I really wanted to love this book, but alas I have come away conflicted.
I saw someone else denote this book as ‘The Little Shop of Horrors-meets-Independence Day’, and I am inclined to fully agree, though disappointingly with much less gravitas, nor the same level of execution.
I went into this absolutely loving the concept, predatory alien plants secretly invading and taking over the Earth? Yes please! I adored the first couple of chapters, the luxuriantly creepy, flowery prose winding its way through gruesomely vivid descriptions was incredibly alluring and fed beautifully into a truly eerie atmosphere. Following the seeds trajectory through our atmosphere, before germinating into these peculiar, carnivorous plants was truly engrossing, and then the initial scene with the three year old transpires and the body-horror truly sets in. I welcomed the notion that the story was going to be a savagely monstrous body-horror come sci-fi novel, and unfortunately, this just wasn’t the case.
For me personally, the issues arose when the perspective changed from this gloriously descriptive writing style in the third person, to this overly young, near teenage first person narrative. Now don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy Anastasia’s character to a point, but it transposed the book from this eloquently dark piece of science fiction, to a near ‘young adult’ cosy fantasy/sci-fi. It became a completely different book. I think if this was marketed as a ‘ya’ novel, this would have been quite in keeping, but alas it is not.
Now don’t get me wrong, there were aspects I still enjoyed and even respected. I understand the need for the naivety of Anastasia’s character, how this fed into the unease and tension of the looming invasion. Her near constant conflicting emotions and morals flickering throughout the novel was a clever representation of how humanity tends to mistreat those seen as ‘different’ to themselves, and how this treatment can eat away at the victim. These differences further implied by an openly trans character, Graham, who is in a relationship with Anastasia.
I loved the found family aspect, how intricate and delicately balanced these relationships can be in their complex natures, how love and acceptance can both shape and break persons belief system. I definitely enjoyed the rag-tag team of misfits trying to form an unlikely alliance. Furthermore, the themes of attempting to craft your own identity in a world that refuses to accept you, and learning to stand up for your beliefs were particularly well executed. However, from here is where I begin to struggle.
Unfortunately for me, I think I enjoyed the concept more than I did its execution. The harrowing initial scene with the three year old never occurs again, and whilst the botanical descriptions of the alien forests/ships/bodies are relatively interesting, we also see next to nothing of the actual invasion itself as Anastasia finds herself on a ship speaking to a giant spider for most of this time. There is none of that initial gripping horror seen again. There are no real battles. No real conflict. No real satisfying conclusion. Just an ominous, repetitious attempt at tension that causes the pacing to move almost glacially for the vast majority of the book.
The complete change in tone from the beginning section is what I believe set this book on a negative trajectory for me. It could have had so much more potential if that wonderful dark prose had been used throughout. If we were faced with more battles, more of a requirement to fight, or at least a final stand, so that Anastasia’s conflicting morals could be highlighted for an actual purpose. We spend so much time building the novel up to the stand between aliens and humans, for this concept to fall entirely flat, merely accepting their fate and are bizarrely seemingly happy about it?!
I think this book had a lot of potential but sadly, kind of missed its mark. I would be interested to see how other works of Mira Grants fare against this one as I do find her concepts both interesting and challenging.
A special thank you also to Daphne Press for gracing me with the honour of reading this as an e-arc, I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to work with you!

This book was a fantastic read. It is so refreshing to read a book without thinking it's just following trope after trope!

Overgrowth by Mira Grant offers a fascinating premise, blending science fiction with ecological horror in the way only Grant can. The concept—humanity grappling with an environment turned hostile in strange, unexpected ways—is both timely and creative, and Grant’s knack for scientific detail gives the story a sense of realism that’s engaging from the start.

However, while the setup is strong, the execution feels uneven. The world-building is intriguing, but some elements are underexplored, leaving readers wanting more depth. The pacing also stumbles in places—moving quickly through some key developments while lingering too long on others. As a result, the tension doesn’t always build as effectively as it could.

That said, Grant’s sharp writing and knack for weaving science with speculative dread still shine through. Overgrowth has flashes of brilliance and moments that stick with you, but as a whole, it doesn’t quite reach the potential promised by its premise. A solid read, but not one of Grant’s standouts.

