Will Sargent reviewed Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
Review of 'Finch' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
It's a nice atmospheric book. It just doesn't make for any kind of consistent science. It's science fantasy based around a city. And I can't believe in it.
Ambergris is more like Viriconium or New Crobuzon than anything else, and many of the plot devices used in it are frankly incredible or impossible; it's like having Casablanca and the Maltese Falcon squeezed into the War of The Worlds.
I had the same problem with Vurt and Dead Girls as well -- this is clearly about story first, atmosphere second, and plausibility a distant third.