Overgrowth

By: Mira Grant

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly

Day of the Triffids meets Gretchen Felker-Martin's Cuckoo.

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 believed her.

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?

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.

©2025 Mira Grant (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Mira Grant re-cements her place at the top of the sci-fi horror genre.”—T. Kingfisher

“I've never read anything like this. Overgrowth is poignant, beautiful and terrifying by turns. Grant has written a first contact story that captures the wonder of encountering something truly alien—and the horror of learning how much of the alien is already inside us. A unique and utterly addictive read, from the first green shoots to the final harvest.”—M.R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts

“By turns heartfelt and grotesque, Overgrowth is the totally original space invasion novel for our times, as much about aliens as it is about very human alienation. It’s Mira Grant’s best work yet!”—Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Last Resort and The Night Birds

Excellent for listening while gardening

Yet another fantastic book from Mira Grant. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and got a lot of weeding and planting done while listening to the audiobok.

The Plantocolypse!!!

An incredibly fun journey into a plant based future. if you enjoyed the Area X books, war of the worlds, or Semiosis you will enjoy this book. Great characters intriguing plot and a solid opening grab followed through with a very worthwhile finale. well done from start to finish.

Interesting story

A little long in the tooth but a pretty interesting concept and story. I’d recommend it for a fun read.

Another instant fav from Mira Grant

Compelling characters, unique & creative storytelling, beautiful writing. 10/10. So many Little Shop of Horrors

Good story , spoiled by check box messaging

Minus one star for lecturing. Hopefully this is a one off occurrence, normally she does not talk down to her readers

No spoilers

MG has created another out of the box tale; this is a character-driven story that is deeply disturbing and incredibly timely. Let her tell you the story; it’s only a story…it can’t hurt you.

A green and vibrant novel

Mira Grant writes some of the best horror around. This was clearly written with love for the many plant related horror novels that have come before it. It also is remarkably personal for the author as the main character has elements taken from her own life. I loved the way the plant monsters work. I appreciate the commentary on what humans are really like. The interpersonal relationships feel all too real. I only have one regret, I won’t ever know what happened to Seymour.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

A political fable, but not misguided, and entertaining enough

I am a longtime fan of the author’s. Her output has always been uneven, with some standout entries approaching masterpiece level of execution, according to my personal metric, and others being just OK. This one is in the latter camp, but it is a worthwhile and entertaining listen nonetheless.

Didn't love it.

I'm a huge Mira Grant fan, but this one didn't do it for me. It was so long that by the time they reach the alian ship I just wanted it to be over already.

I wanted escapism, not a socio-political message.

Let me start this by saying I'm a huge fan of Seanan McGuire's/Mira Grant's writing. The Newsflesh trilogy, October Daye, the Incryptid series ... I usually pre-order them all without thinking twice. And I know that she paints her cast of characters with all the gorgeous colors in the diversity rainbow. Gay, lesbian, bi, polyamorous, trans ... these things are often mentioned or addressed in the context of the larger story as she's introducing her characters. I'm totally cool with that.

But I read (and listen) for escapism. I'm looking for a fantastic sci-fi story to take my brain out of the nastiness of the everyday world... especially right now.

I made it 3 hours and 19 minutes into Over Growth before I decided I was going to have to pass on this entry in McGuire/Grant's long list of books. When she very clearly drew a parallel between "I look like a girl but I'm really an alien inside" and "I look like a girl but I'm really a boy inside" I started to get the icks (because I'm looking for escapism, not current events) but I was willing to see if she'd leave it there. (Like Walther Davies in her October Daye series; his original biological gender is mentioned, addressed, and the story moves on - it's not the defining identity of his character in the story. It's part of the overall tapestry she's weaving, but it's not the main focus.) But then Over Growth doubled-down with, "hey, I was born on this planet and in this country so that makes me American even though I never stopped at the border to get a passport". And I was out.

Clearly, these issues of internal identity versus external appearance and legal versus illegal aliens and citizenship and loyalty to the tribe you share genes with versus the tribe you chose to belong to are going to be a significant portion of the book. If that's something that appeals to you, more power to you and happy reading.

But if, like me, you're looking for escapism in your sci-fi rather than a major socio-political message at the forefront, you might want to give this one a pass.