The Strange Bird

A very beautiful post apocalyptic short novel that creates the most amazing surreal images in ones mind while reading.

If you didn't like the one with plants, this one distills the beauty and horror into a streamlined experience. If you did like the plant, then here's more texture and perspective woven into the world for your enjoyment.

Addon after completing the series, hopefully this helps someone know what they're getting into: I would say Borne is great as a standalone and doesn't need any of the other two books. Strange Bird adds a heart breaking and beautiful layer of nuance to the world and makes for a great Duology. Dead Astronauts does for me what Strange Bird did, while requiring a huge cognitive lift to really enjoy.

like the best of VanderMeer's work, i'll need to revisit this one. highly recommend reading Borne first, as well as Dead Astronauts, but i do think this could stand on its own.