湮灭 (Paperback, chinese language, 天地出版社)
Paperback, 256 pages
chinese language
Published by 天地出版社.
四位女性被派遣前往边界外勘察。这是一片荒芜了多年、被称为“X区域”的神秘地带，她们已经是政府派遣出的第十二支勘探队，以往的勘探队均以失败告终。在探险的过程中，女主角发现自己一直在被欺骗和误导，身处危险与谎言之中。
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.
it's the journal of a biologist exploring an area where things are Wrong and Strange. if that sounds like an enjoyable read to you it probably will be
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.
