A wild ride that requires a few leaps of faith from readers, but they’re in good hands with VanderMeer, who has a sequel in the works for those who emerge victorious from Aurora.” ―Booklist, starred review"A heck of a lot of fun. Also, I’d always wanted to write about a talking marmot named Crikey McBitey. I was truly disappointed to see an author that I really love write a book that forgot to be interesting and had nothing to say. Alex Brown is a teen services librarian by day, local historian by night, author and writer by passion, and an ace/aro Black woman all the time. Mecha-crocodiles, Napoleon's talking head, a shape shifting demon shadow, Jules Verne driving a mechanized wurm to assault the land bridge that connects to England (all the while spurning that villainous hack, H.G. This is a hot mess. He has spoken at the Guggenheim, the Library of Congress, and the Arthur C. Clarke Center for the Human Imagination. A Peculiar Peril is funny, and although there are multiple beheadings, and the wholesale slaughter of rabid chipmunks (to power giant war machines of course), it almost always feels lighthearted. He's also incredibly imaginative, and leans into the weird pretty hard. I LOVE Vandermeer's adult stuff, and I was excited to see him tackle YA lit. Amazing story that is not just for YA audiences. I can’t quite believe how disappointing I found this book. I was so excited for this book to come out because I love Jeff VanderMeer’s other novels. It’s a neat and unexpected twist, one that plays out gradually and subtly.

But, what could you do?”, “But this—this is always the same task over and over, to explore cryptozoology of a crude sort.

The Order of the Third Door, a mysterious group Dr. Lambshead was a member of, wants to prevent Crowley from becoming emperor by any means necessary.

No book he writes is ever close to the last. . But they aren’t the only group who, for their own reasons, don’t want him to win. I don't know if I've ever published a sentence that long but VanderMeer certainly has. And what a sad surprise to learn this is the first of two books - I felt like I deserved closure after wading through so much terrible writing. A simple enough feat, he thinks. Just the once.
The basic plot involves Jonathan, Danny, and Rack journeying across Aurora to get to Prague so they can take a door back to England. Our Privacy Notice has been updated to explain how we use cookies, which you accept by continuing to use this website. The rest of it - Jonathan's grandfather dies - who? .

This book didn’t feel like it had a point at all.

Annihilation won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, has been translat. The story was average, but the overall effect of the novel was completely sickening to me.

It was a little exhausting but I genuinely liked it. I can state however, that I have never read a book quite like it.

It felt like the author just incorporated whatever crazy thoughts came to mind at 2am. Only my love of his other works kept me going - maybe it would get better? It's a refreshing romp of strangeness that delights just as much as it surprises. Keep up with her on Twitter and Insta, or follow along with her reading adventures on her blog. . There’s one scene in which the disguise is as a golden woman with a golden pram with a golden baby. A Peculiar Peril (The Misadventures of Jonathan Lambshead, 1). Your whining. . Jonathan hadn’t seen him in ages, not since his mother dragged him away as a child and escaped to Florida.

. All that changes is the type of animal, and the only challenge is whether the jaws on a crocodile can reasonably be expected to fit onto a bear. The author jumbles up a collection of pointless nonsense (like talking potatoes and carrots just for the heck of it) to the point that the plot becomes tediously unreadable. It reminded me of early Terry Gilliam movies like Time Bandits (which I love) or sort of a darker version of the zany, funny SF&F of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett (which I have enjoyed.) After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Why, for example, it’s important to take talking animals seriously in an era when we need to change the way we see the world. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Oh how I wanted to like this book... but VanderMeer's style just did not work in this context. Your inane level of discourse.”—A Peculiar Peril by Jeff VanderMeer. - on the condition he catalog its contents - TEENAGER?

Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. It’s hard to explain in detail what goes down without either spoiling key plot points or just listing off random and weird occurrences with no context. This bizarre creation is like a cross between Terry Pratchett on heavy medication, and the very worst of Monty Python. His lack of character development, focus on atmosphere, and word play are at home in dreamy, futuristic stories like the Borne and Southern Reach series. He went back to England after her death and was stashed away at a boarding academy, but now he’s truly alone in the world. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. I work very hard to always finish a book because it’s been provided to read and review to help potential readers find their new favorites and I tried so hard to get through this and I just can’t any more. And it's only part one of a series! Jonathan and two of his best friends from Poxforth Academy, siblings Danny and Rack (and Danny’s pet rat Tee Tee) tumble through one of the doors and end up in Aurora, a Europe where magic runs wild and Aleister Crowley is trying to conquer the continent. It’s intelligent and keeps changing its disguises. by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). Oh how I wanted to like this book... but VanderMeer's style just did not work in this context. Maybe Vandermeer will take some of these reviews to heart. And there is a lot of weirdness, bringing us into scattered viewpoints of a fractured animal kingdom and the strange white boy from our world who ends up having to try to help everyone. Filthy grease (fingerprints..?) My only qualm is that occasionally, early on the dialogue felt forced, and in the middle of the book, the plot seemed to move along a little slowly. It started very well, I was caught by the novelty of the style, Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2020.

