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Undergrowth
Seventeen-year-old Mariam has been mixed up with the supernatural since she was a kid. Between a half-rotting Beast showing up in her dad’s study when she was six years old and the fact that she can’t die, it doesn’t come as too much of a shock when drought-ridden Los Angeles turns into a sentient, carnivorous rainforest overnight.
The tedium of wandering through a ruined city filled with dead bodies and crumbling buildings is broken when she stumbles upon beautiful Camila and her ragtag crew of survivors. Mariam isn’t exactly altruist of the year, but her soft spot for kids means she can’t just leave them to fend for their own. She rescues them and decides to throw her lot in with theirs.
Despite herself, she quickly becomes a part of their family. However, even as they all start feeling at home in their new vegetal world, sinister figures from Mariam’s past begin to reappear, and the whole hell-jungle situation begins to feel a lot more personal. As she learns more about her family’s involvement with the unnatural forces that caused all of this destruction, Mariam is faced with a terrifying truth: she might have to betray someone to save the city and her new friends.
The tedium of wandering through a ruined city filled with dead bodies and crumbling buildings is broken when she stumbles upon beautiful Camila and her ragtag crew of survivors. Mariam isn’t exactly altruist of the year, but her soft spot for kids means she can’t just leave them to fend for their own. She rescues them and decides to throw her lot in with theirs.
Despite herself, she quickly becomes a part of their family. However, even as they all start feeling at home in their new vegetal world, sinister figures from Mariam’s past begin to reappear, and the whole hell-jungle situation begins to feel a lot more personal. As she learns more about her family’s involvement with the unnatural forces that caused all of this destruction, Mariam is faced with a terrifying truth: she might have to betray someone to save the city and her new friends.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 9, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 4, 2019
I read this book last night but felt like I needed the extra time to process the book before I wrote a review. This is a bit of an oddball book. It’s a YA, apocalyptic book with a paranormal twist. There is so much cli-fi nowadays, climate based fiction, that you don’t see paranormal influencing apocalypses as much. I actually liked this mix and I enjoyed that parts of the story felt fresh. There was a lot of potential here but I don’t think everything came together.
Miriam is not your normal 17 year old. Besides that fact that she has seen a monster, she also can’t be killed. She can be hurt but she always heals. While it makes her completely different than everyone else, it is not a bad trait to have when you find yourself in the middle of an apocalypse. L.A. has been taken over by deadly vegetation and animals and there are fewer survivors every day. Miriam thinks she should keep going it alone but when she meets a group of survivors, including Camila who Miriam can’t help but have a little crush, Miriam realizes being alone might not be the way to survive after all.
I liked the set-up of the book. A jungle like LA with poisoned plants that have a mind of their own and vicious moneys that could easily kill, I like that this is not the normal apocalypse world. I think the main issue for me was the length of this book. I think it was too short for this type of story. There is so much going on and trying to pack so much in, there just wasn’t enough details for me to feel really immersed. I got the setting since that was well done, but easier questions like even knowing how long this new world has been going on for I don’t know. One point it seemed like weeks, and then it was months and months? The characters themselves were fine and reasonably likeable but again there wasn’t enough details about them. Unless I missed it but I don’t think the main character’s age was ever mentioned. I just saw that she was 17 from the book blurb. I was guessing she was maybe 19 or 21. It was hard to have clear pictures in my mind of what most of the characters even looked like.
It’s sometimes hard to put into words why a book does or doesn’t work for us readers. I am struggling a bit here. This wasn’t bad, it was easy to read and I was entertained, it was just missing something to make me emotionally connected. In an apocalyptic book I want to worry than any character could die at any time. The problem here was I don’t think I was connected enough to really care if that happened or not. There were lots of good ideas here but I can’t say that this was any better than just okay. As far as I know this is a debut for the author. I think she shows some potential so I would be willing to give her another chance.
An ARC was given to me for a honest review.
