Authority (The Southern Reach Trilogy)

I was definitely engaged in the beginning. The confusing nature of the first book gave emotion to the investigation of Area X. This second book also ended well, a nice cliff-hanger toward the final story. But in the middle I got lost twice.

In plot, you can have confusing or dream-like parts. Similarly in the text, you can get poetic. VanderMeer tries both at the same time, walking a thin line. Of course I think this is done on purpose, mirroring the border line of Area X, amorphous and drifting. But when I as a reader cross it, this means I have lost communication. I then have to skim past words until I can pick up the narrative again.

I will continue on to see how the trilogy ends though.

It took me a few weeks to read Authority whereas I got through Annihilation very quickly. In retrospect I would've enjoyed this more if I read it quicker and got more immersed in it as a result. I did enjoy Annihilation more, for the most part. Much of Authority involved spending time with the unlikeable Control with a growing sense of things not being quite right. It's interesting, weirdly bureaucratic and the ending is excellent. Definitely going to read Acceptance now.

This book really pulled me in. It's not just horror, it's not just mystery, it's weird and eerie. There's a tension and unease that makes this book hard to put down, sucking you in, making you want to know more about what's going on, but never quite delivering any a real answer to the eerie agency of Area X...

A slow slog with glimpses of mystery

This book trades the horror and mystery of the first book for the horror of bureaucracy. It still has little bits of the X-Files meets HP Lovecraft mood, but the Southern Reach is far less interesting a setting than Area X itself and the cast of characters are equally empty.