―The Chicago Review of Books“A wicked read that features teen heroes, occult villains, talking animals, and alt-universes, all in VanderMeer’s unique style.” ―Nerdist“Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Patrick Rothfuss.” ―Paste Magazine. - but there are portals in the basement - okay - and Jonathan learns of his destiny - who says? for the second book of this series before committing. Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2020.

The executor of his grandfather’s estate, a deeply odd man known only as Stimply, tells Jonathan that the only way he can inherit the property is to catalogue everything in his grandfather’s home. The author jumbles up a collection of pointless nonsense (like talking potatoes and carrots just for the heck of it) to the point that the plot becomes tediously unreadable. His greatest strength is having the most batshit imagination I've ever come across in literature. It has a very diverse cast of characters who are all wonderful and interesting in their own ways, especially a certain all consuming beast resembling a school marm. “Birds weren’t supposed to levitate or have four mouths or twenty pairs of wings or twelve sets of legs and undulate like a dragon. A fun, mess-with-your-head, when-will-you-shut-up-Jeff-but-keep-talking, Kafka is a WHAT? Barely want to touch the book let alone read it. To withdraw your consent, see Your Choices. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. Rack assumes Jonathan is asexual and later, in a scene where he is compelled to tell the truth, Jonathan’s revelations confirms he’s somewhere on the asexual spectrum. So far the book is PG and is probably a great introduction to this genre for anyone above age 13.

The two stars are for the gorgous cover, and for the setting. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2020.

Once again VanDermeer has recreated himself. Refresh and try again. Please try again. And then there are the doors that lead to other worlds. This is no exception. The story is like Narnia but on heavy drugs, but in a bad, contrived way topped with a good dose of shoddy writing. I sincerely hope that this finds an audience, but it wasn't for me. Here, in a narrative build around characters, the lack of development leaves the reader not really caring about the characters (some of whom aren't really likable to begin with). The rest of it - Jonathan's grandfather dies - who? For example.”, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. Just personally? Crowley is allowed to wreak havoc in Aurora’s Europe partly because the rest of the civilized world doesn’t care about some unadvanced backwater and partly because they see Europe as a sacrificial lamb – stage the war there and destroy him before he spreads his influence out. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.

VanderMeer served as the 2016-2017 Trias Writer in Residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. I can’t quite believe how disappointing I found this book. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. I really enjoyed VanderMeer’s other books because they felt so purposeful. The lack of world building results in a confusing mess, and the word play is taken to the extreme, rather than being carefully deployed to contribute to creation of a nonsensical environment a la Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass. I have eleven of his books sitting next to me on my bookshelf, so I have a fairly strong grasp on what his strengths and weaknesses are as an author.

His lack of character development, focus on atmosphere, and word play are at home in dreamy, futuristic stories like the Borne and Southern Reach series. His nonfiction has appeared in New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Slate, Salon, and the Washington Post. I received this ARC from Jeff after a wonderously weird trip my wife and I took to Tallahassee to a book signing at a brewery followed by a tour around his home.
What a confusing, convoluted, pretentious, and annoying writing style. Here, in a narrative build around characters, the lack of development leaves the reader not really caring about the characters (some of whom aren't really likable to begin with). Pretty deflating for a product I pre-ordered. There is clearly more to him than meets the eye, but because we spend so much time with everyone else (and because this is a duology that needs to save some secrets for the second book) we don’t get much in the way of answers. Before I knew it, I had this alternate Earth in my head, Aurora, and was cackling at the idea of getting to explore a really wild, wild magic, and kind of mash together all of the history I’ve studied. Even you, Danny.

NYT bestselling writer Jeff VanderMeer has been called “the weird Thoreau” by the New Yorker for his engagement with ecological issues.