Mira Grant is one of my favorite authors, so I knew I would like Overgrowth. This was such an interesting, fascinating, and fun alien invasion story. One of the reasons I love this author is because of the representation that she includes in her novels. I specifically appreciated how most of the characters were neurodivergent since I am too. It was great following the characters and their decisions. The feeling of belonging is a central theme, and the found family aspects of this were really beautiful. I was rooting for Anastasia, and potentially the aliens (?), the entire time.
Also, the comparison to Invasion of the Body Snatchers was spot on.

Oh my gosh...fantastic! There were moments of humor, science fiction, light horror, and even love!
Sometimes the introspection dragged on a bit too much for me, but overall it was an incredibly good time! :)

The way I eeeeeked when I was approved for an arc was real. I was so excited for this book and man did it start out with a bang. My only complaint was the pacing, it slowed way down after the halfway point. But overall it’s a great read, I need to read more books from this author for sure.

Thank you to Net Galley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC. This sounded like such an exciting concept, it reminded me of a sci fi movie where plants are the enemy and also the body horror sci-fi changeling part sounded so good. Alas, the book started off slow, with a boring account of day to day office life. I mean I liked the prologue but after that things went downhill. I expected something full of intrigue, body horror, and a bit more fast paced. I did not really like the writing style, it was so dry and dragged. How can something that sounds so exciting be so boring?

This is an excellent twist on the alien invasion trope and one of the best first person pov's I've read in a horror novel.

Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted more horror and less of Stasia spinning her wheels. 36% in and the invasion still hadn’t happened yet and the only horror we got was one (1) human-eating plant and some discolored skin. The lead up time is just too long, and Stasia feels a little too “normal if antisocial millennial” to be a compelling alien character.

I liked Graham and his relationship with Stasia, but the first third of the book lacks both a driving force and compelling writing. I felt like I was still waiting for the book to start even though I’d sunk more than 100 pages.

Anastasia Miller is an alien. Her people are on their way to Earth even now, to invade and conquer. This is no secret though; in fact, it’s the first thing she tells anyone she meets, like it’s a compulsion. Hi, I’m an alien, my people are coming to take over the planet. Nice to meet you.

No one believes her until they begin picking up the signals from the arriving armada.

I love Mira Grant and I love sci-fi/horror. Body horror! Man eating plants! Give it here!

And to Overgrowth’s credit, the first few chapters are enthralling. Talk about getting hooked immediately, it was wonderful and tragic and terrible and I was onboard. But the rest of the book never quite lived up to the opening. I think it’s mostly the characters and their actions/reactions. In a way it felt like a YA book, even though it’s definitely not meant to; our main character is a 35 year old introvert. I liked the individual characters well enough, but they often responded to situations in a way that had me scratching my head. If you have a plan to infiltrate and betray an alien cohort to save humanity, and they’ve already shown they have no compunctions about murdering people, would YOU tell them the details right to their face? I mean sure, you get some cute and snappy dialogue, but… why wouldn’t they just go “Cool, thanks for letting me know you’re a threat” and immediately eliminate you?

Those details kept pulling me out of the story. Combined with a pace that started snappy and then slowed way down, it didn’t quite gel for me.

Aside from that, it’s still a story about found family, outcasts finding their place, identity, colonization, and a whole host of interesting themes that may draw you in. If you like things like Little Shop of Horrors and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it’s worth taking a look to see what you think. And while a YA feel may be a turn off for me, it might be EXACTLY the thing for you.

Overgrowth is coming out on May 6, so be on the lookout. Thank you NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the opportunity to read this ARC! All opinions are my own.

‘I am the vanguard of an invading species of alien plant people.’

Overgrowth is the story of what happens when your friend, who’s a bit strange and has been insisting on being an alien plant instead of a human since childhood - has been telling the truth this entire time.

