✦ BLURB ✦
This is just a story. It can't hurt you anymore.Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has been willing to listen.
Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.
What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?
✶ PRE-READING ✶
I found the blurb interesting. Alien invasion stories, especially subtle ones, always fascinate me - The Midwich Cuckoos is a favourite. I thought this would be a good read to try.
✶ POST-READING ✶
I didn't realise until I started that Mira Grant is a pen name for Seanan McGuire. I've tried a couple of his books and found the style doesn't suit me. This was a bit better, though, more firmly sci fi than his usual, though there was still a far bit of philosophical waffling. I guess if you're an alien race who survive by eating and destroying other races, you learn to philosophise your way out of it!
This is a really interesting kind of invasion, and the clips from War of the Worlds and other related media really helped. Stasia's a great character - likeable despite the fact that she's trailing an invasion behind her. I recommend this one if you're into alien stories and enjoy a bit of navel gazing along the way.
✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦
Book Recommendation: Semiosis by Sue Burke – another story where plants are not just background decoration but intelligent and sometimes unfathomable entities. It leans harder into the sci-fi, but the alien ecosystem parallels are strong.
TV or Movie Recommendation: Annihilation (2018) – dreamlike, dangerous, and unnerving. A perfect match for the creeping terror and awe of Overgrowth.
✧ VIBE CHECK ✧
A colour palette: Lush green overgrowth, violet shadow, bioluminescent gold.
A soundtrack: Rising ambient hums, glass chimes, and low cello.
A season: Deep, tangled midsummer.
★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★
The Empress. This card speaks to creation, nurture, and nature - all key themes in Overgrowth. The Empress represents a fertile and powerful force, but one that is not always safe or gentle. She gives life and tends it, but she does not ask for permission. Stasia may not be the soft type of maternal figure, but she embodies that fierce, generative energy: deeply rooted in her beliefs, protective of her found family, and unafraid to let wild new life grow in the cracks of a broken world. Like the Empress, she refuses to be controlled - and she’s unflinching in the face of what must come next.
The Empress – Tarot of the Sidhe
Swathed in luminous greens and glowing golds, the Sidhe Empress stands as a radiant embodiment of life’s abundance. A full moon glows behind her, illuminating her flowing hair and celestial wings as she reaches out with one hand to offer a blooming flower — a gift of beauty, nurture, and creation. Her gown becomes the earth itself, bursting with wildflowers and grass, rooting her in the fertile realm of spirit and soil alike. This Empress is otherworldly but grounded, a figure of both ethereal power and wild, untamed nature — perfect for a story where life, growth, and transformation ripple through the roots of every page.
Overgrowth publishes on the 6th of May, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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