Miriam is not your normal 17 year old. Besides that fact that she has seen a monster, she also can’t be killed. She can be hurt but she always heals. While it makes her completely different than everyone else, it is not a bad trait to have when you find yourself in the middle of an apocalypse. L.A. has been taken over by deadly vegetation and animals and there are fewer survivors every day. Miriam thinks she should keep going it alone but when she meets a group of survivors, including Camila who Miriam can’t help but have a little crush, Miriam realizes being alone might not be the way to survive after all.
I liked the set-up of the book. A jungle like LA with poisoned plants that have a mind of their own and vicious moneys that could easily kill, I like that this is not the normal apocalypse world. I think the main issue for me was the length of this book. I think it was too short for this type of story. There is so much going on and trying to pack so much in, there just wasn’t enough details for me to feel really immersed. I got the setting since that was well done, but easier questions like even knowing how long this new world has been going on for I don’t know. One point it seemed like weeks, and then it was months and months? The characters themselves were fine and reasonably likeable but again there wasn’t enough details about them. Unless I missed it but I don’t think the main character’s age was ever mentioned. I just saw that she was 17 from the book blurb. I was guessing she was maybe 19 or 21. It was hard to have clear pictures in my mind of what most of the characters even looked like.
It’s sometimes hard to put into words why a book does or doesn’t work for us readers. I am struggling a bit here. This wasn’t bad, it was easy to read and I was entertained, it was just missing something to make me emotionally connected. In an apocalyptic book I want to worry than any character could die at any time. The problem here was I don’t think I was connected enough to really care if that happened or not. There were lots of good ideas here but I can’t say that this was any better than just okay. As far as I know this is a debut for the author. I think she shows some potential so I would be willing to give her another chance.
An ARC was given to me for a honest review.
January 5, 2020
Very much what was notated from a reviewer, "Undergrowth" fell under the Young Adult category that held apocalyptic, science fiction, and paranormal elements in which case I initially thought that the set-up would win me over but that's a big fat nope.
There were far more underlying issues and hiccups than I hadn't expected along the way that made this a less than satisfactory read. It was like too much happening at the same time compact under two hundred pages with Miriam and her journey in surviving an apocalyptic world that nearly manifested overnight. Alongside that, with the length of the book, it didn't do the story any justice especially with the lack of descriptive writing that could easily prevent any reader from having a decent reading experience. To be honest, besides what was showcased on the blurb, there wasn't much to go on with what the characters actually looked like, their ages, and who they were as individuals.
Essentially a whole lot of nothing was written and I wasn't able to create any sort of connection with the novel which is surprising because the book had so much potential and I think if the storyline was thoroughly thought out, subplots wiped clean or provided more description and characters given depth, this could have easily been a hit.
December 3, 2019
I really wanted to give this more stars, but while there is a lot of stuff here that could make for a really epic novel, there are too many hiccups along the way to make this one good. I'd say that for some folks, this will be a perfectly serviceable light read that doesn't get too bogged down in it's own lore, but for me, that's one of the biggest thing that's missing.
The book follows Miriam as she navigates the jungle apocalypse. It seems like a sentient jungle has sprouted up in the Southern California region, near Los Angeles. The plants have killed almost everyone in sight, and the survivors are stuck navigating through an ecosystem that's actively trying to kill them. Miriam has some secrets that she has to keep from a plucky band of survivors she meets, despite her growing attached to all the people in the group. Unfortunately for her, one of those secrets has decided that the group is expendable, and has focused the forest's anger on them.
I enjoyed the characters, and was disappointed that there wasn't much time to get to know most of them better. Some of their dramatic scenes seemed to come from nowhere, only to be explained after, so it felt a little forced. It's also a very diverse group, something that I'd expect from kids and and the two adults in the LA area. I loved the whole concept of an apocalypse started by a magic forest erupting in a desert and murdering people. But there's just too much mystery that it does get confusing with regards to the timeline. Like there's no real clue as to when it started, so we don't know how long everyone has managed to escape death. For some folks, this might not be that much of an issue, because the narrative does focus more on Miriam and the survivors, but it does go into some of the beginnings of the murder forest, and that's when it gets frustrating.