Something I found fascinating was the fact that - until the actual invasion began - we can read Stasia as simply an autistic who has latched onto not being human to understand her life. I found myself relating to her and her struggles with not fitting in - being bullied her entire life leaving her anti-social with only a small group of friends who accept her as she is. In many ways, this novel almost works as a commentary on what it means to be human when you don’t understand, or are liked by, your peers.

Of course, this novel is also about invasive meat-eating alien plants here to ‘harvest’ the people of Earth. We can’t forget that part.

Told as a countdown to the actual invasion from our main ‘non-human’ character Stasia’s point of view, we learn how she came to be - and how the invasion actually occurred. The invasion has already happened, we’re just learning about it after the dust has settled on the battlefield.

‘This is a story. It can’t hurt you anymore.’

The start of this novel is so shocking and visceral that when we fast-forward 30 years and begin to slowly meander throughout Stasia’s life - we can’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop the entire time. Kept in a kind of limbo - similar to our main character who knows she’s an alien plant here to invade Earth, but has no proof of such a claim - we can only watch in anticipated horror as the foretold invasion date slowly creeps closer.

With Stasia finally evolving into her botanical roots, she has to decide whether to fight for humanity - who has rejected her her entire life, or her biological family who she has never before met. Are the bonds, friendships, and relationships she’s forged enough to make her forget 30+ years of hardship? Are these bonds strong enough to last even while she begins losing her humanity entirely?

Humanity has been warned for over 30 years about this upcoming invasion - and yet no one is prepared for when it finally arrives. Even Stasia’s friends and boyfriend, who claimed to believe her, are left wrong-footed when their reality suddenly changes to reflect what she’s been saying will happen this entire time. With the timeline of life on Earth slowly ticking down, relationships are put to the test and sides are chosen.

To prevent the invasion, humanity had to do only one single thing - believe her when she warned them about it. They made their choice by making a mockery of her. And now, Stasia has to make hers.

‘Are we isolated because something - some great, predatory force - is using the space around us as a hunting ground, picking off our neighbors before they have the chance to find us?’

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Tor Nightfire for providing this e-ARC.

I’m super excited to share my thoughts on this book! Huge thanks to the publisher for letting me read and review it! I've been eagerly anticipating this release! As someone who loves both aliens and horror, I couldn't wait to dive in.

From the start, I was definitely caught off guard by some unexpected twists and turns. It took a bit to get used to the pacing, and I found myself with lots of questions as I read. But let me tell you, the themes it explores are thought-provoking, tackling issues like genocide and cultural conflicts that resonate on many levels.

And can we talk about the ending? I love that it doesn’t wrap up with a tidy happy ending....it's more like a blend of Little Shop of Horrors and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. If you're a fan of either, you absolutely need to check this out!

I plan to buy this book when it releases because it’s such a captivating read. That said, I think it could be a bit stronger with some context or trigger warnings at the beginning. A little heads-up might be helpful for anyone who might be sensitive to some topics discussed. Overall, definitely recommend it! 📚👽✨

When she was three years old, Anastasia Miller wandered into the forest and was missing for three days. She returned from the forest, but she was no longer Stasia Miller. She had been consumed by an alien invader from a planet far across the vast expanse of space who had seeded the universe with their pods and they are coming to consume the human race. Stasia always told everyone who she was, it was a mandate imprinted on her new DNA, but no one believed her, until the day Earth received a signal that the aliens were coming. Now, NASA is on the hunt for all the pod people. They capture Stasia, but her loyal friends rescue her and she is sent from Earth to parley with the aliens. It does not go well. Always remember, if someone tells you the aliens are coming, you might want to believe them.
Also, I was today years old when I discovered Mira Grant is Seanan McGuire, another favorite author.

Amazing!

Aliens are here. They live among us and more are coming. Seedling pods come down all over the earth and started to body snatch. They lived in those bodies blending in. Thirty years later more aliens are coming. An invasion is coming. Our MC Anastasia has become so human that she feels she must protect the humans she loves from her fellow alien beings.

