Ratings17
Average rating3.8
Annihilation is the first volume in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, Authority is the second, and Acceptance is the third.
Area X—a remote and lush terrain—has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.
This is the twelfth expedition.
Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything.
After the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the Southern Reach—the secret agency that monitors these expeditions—is in disarray. In Authority, John Rodriguez, aka “Control,” is the team’s newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he’s promised to serve. And the consequences will spread much further than that.
It is winter in Area X in Acceptance. A new team embarks across the border on a mission to find a member of a previous expedition who may have been left behind. As they press deeper into the unknown—navigating new terrain and new challenges—the threat to the outside world becomes more daunting. The mysteries of Area X may have been solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound—or terrifying.
Reviews with the most likes.
So so SO strange! I buddy read this with a friend and had we not stopped to discuss after every chapter, I'm not sure what I would've gotten out of this book... There is so much going on, and so much that is and is not said that it would be super easy to plow through this book and give it a bad rating for being nonsensical, but there is genuinely just A LOT to sift through.
I loved the gradual changes to the narrator, I loved the crazy almost incomprehensible world and creatures. and the QUESTIONS. I have so many–current, because not much is answered...but I still really enjoyed it and am eager to continue on with the trilogy!
As I finished the last page of Annihilation, I was left with a sense of existential dread, nausea, confusion (but not in a bad way) and some intense curiosity. I have so many questions. Can't wait to read the other 2 books in the trilogy.
I really enjoyed this book. My husband and I finished it in a single afternoon and already grabbed the second one. I'm a bit disappointed in the ending (hence the four stars) because there was no real conclusion. I know this is a trilogy but every book should at least have some sort of wrap up of a story and I feel like this one left nothing answered. That being said, it was great writing and the mystery of it will keep me reading into the next book.
Series
4 primary booksSouthern Reach is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2014 with contributions by Jeff VanderMeer.