Anastasia Miller has been telling everyone that she's the vanguard of an invading alien species since she was 3 years old. No one really believed her...until an Astronomer broadcasts an alien signal from the stars, and now humanity is starting to realise that they should've listened to the warnings earlier.

I adored this book, and I found myself excited to pick it up each time and carry on with the story. I found the author's plant-based alien species completely fascinating, and I loved the in-depth exploration of them; how they communicate, how they invade a planet, their motivations etc. I found it to be a really clever, intriguing story and Anastasia, Stasia to her friends, was a fantastically complex character that I had fun discovering. The nuance of her character and her relationships with those around her, her conviction that she is an alien, and all of her feelings about who's side she should be on - her people (the aliens) or her home (Earth); I just loved it.

The story is a little slow-moving at first, and there's a lot of set-up for the invasion, but I cherished just sitting with the wonderful storytelling and exploring how Stasia's character developed throughout. It was a really great read. If you're looking for a slower paced sci-fi or alien invasion story, that gives you the space to think a little philosophically about human behaviour, this could totally be the book for you!

This book explores othering and marginalized perspectives, but the inclusion of child murder tied to characters “transitioning” made me extremely uncomfortable. A serious issue is treated in a way that felt unnecessary and harmful, overshadowing the story’s intended message.

The prologue was great, but it set the wrong vibe as it didn't follow the rest of the book. The plot took to long to develop and I didn't really care about it anymore

Thanks to NetGalley and Daphne Press for the ARC.

Overgrowth by Mira Grant is a sci-fi horror centred around Anastasia Miller, who has been compulsively telling others about the invasion of Earth from her species. The first part 'Seed' is a horror-filled prologue which sets high expectations for the rest of the novel, portraying how dangerous these plant-based aliens really are. I liked the worldbuilding and concepts. The aliens in the story were interesting to read about, particularly in how they formed into the dangerous beings they are now and how they travelled across the galaxies.

Unfortunately, even with these interesting ideas, the novel was very hard to read. The pacing was incredibly slow, and by 30% way through, I struggled to read. The alien invasion that Anastasia kept on mentioning took over half the novel to even happen, and the constant repetition ruined any excitement for the eventual climax. The characters felt incredibly one-dimensional, especially Anastasia, whose only trait felt like talking about the alien invasion, though I did enjoy her relationship with Graham for the most part, I would have preferred more conflict between them, especially concerning her species' invading Earth. I would also say I did not really care for any characters' fate except Graham, though the descriptions of the aliens' appearance and behaviour were interesting.

The social commentary in this novel was interesting to begin with, but as the story went on, it felt very heavy-handed. The concept of 'othering' through an alien species to reflect real people who are othered, like immigrants or trans people, was intriguing to begin with, but felt absurd with the parallel with an alien species whose goal is to invade the planets they end up on. Especially the constant between Graham, who is trans, and Anastasia, as comparing trans people to an alien species that preys on children feels very tone-deaf. Also, trying to present an alien species that sent a warning of an invasion and expected a response to feel justified when humanity's reaction was violence was badly written and did not make much sense to me.

Though the novel had a lot of interesting concepts and worldbuilding, the pacing and characterisation fell flat, along with weak social commentary. If there had been more focus on the alien invasion, I felt like it would have been more enjoyable.

I am disturbed!!! Which I believe was the goal, so good on you, Seanan McGuire in disguise.

A child goes into the woods, and returns three days later. Her family is too relieved to care that she’s claiming their daughter and granddaughter Anastasia’s been replaced by her – the vanguard of a species of intelligent alien plants, who will someday invade the Earth.

Most of my experience with this book was trying to figure out if it was ecocriticism and/or what its stance on colonialism was, which was a journey. On the final (!) page, I remembered that Overgrowth is horror. And that explained things.

If you aren’t aware (I wasn’t, but should have been): this is not YA. And me, personally, I don’t even handle YA horror well. Hopefully I’ll eventually stop letting the LGBTQ+ tag lure me into ignoring that, but probably not since these stories always seem to end up haunting me in a way that makes my heart feel some sort of pain that isn’t wholly unpleasant. I believe it to be caused by character-connections.