Throughout this book the narrator is telling someone the story in past tense. We do eventually find out who which I do appreciate. It’s an interesting format that I did enjoy. This story is all about transition and metamorphosis. From a seed pod to a human/alien transformation as well as the MC alien Anastasia’s boy friend who is a literally transitioning from female to male. As well as humanities transition from not believing in aliens to realizing they are not alone. I really enjoyed this concept and comparison.

This book is well written and has everything a good horror/ Sci-fi book should. A strong plot, in-depth character development and most importantly the ability to believe this could actually happen. There is even humor. This is my first Mira Grant book. I was drawn to the premise of the story, (I have an unhealthy love of plant/ botanical horror,) and I was not disappointed.

There are triggers: Trans/Transphobia, child death and horror gore of course.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Every positive is followed with a "but..."

The concept and ideas in this book are interesting. The internal narration is... too much. The main character ruminates far too often on the same ideas and it's repetitive. This book could have been shortened by at least a third by just taking out some of the internal monologuing. The pace lags a LOT and there were points I nearly DNF'd this one.

I started off really appreciating the boyfriend character - the fact that he's trans wasn't the first thing mentioned about him, I loved the inclusion of it as a cute story about how they met, and the mention of them pursuing therapy together to work through relationship issues during his transition felt natural and not "shoehorned in" so to speak. However, the mentions of Graham's trans identity start to get, well, repetitive.

This feels like a story that could have had a lot more to offer. An opening scene that definitely makes an impact then sort of falls off.

It was unique and interesting enough that I will recommend we stock a few copies of this title, but I'll only be recommending it to folks I know don't mind a bit of a slower pace.

This is my third book by Mira Grant and it definitely makes me want to pick up more of her backlist. Her writing is so entrancing and she knows how to keep you hooked throughout the entirety of the story. Definitely recommend this one, and also her previous books that I’ve read and loved (Rolling in the Deep and Into the Drowning Deep)

This book has a lot of problems but I’ll start with the biggest. There is NO trigger warning for a huge trigger. So for all you potential readers out there:
TRIGGER WARNING: Violent child death.
I would not have asked for or read this book had I known this was in there. I checked all the front pages, other reviews, etc. No trigger warning. I have a 3.5 year old and now I have this horrible image in my head of this and it could all have been prevented by a single warning.
I tried to continue on but this book apparently isn’t for me. The writing at first is very scientific and remote. Then it turns to a very YA feel. The characters are supposed to be mid 30’s and I feel like they are barely 20. The FMC is supposed to be this socially awkward girl but meets all her people (which seem to be a lot to me) buy other friends. But she’s supposed to not have friends, because she’s weird and tells everyone she’s an alien. It doesn’t truly make sense.
I just didn’t find this book to my tastes and I DNFed it at 20%.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the arc.
I was given a free arc and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

This was a highly anticipated read for me. I love many of the author's books, I adore aliens, and I love horror, and especially plant-based body horror is super fascinating for me.
Unfortnately, the book ended up not really working for me.

I think my main issue with the book was the pace, combined with the narration. It was just too slow for me. While I enjoyed reading about what was happening, and Stasia is a great protagonist on paper, something about this book reaaaally dragged. I couldn't read more than a chapter or two at a time, and it felt like I was reading forever when I just progressed a few %. I was never excited to pick the book up again, and I even took a month long break from reading in the middle, which I usually never do, and I almost always DNF books I pause. It did not get that far with this one, because, again, I did enjoy the plot itself?

But something was just not working. I think a big part of that was the narration, though I'm not sure I can put in words what about it. Something I noticed before with this author's works is that her style seems to work better for me in audiobook format. In this one in particular I noticed myself skimming or skipping entire paragraphs a lot, which is not something I usually do. But I kept drifting off. In audio, that is not something that happens to me, as listening to the narrator keeps me focussed in a way that reading this myself doesn't.
But unfortunately I did not read this in audio, so I struggled with focussing on a lot of this.

