Area X 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; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition 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 weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.
The 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, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area …
Area X 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; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition 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 weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.
The 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, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, 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.
Library Journal Best Books of the Year, Shirley Jackson Award Winner, Folio Prive Nominee, Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, Nebula Award Winner, Nebula Awards - Nominee, Folio Prize Nominee, Entertainment Weekly Best Books of the Year, Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
Content warning
General statements about themes and plot events
I am definitely going to come back and reread this one, because I feel there's still some tasty snacks hidden amongst the pages.
Honestly, this book was so good I'm having trouble what to talk about, so I'll just kinda free associate. The writing is amazing. The unreliable narrator is pulled off masterfully. There are scenes in the book that made me physically tense. The end was somehow both a happy ending and a sad ending, which are my favorite kind.
I could say more but honestly, you should just read the book.
Content warning
General statements about themes and plot events
I am definitely going to come back and reread this one, because I feel there's still some tasty snacks hidden amongst the pages.
Honestly, this book was so good I'm having trouble what to talk about, so I'll just kinda free associate. The writing is amazing. The unreliable narrator is pulled off masterfully. There are scenes in the book that made me physically tense. The end was somehow both a happy ending and a sad ending, which are my favorite kind.
I could say more but honestly, you should just read the book.
Um. I will continue on in the series. It was interesting. But let's see; the prose was... relentless. Like a pressure squeezing my temples. I can't say it was pleasant.
But now I feel obligated to continue. Like in homage to those traveled before.
This is probably my preferred flavour of sci-fi - concise and straight to the point, with an interesting concept at the core. It feels premature to review it while I'm still reading the trilogy (currently half way through Authority).
One of the most emotionally impactful books I've read, ever. Several times I had to put it down for a moment and just let the feelings it had dug up find their way through my brain to process.
I enjoyed the oppressive tone and writing style. Not a book for those who want sharp focussed action. Would have rated it higher my was put off by commenters elsewhere who thought the Novel was the second coming and couldn’t exist alongside the movie.
This was a quick read, and wasn't what I expected, which is less a critique than a simple fact. What it WAS was... complex, sure, cerebral, okay, but also a stilted narrative from an equally stilted character. A touch off-putting.
I can not quite pinpoint what I liked about this books, but I can say that I thought it was fun.
Annihilation is a novel in the Weird fiction vein, and has a lot of characteristics associated with that genre. There's a first person narrator, inexplicable occurrences, entities whose being is incomprehensible and whose existence threatens the sanity of normal human beings. It kind of reminds me of At the Mountain of Madness... if it took place in some Southern US jungle and if Lovecraft was a good writer.
VanderMeer here is actually a very focused and competent writer in this novel, which you normally do not see with Weird fiction. This is particularly appreciated towards the end as one of the incomprehensible creatures is seen and encountered. The reader is left disoriented, but in a good way... as if you had a brush with the creature and not like …
I can not quite pinpoint what I liked about this books, but I can say that I thought it was fun.
Annihilation is a novel in the Weird fiction vein, and has a lot of characteristics associated with that genre. There's a first person narrator, inexplicable occurrences, entities whose being is incomprehensible and whose existence threatens the sanity of normal human beings. It kind of reminds me of At the Mountain of Madness... if it took place in some Southern US jungle and if Lovecraft was a good writer.
VanderMeer here is actually a very focused and competent writer in this novel, which you normally do not see with Weird fiction. This is particularly appreciated towards the end as one of the incomprehensible creatures is seen and encountered. The reader is left disoriented, but in a good way... as if you had a brush with the creature and not like you are scratching your head wondering just what the writer means or what he is possibly hinting at.
The plot (and even the structure) is very reminiscent of the first season of Lost, with our character, the biologist, remembering her past at certain points in the story.
Annihilation serves as an intriguing introduction to Area X and its mysterious, tantalizing the reader with glimpses of what it is but leaving plenty of unknowns to explore in the next two books.
