Acceptance

On the first read I didn't really get into this. It was because at the time the Control character introduced in Authority I found a bit jarring. That didn't happen on the second read of Authority, and as a result Acceptance went down beautifully as well. Now that this is a quadrilogy I will be in posession of book 4 very soon. The Southern Reach tri/quadrilogy means a lot to me and has become smooshed together with Roadside Picnic, Blue Lake and The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band that Burnt A Million Pounds in my general headcannon. This will probably result in tattoo(s) at some point.

 Another very frustrating experience. It’s a bit better than the second one, but still an irritating drop from the first book. I think I’ve identified one of the problems I have: all the characters are antagonistic toward each other. Every action or word is layered in concealment and antipathy. It really makes it hard to read. Plus, in general, Vandermeer seems either reluctant or unable to offer anything approaching clarity or answers for anything, and after three books, this feels like a problem. 

Nothing really happens, it’s mostly just people wandering around bewildered- though the lighthouse keeper story offers promise- and that doesn’t give me much to cling to as a reader. Now, it’s very possible that I’m just a dumb person, but it’s hard to feel like reading the last two books has been anything other than a waste of time, given Vandermeer’s obliqueness and his characters lacking anything resembling humanity. Nothing is resolved, nothing is clarified. I’m still going to finish out the series, in what feels like an increasingly vain hope for resolution. 

Man, I hope it doesn’t end up all being some stupid Lovecraftian nonsense, as has been hinted at. 

This is a review about the whole series since the success of this final book is completely dependent upon how it resolves. And it does conclude well. Of course in a jittery, amorphous plot, nothing will be completely resolved, but that's what you expect. If it were tied up nicely, it would be a cop-out, a Disney-fication. If you like the first book, continue through the rest of the series.

If, like I usually enjoy, you are looking for an emotional story, then you will be disappointed. I already knew VanderMeer's propensity toward the plot-driven, so I expected it. But I only lost the thread in the last part of the second book. The first and last are strongly consistent.

There are some really neat things done with these books. You do get to know the characters well despite the bouncing around in space and time. And the prose can be both technical and poetic. It also gives the reader the feeling of what it might be like to loose one's self in the world; not a comfortable feeling but very interesting.

This is a Weird, wonderful trilogy. It's disorienting, varied in style, confusing, unsettling, somewhat infuriating... and yet...

This is the last book in the Southern Reach Trilogy, the last chance Mr. Vandermeer has to expound the mysteries of Area X, its origins, its mysteries. So how does he fare? Do we, the readers, get the answers we crave? Or is it a disappointing trip to Purgatory?

Well, Area X is not Purgatory anyway. But neither are the answers easy. Or, rather, accessible. Or meaningful.

Sounds like a harsh criticism, right? What am I trying to pull, giving a book four stars that does not clarify the mysteries? It's some ol' bait and switch!

As I have explained in my "review" of Annihilation (the first book, now at a bookstore near you!) this trilogy is of the Weird genre, specifically partaking of the "cosmic horror", the idea that there are forces beyond our understanding affecting our world without concern for us, the most sapien of the homos!

And there in lies the quandary: the force, even recognized, is beyond our comprehension. If we can fully identify its purposes, why it does what it does, it is much closer to us and less alien...making it a very crummy cosmic horror.

And that is what Acceptance does, it does identify the force (and events) behind the creation of Area X, but not its desires or purpose...because neither it nor the characters can. And it is the dealing with such a force that makes ultimately for intriguing reading, where you can not plan for or strategically combat it. Anything you do find out is ultimately worthless and can not be used to combat whatever is antagonizing you.

So what would you do? What can you do? Can you still function? Would you become a gibbering nutcase? That is what this trilogy deals with... in part... there are certainly other themes, but that would be for a book club to discuss and not for a humble review such as this one.