While that was my main issue, I also wasn't entirely satisfied with the plot. It's cool, don't get me wrong, and I mainly had a good time with it. But the way things wrapped up, the whys and hows, the big reveals and revelations... they did not entirely make sense to me. Maybe that is because of my inability to focus on the writing, I may have very well missed the details, but I would not be able to summarize the exact reasonings behind and mechanisms of the invasion.

I did enjoy the ending - it was very unexpected, and I honestly admire the author for going with that rather than anything else. It felt very satisfying, actually. That said, several details did not make sense to me (which may be up to me) and what bothered me more was that it felt like it ended a bit too soon. I can see why it ended when it did - it fit very well. However, a huge part of the book was the reaction of Stasia's friends and boyfriend to what was happening. This was taken away from the ending, which felt like an oversight (though it also could have been done deliberately to keep it slightly open to how things will go, given that this has strong horror elements).

Speaking of horror - the book blends genres a bit. I would not call this a 100% horror book. It is horrifying in many aspects, but does not go into as much detail in the body horror and invasion stuff as it could have. There's plenty of SciFi with the aliens and all, though for me, it was still a very human and humanity focussed story, rather than about science. Even though it's told from the perspective of an alien.

I think, ultimately, that may also have contributed to my struggling with the book. It explores humanity from the perspective of someone who is very much not human, but way raised by, lives among, and loves humans and humanity. I think a bit less introspection would have worked better for me personally. I'm not sure, because everything about that sounds awesome to me, and I'm heartbroken I didn't get as into it as I wanted to.

Overall, this is a good book about an alien invasion, told from the perspective of one of the aliens who loves humans. I loved this in concept.but did not work for me as much as I wanted it to.

Rough draft review
“But if you get scared, or if you wonder why I’m making you listen to this, just remember that this is a story. There was a time when it could hurt you, but that time is over and done. You’re safe.”


GENRE:
-General Adult Fiction
-Speculative fiction
-Fantasy
-horror
—eco horror
—survival
—cosmic
—American horror
-dystopian
-apocalyptic
-science fiction
—alien invasion
-romances
-thriller
-lqbtqia+ (trans gendered + alien romance, gay couple with children)

“Cats are better than people. Cats are always better than people. “I bet if cats were the dominant life form on this planet, we wouldn’t be getting ready to invade,”I said...”

Critical Analysis of the lasting effects of colonialism, horrors of invasion, othering and dehumanization required in the process of conquering,and colonizing a territory by one group over another. The international system is dependent on the massacre, enslavement and cultural genocide of the original inhabitants for the benefit of the newer settlers.

Personally, I am a huge fan of speculative, science fiction/ horror narratives that are set during a period of apocalyptic societal collapse and the author uses the horrifying events as an allegorical example for the texts underlying social and cultural critical analysis. It is a very exaggerated example of the effects of colonialism and genocide on a global scale.

of the horror of imperialistic colonialism, the normalization of a specific groups dehumanization through othering enable a population to divide and conquer another society’s land, natural resources while sanctioning the enslavement of the indigenous population, murder and cultural genocide.

Thank you Edelweiss Plus for the arc ebook copy of this novel and to Tor for allowing me the opportunity to read a copy of this book months before its publication date.


P.s. half spoiler/half warning
If you are a fan of horror stories with happy endings then you may not want to read this book because there is no happy endings to be found within these pages. The ending is definitely different and I loved it. But I also spent the last five pages crying.


“Can’t be the hero of the horror movie if you don’t at least try to alert the authorities. And then run like fuck when they come to make you disappear for the crime of being inconvenient.”

FOR FANS OF:

-John Wyndham’s novels:
1. Midwich Cuckoos (and the film or tv)
2.Day of the Triffids

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Doomflower (2025) Jendia Gammon -y/a genre blending novel that combines: sci fi technohorror and apocalyptic themes with the ecohorror of the 1960s murderous plants, an LGBTQIA+ teen romance, superheroine’s coming-of-age origin story, high school drama and mission impossible style thriller.

