Run of the mill, TV-style horror tale of fungus gone wrong in Washington state. Ridiculous characters. Good beginning but went downhill fast. I started skimming the text but after a few chapters stopped reading.

I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley.com. ( )

This was a cool story! The idea seems so original and it was nice to read something quite different from the same old tired tales.

A married couple lose their 8 yr old daughter. She literally disappears. The mother is a detective and the father is a college professor who specializes in fungus. Early one morning while he and his daughter were out collecting mushrooms for analysis, she disappears into thin air without a trace. For 5 yrs they search without finding her or any clues leading to her disappearance.

Also, 5 yrs earlier, there had been an odd meteor shower that dropped some kind of strange metal that has been used in many technological capacities. Some people even seem to use this metal as a type of drug. A drought has also taken place since then. However, recently, rainfall has begun again and with it, new growth has started. Some kind of new fungus has also begun to rapidly grow. This fungus seems to drive people mad before killing them. The government has also gotten involved in studying this new fungus because they want to create a symbiotic relationship between fungus and humans.

This is the 2nd book in a trilogy, so this book has been left open for the 3rd and final story. ( )

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The Unfamiliar Garden by Benjamin Percy is the second book in The Comet Cycle series, taking place on Earth after a comet fell and changed nature itself. Mr. Percy is an award-winning published author, and a writer of fiction and non-fiction articles, as well as comic books.

When a comet fell to Earth, it introduced a new metal, and new bacteria to the ecosystem. In Seattle, the daughter of Jack and Nora Abernathy, Mia, disappeared with no trace. This, eventually, ruined the marriage of the fungus biologist (Jack) and police detective (Nora).

Five years later, it started raining again in Seattle, and a sudden grown of a parasitic fungus keeps Jack busy. Meanwhile, Nora is pursuing a mass murder, when they discover that their investigations connect.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series, The Ninth Metal, as well as other works by Mr. Percy, so I was on the lookout for either the second book, or other works. I was not disappointed, The Unfamiliar Garden by Benjamin Percy is well written, inventive, and the narrative is tight.

The book moves fast, following Nora, Jack and three or four other characters. The focus of the book is not the characters per se, but certainly the nightmarish discovery of a parasitic fungus.

While this novel takes place in the same universe as the first, it is not a continuation, but rather a standalone novel. There is at least one character that shows up in both, but it’s only as a minor cameo.

While this novel could certainly classify as a horror novel, I found it to be less scary and more of a science-fiction thriller. I’m glad because horror is not a genre I enjoy in any medium – so maybe my brain just shut it out. Regardless, if this novel would have been advertised as horror, I probably wouldn’t have read it to begin with, but I’m glad I did.

The novel is both grounded, and tragic, as well as getting more and more weird as it goes along. Puget Sound becomes a world of its own navigated by the tough Nora, and her geek ex-husband, a university professor who gave up on his personal life, as well as professional career.

I especially enjoyed the aspect of the story about how our fragile world could change on levels we can’t comprehend. This is a well thought out, plotted novel, the whole series is remarkable, so far. ( )

The Unfamiliar Garden by Benjamin Percy is a highly recommended science fiction horror novel featuring fungus and is the second book in the Comet Cycle series.

The night of the meteor storm Jack and Nora Abernathy’s daughter Mia vanished in the woods. The couple's marriage broke up and they tried to live in the changed world, Nora as a police detective and Jack as a mycologist. Five years pass and the rains finally return to the Seattle area, which means plant life begins to return and flourish. While Nora investigates several horrific murders, Jack finds evidence of a new parasitic fungus. In an unimaginable series of events, a connection between the murders and the parasitic fungus appears, which results in Jack and Nora working together.

The character development of Nora and Jack is basic while the rest of the characters are depicted more as caricatures of a type of person rather than as realistic individuals, but in-depth development is not necessary here since the focus is going to be directed in other nightmarish areas. The Unfamiliar Garden is short enough that you can read it in one sitting. The actions starts right away, the suspense and fear build quickly, and everything works seamlessly together while moving at a fast pace right to the end.

This is an enjoyable, scary novel that will stretch the imagination while providing thrills and chills. It is not necessary to read the first book in the series, The Ninth Metal. I haven't read it and followed the plot easily. As I was reading I kept thinking the novel felt too familiar, as if I had read it before, but then I suddenly came to the realization that in The Unfamiliar Garden Percy adds to the world of fungus fiction. A few examples in the fungus fiction genre include: Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham; City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek, Finch, and Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer; Semiosis and Interference by Sue Burke; The Genius Plague by David Walton; Amatka by Karin Tidbeck.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/12/the-unfamiliar-garden.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4402208984 ( )

A child's mysterious disappearance is the catalyst for her parents, Jack and Nora Abernathy, to end their rocky marriage for good in THE UNFAMILIAR GARDEN, by Benjamin Percy. The world, along with the Abernathy's family, has forever been changed after meteor shower rained down on the earth five years ago around the same time that Mia, the Abernathy child, disappeared. As the earth recovers from that monumental event and rain first falls again in the State of Washington, Nora, a detective, and Jack, a biologist, find themselves looking into phenomenon with their own investigations and seems like only a matter of time before they cross paths.
A little bit horror, a little science fiction, and a little thriller makes this book quite a lot of fun to dive into. Percy does an excellent job creating real, grounded people in Jack and Nora; they both have plenty of desires coupled with real flaws like we all do in this world. However, their passion of discovery is what the reader quickly attaches to. The supporting cast bringing so many great characters that range from nice and helpful to sinister and malicious to everything in between. The plot is unique and thought-provoking and the ending of the book will leave the reader both gasping and hopeful at the same time.
Because THE UNFAMILIAR GARDEN touches on so many book genres, I feel like it's appeal is quite broad and I recommend this book to anyone who wants an exciting story with interesting characters and a unique story.
Thank you to Mariner Books, Benjamin Percy, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion! ( )