So, while I loved the concept of the book, and parts of it were great, I thought it just had problems with its execution. I think this mostly has to do with its page count, as a lot of plot related stuff is touched on, but not enough to give an impact on the story. It glosses over too many details that would seem important to the action. I really wish there was more meat on this one, because I think it would benefit from it.
I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The book follows Miriam as she navigates the jungle apocalypse. It seems like a sentient jungle has sprouted up in the Southern California region, near Los Angeles. The plants have killed almost everyone in sight, and the survivors are stuck navigating through an ecosystem that's actively trying to kill them. Miriam has some secrets that she has to keep from a plucky band of survivors she meets, despite her growing attached to all the people in the group. Unfortunately for her, one of those secrets has decided that the group is expendable, and has focused the forest's anger on them.
I enjoyed the characters, and was disappointed that there wasn't much time to get to know most of them better. Some of their dramatic scenes seemed to come from nowhere, only to be explained after, so it felt a little forced. It's also a very diverse group, something that I'd expect from kids and and the two adults in the LA area. I loved the whole concept of an apocalypse started by a magic forest erupting in a desert and murdering people. But there's just too much mystery that it does get confusing with regards to the timeline. Like there's no real clue as to when it started, so we don't know how long everyone has managed to escape death. For some folks, this might not be that much of an issue, because the narrative does focus more on Miriam and the survivors, but it does go into some of the beginnings of the murder forest, and that's when it gets frustrating.
So, while I loved the concept of the book, and parts of it were great, I thought it just had problems with its execution. I think this mostly has to do with its page count, as a lot of plot related stuff is touched on, but not enough to give an impact on the story. It glosses over too many details that would seem important to the action. I really wish there was more meat on this one, because I think it would benefit from it.
I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
December 11, 2019
This was odd but I liked it.
January 22, 2020
A Joyfully Jay review.
3.75 stars
There is a great deal of atmosphere in this book, but so much of the story is the idea of the setting and the inference of the reader. Months pass between our first introduction to Mariam and the end of the story, and in that time there are a handful of interactions. We don’t see Mariam get closer to the other survivors, don’t really see her relationship with Camila deepen. We see the two of them acting as though they’ve been friends, and have to assume that that friendship is something that’s grown — like the vines and trees — while we weren’t looking. While it lends itself to a removed, dream-like feel for the story, it doesn’t work so well, for me, as a romance.
Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.
3.75 stars
There is a great deal of atmosphere in this book, but so much of the story is the idea of the setting and the inference of the reader. Months pass between our first introduction to Mariam and the end of the story, and in that time there are a handful of interactions. We don’t see Mariam get closer to the other survivors, don’t really see her relationship with Camila deepen. We see the two of them acting as though they’ve been friends, and have to assume that that friendship is something that’s grown — like the vines and trees — while we weren’t looking. While it lends itself to a removed, dream-like feel for the story, it doesn’t work so well, for me, as a romance.
Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.
January 3, 2020
This is the story of an invincible girl surviving in the midst of a magical apocalypse in LA where an evil forest has sprouted and is populated by hyper aggressive animals and desperate humans among other more sinister entities.
Mariam is very interesting to follow. She is caring, kind, and often selfless but also broken and lost. Camila is sweet and steadfast and she is a great match for Mariam. The other members of the group are also great additions especially sweet Hana.
This book is so full of suffering and yet is a fun read. Between all the needless death and personal tragedy was an adventure about survival and found family.
Mariam is very interesting to follow. She is caring, kind, and often selfless but also broken and lost. Camila is sweet and steadfast and she is a great match for Mariam. The other members of the group are also great additions especially sweet Hana.
This book is so full of suffering and yet is a fun read. Between all the needless death and personal tragedy was an adventure about survival and found family.
December 6, 2019
This book wasn't too fun for me. It was hard to like any characters and i ended up skimming most of the book. Sadly.