Sister, Maiden, Monster(2023) Lucy A. Snyder
General Adult Fiction
horror
alien invasion and planetary colonization of human beings
Survival horror
Viral outbreak narratives
Horror romance-LGBTQIA+
Speculative fiction
Alien colonization
Apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic
Science fiction
Ecohorror
Religious horror
Strong female protagonists human to alien transformations
Critical analysis of human beliefs systems
Ingrained hierarchical gendered beliefs and values underlying all of our social, political,cultural and religious and economic institutional structures of every society.

‘Downpour’(2023) Christopher Hawkins
-Ecohorror
-cosmic horror

The X-Files

Buffy the Vampire Slayer- female protagonists love and loyalty to her friends is her primary concern while trying to save the world and come to terms with her own fate of becoming something that is other, powerful and more than just a normal human girl
Listy post
. I actually loved this alien invasion/plant apocalyptic narrative. It was definitely a very fresh take, yet heavily inspired by Cold War sci fiction alien invasion stories like Day of the Triffids (or John Wyndham ‘s work in general), Invasion of the Body Snatchers, etc. I loved the critical analysis of the ethics of colonialism

When Anastasia Miller was 3 years old, she walked into a forest and encountered a beautiful plant. A few days later Stasia Miller walks out, the invading plant species that plants to take over Earth. Decades later, Stasia is living an unremarkable, rather mundane life, when a scientist discovers and then broadcasts a message from Stasia's alien relatives. They are coming! Stasia, along with her dearest humans, some scientists, and fellow Earth-dwelling aliens set off to outrun the government and hopefully survive what's coming. Told from Stasia's point of view, this novel is full of dry humor, lots of introspection, and flecked with heart-pounding scenes of first-contact and body horror. It's a critique of humanity's violence towards one another and the Earth, dwelling on several philosophical dilemmas made real. Quotes from War of the Worlds open every chapter, and references to Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Little Shop of Horrors abound. Readers looking for thought-provoking, character-driven alien invasion stories will be deeply satisfied.

There is a side character, David, who gets very little attention and I think is the least developed of the core "good guys." The "bad guy" government actors are also thinly drawn. Overall, I think the book is a little long, with some of the introspection getting a tad repetitive from time to time. This is still an excellent book that I absolutely devoured. I can't wait until it comes out in May! I'm looking forward to promoting this book at WLA 2025.

Described as "Annihilation meets Day of the Triffids", this book has it all. Body horror, human-eating plants, aliens, love ... this was a great story. The book is definitely a slower burn, with introspective on personal identity. The bulk of this book takes place starting 25 days prior to an alien invasion then takes us through the invasion's end and the time beyond. Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) weaves us a tale that includes the age-old dynamic of "nature vs nurture" and the way it ends gives us a clear conclusion to which one wins out. Thank you Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the ARC. You can check this one out when it publishes May 06, 2025, wherever you buy your books.

Overgrowth is the sci-fi horror of my dreams. This is a sub-genre that I absolutely love and this one is an excellent addition to that category. Anastasia has been telling everyone she meets, over the last 30 years, that she is not actually Anastasia but a plant based alien vanguard for the soon to come invasion of Earth. Too bad that nobody ever believed her until it was too late. I love space horror like this with the details on the way the aliens took over host bodies which was horrifying considering our main character takes the place of a 3 year old girl in the very beginning of the book. If you can't handle things like that then skip this book and it is sad but the story is so good. I could not put this book down and I hope that we keep getting more of this genre from this author. Her writing is incredible and engaging, as one would expect considering her body of work. It started losing me just a little bit at the end because it was dragging a little long for my personal taste but I still loved this book a lot.

This book was creepy and had given me nightmares for the past 2 nights. It was a good story though, definitely reminiscent of Invasion of the Body Snatchers because I finally watched that movie for the first time. It also gave me nightmares.