Picture a 200-foot-long death machine built to crush everything in its path — powered by pulped earthworms, defended by demi-mages and captained by the gently stoned 19th-century French novelist Jules Verne — and you will have glimpsed just the tiniest portion of the madcap magical mash-up that is Jeff VanderMeer’s first full-throated sally into epic young adult fiction ... It is, in sum, a heck of a lot of fun ... If VanderMeer skillfully marshals the plethora of moving parts in his novel, the occasional side plot and circumstantial weirdness can clank a bit, and one wonders if the whole might not have been compressed. Still, what would you cut: The demonic horse puppet that clamps itself to its owner’s arm and threatens to eat his face? The paperback-devouring push-up addict named Mack for the line of trucks he resembles? ... ew readers young and old will find VanderMeer’s foray into fresh territory a welcome port of entry to a wildly imaginative universe. Echoes there are aplenty, but there is no denying how exuberantly alive the whole feels.
VanderMeer’s vibrant worldbuilding and epic, parallel-reality spanning plot are supported by a cast of memorable characters ... There are the historical figures (Napoleon, Jules Verne, Franz Kafka) who are initially played for comedic effect but who each perform important roles in moving the story forward...Compared to these spritely individuals, Jonathan does regularly fade into the background. However, several major revelations about his family toward the back end of the novel provide an intriguing set-up for the next book in the duology ... does a terrific job broadening the scope of the Lambshead-Universe; and while it may lack the literary pyrotechnics of VanderMeer’s recent adult fiction, the novel pleasingly features his trademark sense of the weird, his fascination with bizarre environments and alien perspectives, and, of course, talking animals.
Everything readers love about Jeff VanderMeer is on full display ... Even for an author known for creating some of the most memorable and important worlds in contemporary fiction, his newest journey into the alt-Earth known as Aurora is remarkable. Horror and humor blend...we are treated to a truly engrossing adventure ... But perhaps the best praise I can offer is that at a time when I needed an escape more than anything, A Peculiar Peril gave me that feeling of reading my first fantasy novel as a kid.
... will enamor adult readers as much as teens. Taking the peculiar darkness of Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine series and the absurd humor and wit of Terry Pratchett, VanderMeer dreams up a wholly original tale, filled with complexity, imagination, and talking marmots ... 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.
Defying genre expectations, [A Peculiar Peril] is at once epic fantasy, contemporary fantasy, historical fantasy, and portal world fantasy ... a big book full of strange turns of phrase, stranger characters and settings, and a nagging sense that by the time you finish you will both know too much and not enough ... Suffice it to say, the plot is straightforward but the execution is wholly Jeff VanderMeer ... It took me a little bit to settle into A Peculiar Peril. At first the story alternates between Jonathan and Crowley, but VanderMeer soon throws in other characters that expand the world in fascinating ways but also slow down the narrative. Jonathan occasionally feels sidelined in his own story. 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. That’s fine, though. Part of the fun of a VanderMeer novel is VanderMeer himself. His writing style is so unique and compelling that I get as much enjoyment from the act of reading as I do from the actual story ... Besides the bonkers elements, there are lots of little moments of heart, soul, and truth ... If you want a weird and refreshing summer treat, A Peculiar Peril is exactly the book for you. I never knew what to expect, and each new development was as delightful as it was unusual. This isn’t the kind of book you blow through in an afternoon. It demands careful attention and a solid time commitment. But it is so worth it.
First in a duology, adult author VanderMeer’s sprawling YA debut offers a riotous, slyly sophisticated take on the hero’s journey. Boldly drawn characters, sublimely ridiculous worldbuilding, and a witty, prismatic narrative further distinguish the unique tale.
Aurora’s an enthusiastic hodgepodge of antique fantasy elements (talking animals), touches of cosmic horror, clever wordplay, genre deconstruction, and butt humor, all tied together with a just-go-with-it fever-dream logic. Constant viewpoint jumps (including a MacGuffin-turned-narrator) slow down the already meandering, tangent-heavy, complicated (spies spying spies) story’s pace but allow for savoring weirdness until the cliffhanger ending ... Absolutely blonkers; giddiness-inducing for the most open-minded of readers.