May 14, 2025
It started pretty strong and showed great potential, but ultimately it didn't quite reach it. It's a fun premise and fascinating setting.
It's a YA novel, so I am not the intended audience. However, I do read a lot of YA, so for me, the characters and their relationships felt underdeveloped.
Overall, with a little more nuance and development, it could have been a really great book but for now, I settle on it being at least fun and easy to get through.
UPDATED 5/13/25: here's my full review on the Lesbrary https://lesbrary.com/undergrowth-by-c...
It's a YA novel, so I am not the intended audience. However, I do read a lot of YA, so for me, the characters and their relationships felt underdeveloped.
Overall, with a little more nuance and development, it could have been a really great book but for now, I settle on it being at least fun and easy to get through.
UPDATED 5/13/25: here's my full review on the Lesbrary https://lesbrary.com/undergrowth-by-c...
October 5, 2020
A fresh blend of fantasy, dystopia, and horror.
Undergrowth is a fantastically fresh blend of fantasy, dystopia, and horror. Los Angeles turns into a thick, terrible jungle overnight, filled with sentient vines and terrifying creatures, hell bent on the imprisonment and destruction of its inhabitants.
We follow the main character, Mariam, (a badass wlw with a hachet, which is hot af) as she navigates the terrain and tries to escape the jungle, coming across a band of survivors who she quickly settles in with.
I wish the book was twice as long because I could have done with more scenes of Mariam and the others, in particular Camila, but by the end of the book she has a strong relationship with the two kids; Hana and Carlos, Camila, and a level of great respect for Eun Ji and Ishmael. One of my favourite tropes is the found family trope, and this book is the epitome of found family, especially in comparison to Mariam's relationship with her father which is fraught and manipulative, yet deeply emotional.
I really enjoyed the little hints of dry humour as well:
My favourite part of this book was the descriptions of the landscape and the as that's where the originality of the story really shines through in a way that's tangible.
I would recommend this book to any LGBTQ+ teens!
Undergrowth is a fantastically fresh blend of fantasy, dystopia, and horror. Los Angeles turns into a thick, terrible jungle overnight, filled with sentient vines and terrifying creatures, hell bent on the imprisonment and destruction of its inhabitants.
We follow the main character, Mariam, (a badass wlw with a hachet, which is hot af) as she navigates the terrain and tries to escape the jungle, coming across a band of survivors who she quickly settles in with.
I wish the book was twice as long because I could have done with more scenes of Mariam and the others, in particular Camila, but by the end of the book she has a strong relationship with the two kids; Hana and Carlos, Camila, and a level of great respect for Eun Ji and Ishmael. One of my favourite tropes is the found family trope, and this book is the epitome of found family, especially in comparison to Mariam's relationship with her father which is fraught and manipulative, yet deeply emotional.
I really enjoyed the little hints of dry humour as well:
'Hana pouts for all of ten minutes before she gets distracted by a lizard.'
'So, she jumped off her dad’s office building. That should have done it. She should have died. Instead, her bones snapped back together like Lego blocks and she took the bus home.'
My favourite part of this book was the descriptions of the landscape and the as that's where the originality of the story really shines through in a way that's tangible.
I would recommend this book to any LGBTQ+ teens!
February 7, 2020
Undergrowth is a strange one, difficult to categorize. It's YA mixed with science-fiction and paranormal.
Mariam, a seventeen-year-old girl, found herself in a difficult situation when a malicious rainforest grow overnight in Los Angeles. Scavenging abandoned stores to survive, she met a group of survivors with kids and can't resolve herself to leave them without her help... because Mariam has a secret of her own: since she's six-year-old, she's able to heal herself and will not die, whatever the wound.
I don't read often novels set in an apocalyptic setting. I was expecting to be on edge, afraid that character could die at any page and was disappointed. I think it's mainly because I wasn't attached to any characters and consequently, didn't care much about what could happen to them.
