Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

Authority (Southern Reach Trilogy, #2)

by Jeff VanderMeer

In the second volume of the Southern Reach Trilogy, questions are answered, stakes are raised, and mysteries are deepened …

Following the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in ‘Annihilation’, the second book of the Southern Reach trilogy introduces John Rodriguez, the new head of the government agency responsible for the safeguarding of Area X. His first day is spent grappling with the fall-out from the last expedition. Area X itself remains a mystery. But, as instructed by a higher authority known only as The Voice, the self-styled Control must battle to ‘put his house in order’.

From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the mysteries of Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he’s promised to serve.

Undermined and under pressure to make sense of everything, Rodriguez retreats into his past in a labyrinthine search for answers. Yet the more he uncovers, the more he risks, for the secrets of the Southern Reach are more sinister than anyone could have known.

Reviewed by abookishblether on

2 of 5 stars

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I found this book much harder to follow than the first one. It could be because I half watched the movie before I read the first book. In this one, we get a character study of Control as he starts his job as Acting-Director of Southern Reach. The writing style is full of unintelligible half questions, and dramatic poetic short paragraphs. When I managed to follow along it was an enjoyable concise storytelling method but most of the time I would drift in and out of the narrative.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 November, 2020: Finished reading
  • 4 November, 2020: Reviewed