2025 #14 Birnam Wood (Catton)

 

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.75 stars
It wasn't until after I read the book that I noted the "A savagely satirical thriller" description provided by a reviewer. This book made me rethink my general strategy of not reading about a book before engaging, although I may have taken that to the extreme here, since the description says "A gripping psychological thriller" so I shouldn't have been in the dark.

And speaking of dark...this book is just that. And it is not *just* a "psychological" thriller, so I feel that isn't exactly a fair description. I enjoyed the book, but felt it lacked subtlety. The (truly) bad guy is so evil that he spells out his nefarious plans for us, while we have to watch as he dupes the other characters in the book. His hand is shown too early on -- I started to feel just a general sense of dread waiting for it all to come to a head. We also are treated to a lot of narration about his scheming (as a personality trait):

"His goal had been to become so ambidextrous when it came to action and reaction, move and countermove, that he would reach the point where half the games he played were won by white, and half by black; only then, he'd told himself, could he really call himself a master."

Overwrought chess analogies aside, the description says "it is an unflinching examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival" -- that's fair, although there's quite a bit of flinching going on in some respects. There are some real chances for character and relationship development that are stymied by the ending. Mira, the main protagonist, is a fascinating character:

"Like all self-mythologizing rebels, Mira preferred enemies to rivals, and often turned her rivals into enemies, the better to disdain them as secret agents of the status quo."

Catton reveals Mira's layers through passages like this and the complexity of her character pushed the book toward four stars for me. The pacing is frustrating -- slow and leisurely at the beginning and then accelerando at the end. The catalyst for the accelerando makes for a fun (?) plot point, however, and we do get quite some classic suspense moves, and a game of cat and mouse with several mice and several loops.

The premise engages with politics in New Zealand and environmental issues and I felt myself wanting to know a bit more (as a reader not wholly familiar with New Zealand), and not especially via bickering characters. The writing is beautiful and descriptive, and overall gives a great sense of the delicate balance (imbalance, perhaps) in which we operate as a society.

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2024 #3: A Murder of Crows - Nell Ward #1 - (Yarwood-Lovett)

 

A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't be sure, but I think this is my first "eco-mystery"--and yes, I'm definitely here for the subgenre. Reminiscent of the late Lyn Hamilton's Lara McClintoch series (in that case, an archeologist, not an ecologist), this first book of the Nell Ward series is very promising. Yarwood-Lovett is not just an armchair ecologist, and boasts an impressive bio, including re-discovering a British species thought to be extinct and giving evidence as an expert witness. I particularly appreciated that the end of the book featured some notes explaining the actual ecology behind some of the plot devices.

The mystery itself is quite entertaining, and Kristin Atherton's reading of the characters on the audiobook is phenomenal. There were two main drawbacks: 1) one of the people in the frame we know cannot be in the frame, and 2) one of the people in the frame is the obvious choice. I won't say more, but motives are not surprising here, but means get a bit far-fetched. My only other main criticism is of Nell herself, but I have high hopes that the issues will be resolved in the next books in the series. In order to understand Nell's backstory, she is presented as a rather insecure individual (with legitimate reason, due to a past trauma), and while brilliant and competent as an ecologist, she seemed incredibly doubting and self-deprecating when it came to possible romantic partnerings. By the end of the book we are given hope that the situation will change, but I grew weary of her constant inner dialogue of self-doubt.

The plot has a healthy supply of twists and turns, but nothing very shocking or out of left field. Ecology is a sleuthing field, so it makes a lovely partner to the mystery genre. I'll be looking forward to continuing the series!

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