I found it difficult to care about the characters. We don't know enough about them and often I was puzzled, wondering how much time has passed or how old they were. I didn't understand well what were the relationships between them. There is no worldbuilding. I would have liked to know more about the forest, of the past of each character. It would have been nice to see their bonds grow as they struggle to survive together. I wasn't fond of the paranormal twist but I'll gladly admit it was original.
Overall, it could have been a very nice story with a compelling setting if it wasn't so fast-paced. It's a pity the book is so short.
Many thanks to the publisher who provided me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Mariam, a seventeen-year-old girl, found herself in a difficult situation when a malicious rainforest grow overnight in Los Angeles. Scavenging abandoned stores to survive, she met a group of survivors with kids and can't resolve herself to leave them without her help... because Mariam has a secret of her own: since she's six-year-old, she's able to heal herself and will not die, whatever the wound.
I don't read often novels set in an apocalyptic setting. I was expecting to be on edge, afraid that character could die at any page and was disappointed. I think it's mainly because I wasn't attached to any characters and consequently, didn't care much about what could happen to them.
I found it difficult to care about the characters. We don't know enough about them and often I was puzzled, wondering how much time has passed or how old they were. I didn't understand well what were the relationships between them. There is no worldbuilding. I would have liked to know more about the forest, of the past of each character. It would have been nice to see their bonds grow as they struggle to survive together. I wasn't fond of the paranormal twist but I'll gladly admit it was original.
Overall, it could have been a very nice story with a compelling setting if it wasn't so fast-paced. It's a pity the book is so short.
Many thanks to the publisher who provided me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
I received a free eARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Ok, this book was mostly a miss for me. I was not a fan of it throughout the entire story and I found that a lot of the plot points happened much too fast for my liking. Overall the concept was good and so was the writing, but the execution wasn’t done in a way that I loved.
SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY
Between a half-rotting Beast showing up in her dad’s study when she was six years old and the fact that she can’t die, it doesn’t come as too much of a shock to Seventeen-Year-Old Mariam when drought-ridden Los Angeles turns into a sentient, carnivorous rainforest overnight. The tedium of wandering through a ruined city filled with dead bodies is broken when she stumbles upon beautiful Camila and her ragtag crew of survivors. Mariam isn’t exactly altruist of the year, but her soft spot for kids means she can’t just leave them to fend for their own. She rescues them and decides to throw her lot in with theirs. Despite herself, she quickly becomes a part of their family. However, even as they all start feeling at home in their new vegetal world, sinister figures from Mariam’s past begin to reappear, and the whole hell-jungle situation begins to feel a lot more personal and Mariam is faced with a terrifying truth: she might have to betray someone to save the city and her new friends.
I thought the romance was rather fast paced, I found the story to be a little hard to follow and slightly confusing. I did really enjoy all of the characters in our main group though, and I enjoyed how representation was presented in this novel. I thought it was done really well. There was a plethora of awesome, multi-dimensional diverse characters and I loved that. There was just a lot about the story’s plot that I did not enjoy.
I would recommend you read this if you’re into dystopias, and novels with LGBT+ representation and dark fantasy themes. It was a good book and worth the read, just not one of my favorites.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
I received a free eARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Ok, this book was mostly a miss for me. I was not a fan of it throughout the entire story and I found that a lot of the plot points happened much too fast for my liking. Overall the concept was good and so was the writing, but the execution wasn’t done in a way that I loved.
SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY
Between a half-rotting Beast showing up in her dad’s study when she was six years old and the fact that she can’t die, it doesn’t come as too much of a shock to Seventeen-Year-Old Mariam when drought-ridden Los Angeles turns into a sentient, carnivorous rainforest overnight. The tedium of wandering through a ruined city filled with dead bodies is broken when she stumbles upon beautiful Camila and her ragtag crew of survivors. Mariam isn’t exactly altruist of the year, but her soft spot for kids means she can’t just leave them to fend for their own. She rescues them and decides to throw her lot in with theirs. Despite herself, she quickly becomes a part of their family. However, even as they all start feeling at home in their new vegetal world, sinister figures from Mariam’s past begin to reappear, and the whole hell-jungle situation begins to feel a lot more personal and Mariam is faced with a terrifying truth: she might have to betray someone to save the city and her new friends.
