Akiva Reads

by Jeff Vandermeer, Carolyn McCormick

2.5* really. This was not a good choice to read as an audiobook; the language was too poetic and intricate. I had to slow it down to .75x speed.

Jump scares don't work in text, and I don't mind body horror so much in text either, so it was perfect for me. I do not think I'd like the movie. The character portrait was good! Even though people being unhappy in bad marriages is one of my major dislikes, the remove we get from most of their conflicts and the way the Biologist and Husband are coming towards understanding and loving each other better over the course of the book made it work for me.

I'm a sucker for both earth biology and alien biology, so I expected to really enjoy those parts, but they fell a little flat for me. I don't think VanderMeer completely understands scientific awe, though I can see him reaching for it. The Biologist jumping to conclusions about how the ecosystem of the Tower works as a way for the author to infodump is one of the ways he punctures it, and ultimately falls short. It's narratively convenient to have only one biologist talking, but it makes it harder to do the amount of science the plot requires.