Book Review: Hummingbird Salamander

Image: The cover of the book is a stylized realistic illustration or edited photo (I cannot tell) or a hummingbird in flight. The background is a blurry mix of teal, pink, and white. In the foreground, there is a profile of a hummingbird in the center, wings extended perpendicular to her body, tail spread out and pointed downward. She has a body that is a mix of blues and teal with pinkish purple wings and tail. There are also water droplets scattered throughout the air in the foreground making it look almost like the scene is underwater. Across the top, in outlined block letters is the title, and across the bottom, the author's name. To the left of the bird in small letters is, "A novel by the New York Times Bestselling author of Annihilation."

Jeff Vandermeer is one of my all time favorite fiction authors. He has a way of combining things I love such as weird horror and science fiction while also using them to explore environmentalism, ecology, technology, humanity, animality, and many other factors of existence. His new eco-thriller Hummingbird Salamander is a bit different from his other books I have read. It brings the story down a bit from the fantastical world of mutated creatures surviving dystopia or alien colonization to a story that situates itself well into current times.

The story focuses on a security consultant ("Jane") who becomes immersed in worlds quite opposite her own in order to follow the trail left for her by an "eco-terrorist," (Silvina.) One thing that never becomes clear to me in this book is why the word eco-terrorist was used so freely. There is a great deal of story that occurs that forces the reader to grapple with the reasoning for why someone may or may not commit crimes in the name of eco-defense or animal liberation. This I appreciated. Yet, at the same time, I still found the t-word to be overused. Perhaps I am more sensitive to it as a person who has lived through some of the worst manifestations of The Green Scare. I do like how Vandermeer wrote his character and her journey to a better understanding.

This book has a lot of the markers of a thriller complete with tension, mystery, action, and plenty of twists and turns. The protagonist is quite and interesting character as a woman who does not fit into many conventional boundaries set for her. This serves her well in her journey. The way Vandermeer writes this character is careful and with skill. Even though I find her choices to leave everything behind including her family to be a bit unlikely, I like that we have a flawed female character who explores the story despite the harm she causes to others in the process. Her journey seems to begin as a purely selfish pursuit, but later becomes more about finding some sort of justice or at least solving the mystery for the sake of Silvina.

This was an enjoyable read, but not my favorite from Vandermeer. The style explored in the Area X and Borne series is still my preferred and favorite medium for Vandermeer's work. But, if he put out another eco-thriller, I still be excited to read it. I will always appreciate how he brings issues of environmentalism and animal liberation into a palatable mainstream understanding through bizarre and creative means.

This was also posted to my goodreads.