A Botanical Daughter

The start was rough for me...

Karina am 26.01.2026
Bewertungsnummer: 3026008
Bewertet: Buch (Taschenbuch)

I did not want a perfect expert, just a botanist who thinks like one. While some people praise the great research of the author, this is exactly the point that disappointed me. The botanist Gregor wants to prove that the mycelium he found is conscious. Therefore he wants to connect several different plants with it, so it can operate them. When Gregor wrote this plan down in his experimental jotter, this should have been the moment to question how likely it really was that the mycelium would be compatible with EVERY single of his suggested plants. By then he only knew about its symbiotic relationship with an orchid. As a botanist - with special interest in mushrooms as we later get to know - he should have thought about that before robbing a body from its grave for his experiment the next day. It is fine for me that the mycelium is compatible with everything, but the missing thought process of the botanist bothers me. Another example are the Venus flytraps he used for moving the finger joints. I was like: 'Do you know the traps are going to wilt after closing a few times? Are you not aware or do you want to replace them all the time?' Sadly the only mistake the two gentlemen made was placing the mycelium at the wrong part of the body at first. But that is more of a human body problem than a botanical one and is solved by Simon, the taxidermist. Everything else just worked. Later the flytraps simply don't play a role anymore as Chloe's (the name of the experiment) fingers are just described as vines or tendrils. It seems like the author really tries his best to make the reader believe that Gregor is an absolute expert in his field several times throughout this book. Gregor has written his own book about mushrooms: 'Mycology in the Age of Steam'. The author also mentions that Gregor has read Darwin and even quotes him. The work mentioned was not the one about flytraps, but according to Gregor's great knowledge about plants and fungi we could expect that he has read that one too. All of that made the little missing elements from the beginning of the book really stick to me. Now I'm done with my botanical and mycological rant. XD Fortunately the book started shifting more and more into fantasy after that scientific start (p. ex. unnaturally fast plant growth, random flowers blooming on Chloe no one attached to her,...). I pretty much liked the rest of the book except for some small elements: - The fast shift from Simon being extremely uncomfortable with the experiment to 'now it is my daughter'. - Gregor's whole character and his extreme mood swings. But I guess he was not written to be liked. What I liked: - The way some of Chloe's movements are described - Gregor's sassy letters - Rosalinda - best character with too little screentime - Jenny and Simon, although it took me some time to get warm with Simon Things I semi-liked: - I expected a different ending, but I am overall fine with the one we got. It was well executed. - The existence of the s**-scene is okay, but some stuff about it was a bit too wild for me.