be acceptable to show how the character processes information and interacts with the world; chapters' worth of ranting is a distraction and annoying.
I didn't say wrong, I said distracting and annoying.
I recommend this book for the writing quality and a fun plot with a meaningful and important message. Because even with the distractions and annoyingness of VanderMeer on his soapbox, he does write a good book.
**I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer, narrated by Lisa Flanagan.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Audiobooks for a complimentary audio ARC for an honest review.

This was definitely a gripping thriller of a read. It was very thought-provoking on our role in the destruction of our environment and the solutions we can find to repair it.

The narration was excellent. She kept the suspense going until the very end.

#HummingbirdSalamander #NetGalley

I was not a fan of this book. It did not catch my attention at all sadly as it sounded so promising.

Great audiobook! Great writing gave this an enjoyable literary voice. Mixing thriller, sci-fi, climate change, and family drama is a big feat. that I think works quite well with the somewhat-anonymous MC. Definitely a book and approach that will be unexpected for many readers but never too dull to ignore.

2.5 stars

I read the hard copy of this book about a month ago and am including my original review for the content below. However, I will add that I got what I was hoping for out of the audiobook. While the novel did not work for me for the reasons outlined below, I appreciated the narration of the audiobook and found it much more palatable and clear than reading the work in a more traditional format. In short, folks interested in absorbing this novel will get more out of the audio version than print/e-versions.

Here is my original review of the electronic version (for content):

It's a rare occasion when I mark a book under three stars, but for me, this novel reads like a creepy _The Crying of Lot 49_ imposter. This looming impression became nearly frightening when I realized that the Unitopia diagram includes an abstract Trystero symbol, but that's fun trivia, not the defining moment.

I loved the film version of _Annihilation_ and have been wanting to read VanderMeer for years, so when this arc came up - thank you NetGally and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for what has definitely become a memorable read for better or worse - I was thrilled to be approved. However, the honest review I need to provide in exchange is nothing like I hoped it would be.

Though some reviewers lament the irritatingly unreliable narrator, I am not so much bothered by this. The narrator - whose name remains vague and mysterious - is problematic for a different reason; she's completely unlikeable. If the argument is that the world will end if we don't get ourselves together, then it is helpful to have someone to root for in this situation. If this narrator is the chosen representation of our society, maybe we are ready for a refresh.

In graduate school, I had a professor who experienced something so strange: periodic deposits of half-eaten bags of chips on their front porch. For years, this confounded and disturbed them. While I thought it was both hilarious and bizarre that they would live with the mystery (this was awhile ago, so the home surveillance situation was tougher but still), I am equally fascinated by how a key and a taxidermized hummingbird resulted in...this. There's a happy medium between potato chip terror and the attempted epic quest in this work, I'm sure.

I loved the concept and description, and I couldn't wait for an opportunity to get into some ecocritical excitement, but I am leaving this feeling like there was a strong desire to write The Crying of Lot 50. This whole work fell flat for me, and I'm quite disappointed by that. I'll return to VanderMeer, but this is not the one.

Unfortunately I‘m not able to listen to this audiobook, because it turns out that you have to use the NrtGalley shelf app to do so. I‘m living in Germany and we don‘t have this App. I won’t request a audiobook again lessen learnt.

But still thank you Blackstone Publishing for providing me.

I was so into this at the beginning, not knowing what would happen. But somehow even though there was a lot of plot I found it slow. And in a bad way.
There is questions that aren't answered which usually is fine but in this I needed more. And it felt like this was building to something since it is written as looking back at events. Then it didn't reach that high build up in the end. I kind of had to force myself to concentrate on the last third and when it ended I was born surprised at the ending and glad it was over.

That being written, this was still okay. I might not pick up a VanderMeer novel for a while though.