I have to mention that the storytelling, in particular the third person one, was fucking magnificent. Possibly reminiscent of Amal El-Mohtar’s, but I might just have been really, really amazed at both.


Thank you to Daphne Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

I was expecting a darker horror sci-fi story, but it's more of a cosy horror sci-fi with a pacing that was just too slow for me.

The prologue was gutwrenching, and I expected the rest of the story to carry the same tone. I read horror because I want it to get under my skin. Unfortunately, it failed to meet this expectation for me as it felt stale.

Anastasia, ironically, felt like a plant to me. She's just there. Her whole personality was being the harbinger of a future alien invasion, but in such a way that no one believes her. There's no charm about her. I wanted to enjoy this story so badly, but in the end, this just wasn't for me.


•••

I received an ARC from Netgalley. My opinions are my own.

It has been a while since I've read a science fiction novel, so I was excited to read this one!

Anastasia Miller is an alien disguised as a human. Since she was a child, she has been telling everyone that aliens will invade Earth, but, alas, no one believes her... until the invasion begins.

I was very interested in this concept and where this story would go. I think the pacing was, unfortunately, a little bit too slow for my liking. The majority of this novel is set pre-invasion, and while I enjoyed the beginning a lot, I would have liked the invasion to have been a bit sooner and lasted a bit longer.

There were a lot of side characters, and it felt like a lot of them were not developed enough. I would have loved a bit more time with some of them.

Overall, this was an interesting novel, but sadly, just not for me.

If you enjoyed Little Shop of Horrors, you might also like this one.
I've noticed criticisms around the heavy handedness of the themes, and leaning more young adult; I disagree. The themes of "other" and finding where one belongs/support were handled well.
I feel it should be mentioned that there is a rather graphic scene at the start of the novel, but holds meaning and importance throughout the rest of the plot, check trigger warnings.
If slower paced stories usually work for you, I would give it a go. I personally enjoyed this a lot more than Feed, but zombies don't really work for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC.

I loved it, and it is for sure one of the best books I’ve read lately! This is what I mean when I say I love Sci-Fi, because despite being set on Earth, the Sci-Fi elements facilitate a lot of important conversations.

This book has great characters with a nice found family dynamic, interesting themes, intriguing plot, and great pacing. It really kept my interest and I was always looking forward to finding time to read more.

I’ll keep picking up books by Mira Grant for sure.

There are some clear themes about othering in this book, and the choice to side with the other... which I'm all for... but when it's mixed up with the murdering of children it becomes very very problematic, and suddenly the initial positive message it is trying to make is very much overshadowed by another very big issue in society that is much too horrifyingly common to be swept under the rug as a gimmick, especially when you know the statistics on child abuse in the US.
It made me very very uncomfortable that the predatory behavior on children is displayed by people "transitioning".

Mira Grant is one of my favorite authors, so I think maybe I had too high expectations for this book, and that's why I couldn't give it 5 stars in the end. As a sci-fi story, it's pretty good. As a horror story, the first and the last chapters are really really good, and the middle somehow never reaches that level, which makes it feel worse.

The main character and her development in the book is really fascinating. The side characters are also interesting, but there's maybe a bit too many of them - a couple of them feel a bit redundant. Graham and Seymour were the best though. I loved reading about a transmasc love interest and how it influenced (or didn't) his view on Stasia.

The aliens were well-developed and had several really good details.

Alien invasion from the other side
—
This book wears its influences on its sleeve: War of the Worlds is quoted throughout, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Blob are noted at key points, and Little Shop of Horrors informs a lot of choices by the main character, Stasia. So you know what you’re in for, right?

Ah, but it’s so much better. Stasia is a pod person, as we’re told at the very start in graphic detail. Whether she’s the same Stasia as was born on Earth is debated throughout and there’s no simple answer, but suffice to say that she’s compelled to tell anyone who asks that she’s the vanguard of an alien invasion. Awkward for making friends or generally fitting in but she has a little found family who believe her and never mind about the rest of the world.

Until the invasion starts happening. Who will Stasia trust now, and who will trust Stasia?

I’ve seen criticism that some of the dialogue feels too YA but I think Stasia hasn’t had as much social experience as other thirty year olds so perhaps it’s obvious why she’s not as well-rounded as her age peers; but also this is fiction, so what are you gonna do?