I thought the romance was rather fast paced, I found the story to be a little hard to follow and slightly confusing. I did really enjoy all of the characters in our main group though, and I enjoyed how representation was presented in this novel. I thought it was done really well. There was a plethora of awesome, multi-dimensional diverse characters and I loved that. There was just a lot about the story’s plot that I did not enjoy.
I would recommend you read this if you’re into dystopias, and novels with LGBT+ representation and dark fantasy themes. It was a good book and worth the read, just not one of my favorites.
February 11, 2020
I didn’t finish this. DNF.
I struggled to get into the story, couldn’t empathise with the characters & was diverted to noting flaws rather than story. A shame, as this could be so much more.
I struggled to get into the story, couldn’t empathise with the characters & was diverted to noting flaws rather than story. A shame, as this could be so much more.
August 30, 2020
DNF at 60%
December 18, 2019
Whilst I really enjoyed the overall plot of the book and the dystopian jungle setting I felt this book moved way too fast to feel anything or really connect.
The plot is fast paced but to the point I felt things were skimmed over.
Because of this I feel like we also missed out on a good initial world and character building because it just jumps straight into the action. This might not be an issue for some that enjoy very fast paced, quick reads but I personally enjoy having a bit more of a connection with characters or the world so I need that build up to really enjoy a book.
I was impressed by the diversity and representation that was effortlessly weaved into the book and for a dystopian fantasy with a twist it was surprisingly believable to read which I feel is testament to the authors skill.
Overall, I think the book has a great premise and a lot of potential but would benefit from being more fleshed out it's terms of character and world building.
Review will be live by December 26th.
The plot is fast paced but to the point I felt things were skimmed over.
Because of this I feel like we also missed out on a good initial world and character building because it just jumps straight into the action. This might not be an issue for some that enjoy very fast paced, quick reads but I personally enjoy having a bit more of a connection with characters or the world so I need that build up to really enjoy a book.
I was impressed by the diversity and representation that was effortlessly weaved into the book and for a dystopian fantasy with a twist it was surprisingly believable to read which I feel is testament to the authors skill.
Overall, I think the book has a great premise and a lot of potential but would benefit from being more fleshed out it's terms of character and world building.
Review will be live by December 26th.
December 9, 2019
Read an eARC from the authors
Undergrowth is a story about demons, killer foliage, and found family. Mariam is on the run from her dad in a Los Angeles overtaken by deadly vines. She finds herself entangled with a ragtag group of people looking for survival.
The relationship between Mariam and her father, Malik, really resonated with me. Through the lens of demonic sacrifices, the authors captured the messed up parental feels of "I did this for you whether you liked it or not" really resonated with me. The dynamics among all the characters are so interesting too. Between the sisterly connection of Hana and Camila, to Eun-ji's protective mothering, and the group's acceptance of Mariam,
The setting was also so lush and dangerous. The jungle taking over Los Angeles acts as a character all its own, even if it is a conduit for something much more dangerous. The way all these elements interact makes this book a must-read for fans of Annihilation.
Undergrowth is a story about demons, killer foliage, and found family. Mariam is on the run from her dad in a Los Angeles overtaken by deadly vines. She finds herself entangled with a ragtag group of people looking for survival.
The relationship between Mariam and her father, Malik, really resonated with me. Through the lens of demonic sacrifices, the authors captured the messed up parental feels of "I did this for you whether you liked it or not" really resonated with me. The dynamics among all the characters are so interesting too. Between the sisterly connection of Hana and Camila, to Eun-ji's protective mothering, and the group's acceptance of Mariam,
The setting was also so lush and dangerous. The jungle taking over Los Angeles acts as a character all its own, even if it is a conduit for something much more dangerous. The way all these elements interact makes this book a must-read for fans of Annihilation.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews