Annihilation (The Southern Reach Trilogy, Book 1) (Southern Reach Trilogy 1)
Annihilation
Annihilation (The Southern Reach Trilogy, Book 1) (Southern Reach Trilogy 1)
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Last modified: August 20, 2016
About the Author / Mr SGG
Masteful, full of suspense, perfectly paced,
The novel describes the journey of the team through Area X and what they find there. It’s one of those atmospheric novels that gets right under your skin and makes you jump at loud noises. It is very well paced and ratchets up the tension at a good rate, gradually releasing more and more information, but leaving plenty of mystery for the sequels. That said, it’s not one of those frustrating books that gives you so few answers you feel cheated – whilst there are plenty of unknowns, you feel like you’ve been rewarded for your reading effort with some more facts. I would have described some elements – the tropical setting and the bizarre, hallucinatory episodes – as reminding me of the TV show ‘Lost’. However this is a much more cohesive story than that and has a tighter narrative arc. ‘Lost’ did leave me frustrated when I felt that the story stopped making sense and perhaps there weren’t any answers out there to begin with, but I didn’t find that with ‘Annihilation’. I happened to read it in the tropics, on my own in a jungle, which definitely added to its impact but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it! It made me a bit too jumpy in real life!
If you enjoy science fiction, fantasy, thrillers or action novels, this should be top of your to-read list. It’s a very fine example of all four genres. It’s also of such high quality that I hope more general readers will give it go too – it’s a strong work of literature, so don’t be put off by any ‘labels’ assigned to it. The most important label to read is that it’s good!
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|Highly original depiction of alien invasion by an ecosystem.,
I would also add that I found the main character utterly convincing – in her individuality, her personality and motivation. In this genre first person narratives are either thinly veiled representations of the author themselves, or impossible ubermensch. Good fun, but silly.
This book also deserves its one star reviews. Read in the wrong mood or as a plot boiler fantasy romp it will only annoy.
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|Weird, fascinating and deeply unsettling,
The story is related in first person by the last of our team, the biologist. She describes the expedition in great detail, with historical asides from her own isolated life and her strained marriage with her husband who disappeared on a previous expedition.
Her account of her experience is harrowing, inexplicable and deeply unsettling. Echoing the heavy dread of Lovecraft in strange imagery and unimaginable oddness, VanderMeer paints a deliciously creepy picture of Area X as something more than humanity can comprehend. While we never find out what happened here, it’s clear that some presence — possibly otherworldly — has infiltrated the wilderness and is transforming it in confounding ways. A deep tower is found underground with unfathomable organisms on its walls, and further down something else — something strange and weird and beyond understanding. My skin crawled and hairs went up on the back of my neck as I devoured VanderMeer’s itchy prose.
Annihilation is a tricky novel to review. Any effort to explain the plot in detail would undermine the palpable creeping horror that seeps from the pages. Yet the coolness of the biologist’s journal and her clinical reporting of her experiences make the story seem somehow… normal. Character development is slim, but what we do see of the biologist is that she is nothing special. She’s just a normal woman doing her job in weird circumstances. The contrast between the characterisation of our protagonist and the weirdness of her situation make the book stark and terrifying.
You’ll have far more questions once you’ve finished than are ever answered. Yet this is the book’s strength, for it grabbed my imagination and wouldn’t let go. Thoroughly enjoyable for any fan of the weird and unexplained.
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