I loved this book: I thought it covered difficult subjects with nuance; it gave voice to the other side of the argument (any argument!) in the delightfully unfiltered Toni; I liked how Graham’s character was handled throughout, even in the misgendering bits; and I really liked how Grant explored the legacy of the aliens’ past invasions and what it meant for the Earth. Because, to be honest, we aren’t doing a great job of stewarding it right now, so perhaps burning the whole thing down—as the Earth is doing—is the only way to fix the problem of humanity.

Four and a half stars

This was such an interesting book, and unlike the books I usually read. I like to sometimes branch out to different genres.
And I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed this book. Very well written and a fascinating read!

This book feels so refreshing, with its more comedic style that still retains character introspection and interesting relationships. I would have liked more character development for Stasia's friends, I feel like the only one I got a good grasp on was Toni. In particular, I expected more on Graham, especially as it feels like he comes in quite late given his importance as a fulcrum for Stasia's character.
As the narration is primarily on Stasia, this also translates into a very focused narrative. I did enjoy learning about her during the slow start, but once the plot starts going it does feel a bit restrictive.
It was a fast and engaging read, a mix of elements from some of my favourites (I think this book is perfect if you love Warm bodies, The 5th wave, and just a sprinkle of Annihilation) but I felt like I couldn't connect so deeply with the character or her motivations, and a couple of unadressed issues did bother me a bit, making the ending a bit unfulfilling.
Overall, I enjoyed the novelty of this take on the genre, it managed to still be unpredictable at times while making sense for the characters, even if I would have loved to explore more of the sci-fi elements.

Overgrowth had really fascinating world building, a great concept, but disappointing execution.

We start off with a fantastic prologue - dark and gripping, a brutal look into the very beginning of this alien invasion. It's confronting and scary - and then in chapter one we skip forward to 20-something years later, Stasia's going to her normal office job, thinking about her cat, her roommates, and office politics. It's tonally jarring, and all of the tension built up in the prologue immediately dissipates. Then once the alien invasion becomes plot relevant it immediately slows down again, and there's a lot of "we know they're coming, but we don't know exactly when and what will happen when they do". I loved the world building so much - the alien society, their reasons for invading, Stasia's alien-ness - all the scifi bits were so interesting! When the invasion actually started invasion-ing everything we learnt about the aliens and their way of life was really cool. Unfortunately the plot from then on felt like a series of chase scenes interspersed with new versions of the same 'for or against' argument.

Stasia and Graham were well written and their relationship was really lovely. The aliens are interesting and their perspectives feel very appropriately inhuman and, well, alien. The rest of the human characters were kind of meh. Toni especially was so confusing - she hated the aliens because of what happened to her as a child so she was against them, but she also hated humanity because she blamed them for what happened after that so she was kind of helping the aliens, but she wasn't and still hated them and was going to give all her research to humanity to help them fight, except she didn't do that? It felt like she was there to provide a more antagonistic anti-alien viewpoint, but that didn't really go anywhere.

I really wanted to love this one, and it had a lot going for it! Unfortunately it didn't stick the landing.

This was pretty good, but I found it difficult to get into. Giving it 3 stars for now, until I can give it a reread once my head is in a better space.

Overgrowth by Mira Grant is a compelling addition to the horror genre, but its marketing has unfortunately fallen into missteps that may leave potential readers (myself included) feeling misled. The promotional materials heavily emphasize intense action and horror, suggesting a fast-paced, gore-filled experience. However, the novel delves much deeper into atmosphere and psychological suspense, which seem to have been super understated in early marketing campaigns.
This mismatch may have your expectations clashing with the more slow-burn, eerie tone that Grant has written.

That said, the book excels in creating an unsettling and creepy setting that gave me that eerie lingering feeling of lurking danger. Grant’s world immerses you in an almost dystopian landscape, where nature has begun reclaiming its territory in bizarre and terrifying ways to the point where the environment itself becomes a character - dark, overgrown, and haunting while adding a layer of dread that permeates every page. Grant’s writing delivers spine-chilling moments without relying solely on graphic horror despite being sold that body-horror dream...

Overall, Overgrowth is a novel that favors suspense over sensationalism but fell a little flat for me after the halfway mark.