Overgrowth by Mira Grant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
When she was just 3-years old, Anastasia Miller, wandered into the woods to locate a beautifully-smelling flowering plant. It was then that she disappeared.
A massive missing person search ensued, only to have Anastasia come back home, visibly unharmed days later. It was at that point that her story truly began.
She’d been abducted by aliens. Her purpose now was to prepare, or warn, the humans about the coming invasion.
She told everybody she could, her whole life, even into adulthood. People came to assume it was a quirky character trait stemming from the trauma she must have suffered during the period of time she went missing, but no one seems to really believe she’s an alien.
When an alien signal broadcast around the world starts to get picked up, it’s validity undeniable, it seems maybe people should have taken Anastasia’s warnings seriously.
The invasion is coming. Stasia’s bio-family is finally on their way and their intent could put all of humanity at risk. They were warned. It’s too bad they didn’t listen.
This novel had such a great start. The first 25%, I was so intrigued. The audiobook narration was fabulous, and perfect for Anastasia’s perspective.
The pace was very solid in the first half. I enjoyed the side characters a lot. Stasia’s boyfriend, Graham, and her roommates, they all played huge roles in this story, and I liked the found family feel of their group.
The tone reminded me quite a bit of the Alchemical Journeys series by Seanan McGuire. In fact, I had to remind myself a couple of times that this wasn’t just another installment to that series; even the cuckoos were mentioned.
Unfortunately, this started to lose me in the second-half. The intrigue completely flew out of the stratosphere for me when the aliens flew in. There was just something about the way that was done and presented, the direction it ultimately went, that didn’t work for me.
I was hoping for a vastly different outcome regarding the conclusion, however, there’s no denying the quality of Grant’s writing and character development.
She’s a master of intentional writing. There are no wasted words and everything has meaning and depth. It’s not just entertainment. There’s a lot more going on within her stories, which I do appreciate so much.
So, while this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me, I’m still a huge fan of Mira Grant and will continue to pick up anything she writes in the future.
Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and a review.
If you’re looking for a Alien Invasion story, this is def worth checking out. I know many Readers are going to love this!
