Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy, #1)

by Jeff VanderMeer

’A contemporary masterpiece’ Guardian

THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE EXTRAORDINARY SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY – NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ALEX GARLAND (EX MACHINA) AND STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC

For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border – an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness.

The Southern Reach, a secretive government agency, has sent eleven expeditions to investigate Area X. One has ended in mass suicide, another in a hail of gunfire, the eleventh in a fatal cancer epidemic.

Now four women embark on the twelfth expedition into the unknown.

• ISBN13: 9780007550715
• Publish Date: 27 February 2014 (first published 4 February 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 23 September 2016
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Fourth Estate Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 208
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[Shreela]

Bleh...

[maggiefan]

The movie was hard to understand, but the book was even more complicated...
I'm contemplating whether I should read the next one in the series.

[HekArtemis]

Feeding a surprising Lovecraftian/cosmic-horror craving. Not quite as Lovecraftian as Lovecraft of course, not quite as dread filled, but still has several moments that had me holding my breath in anticipatory dread. And I am definitely intrigued. Onwards to the next instalments.

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog!

You find my description of the plot to be confusing and - well - rather undescript? That's because the entire book is this way.
It's irritating and will leave you with a ton of unanswered questions.
Novels like that frustrate me a great deal.

The idea behind Annihilation is interesting enough. The beginning is also intriguing, so dove in, desperate to get some more info on Area X.
However, we don't know how reliable (if reliable at all) the narrator is. The story is told by the biologist who is a member of the expedition sent into Area X.
She doesn't even know herself whether what she sees is real or if she's been hypnotized (which is a thing in this book). We actually never find out what is true and was is not.
While I could sometimes relate to the biologist, I mostly found the book rather dull. That annoyed so much because the idea was so promising and many moments throughout the book had me hoping. But ultimately the novel fails to live to expectations it raises.
I really wanted to like the book, I tried to be intrigued but for every sentence that captured my interest an entire chapter of boredom followed.
Furthermore, the book kept piling up questions without answering a single one of them.

Breathtaking, unique, and unsettling. An excellent gift.

[ross91]

The idea is great, but I didn't understand a single thing.
There's no explanation whatsoever and I confess I decided to read the summary of the next two books just because I wanted to know what happened but didn't have the strength to read 2 full books...
The movie trailer seems cool though!

[jamiereadthis]

I’m 0-for-3 on the quick, fun reads lately. This book is so short, but I almost gave up at least three different times. Nothing happens, the characters aren’t intriguing, the plot twists are so vague as to be practically meaningless.

There are a few good lines, like “Perhaps I should have left the psychologist alone, let her die without providing any answers, but I could not find that level of grace within me.”

Or, “Was it the remnants of the scientist in me, trying to regroup, trying to apply logic when all that mattered was survival?”

But without the emotional hook, they’re just that: good lines. I want the good story.

[Beth C.]

I was hesitant to read this book, having heard both great things and less-than-great things. However, I was also very intrigued by the back cover blurb, so when I ran across a worn paperback copy at the local library, sitting out like it was waiting for me, I decided to sit a spell and read. Roughly an hour later, the library was closing, and I was checking the book out to finish it.

It's not a graceful read, but the words have a sort of rawness to them that matches the storyline. It is a fascinating read, and if I didn't have another book that I need to finish first, I would be starting immediately on the sequel to this one. Frankly, I may cave and start it anyway.

[empressbrooke]

This book was rather short, but it took me a few days to get through it. Every time I was too busy to pick it back up, or had to put it down to go to sleep, I felt an overwhelming NEED TO KNOW what happens next. It's mysterious and creepy and at times frankly terrifying. I don't know what the next two books in the trilogy will focus on, but my library hold can't come in fast enough.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

A section of America has been cut off from the rest of the continent; this has been dubbed Area X. While no one has been too sure what caused Area X to be cut off, a clandestine government agency called the Southern Reach keeps sending expeditions to this new ecosystem, to study the last vestiges of an untouched environment. Eleven expeditions have gone to this abandoned and unspoilt stretch of US coastline, eleven catastrophic failures. Four women known only by their disciplines: surveyor, anthropologist, psychologist and biologist are preparing for the twelfth expedition; will they find the answers to explain Area X, this enigmatic and frightening ecosystem?

Annihilation is the first book in the much talked about Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer; a short 200 page novel that packs a huge punch. The reader is thrown into this world and soon finds themselves with many questions; however the answers will only lead to more questions and so you will find yourself in a spiral of tension and excitement. Think Cormac McCarthy meets James Smythe; you have this thrilling and complex novel that sees four women and their impending doom.

I am hesitant in talking about this book too much because everything is shrouded in mystery and deception. I don't want to give too much away but I can say that Annihilation, on the surface, is a thrilling science-fiction novel. However as you dive deeper into the plot you will soon discover that this is full metafictional and psychoanalytical allegory that leads to a whole new type of exploration for those interested in critical reading. This is so annoying because I want to talk about this book but I don’t want to give anything away.

I have had similar issues reviewing The Explorer by James Smythe, I want to say so much more about this book but I want people to discover it for themselves. I am desperate to read Authority, followed by Acceptance but I know that reviewing them is going to be even more difficult (much like The Echo). Do yourself a favour, go out and pick up a copy of Annihilation if you haven’t done so already, but trust me when I say you will need the other two books in the Southern Reach Trilogy.

This review originally appeared on my blog: http://literary-exploration.com/2014/12/09/annihilation-by-jeff-vandermeer/