u/borkborkbork99

You might recall my posts on the other books in this series. I’ve been pretty up on the books as a whole, but this one was difficult.

Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.

Old Jim’s story was kind of tragic. I think it’s easy enough to empathize with the character, and VanDermeer’s favorite trope is in full swing here: The unreliable narrator. We’ve already seen how much Central (and Lowry) love their brainwashed spooks. The book is a prequel of sorts that feels like JJ Abrams co-authored it.

For every answer given the book gives you three more mysteries.

My head was spinning as I tried to keep up with who and what was going on here and there. Old Jim is a broken man, and then his daughter-not-his-daughter Cass shows up on his doorstep.

Honestly, I came to love Cass/Hargraves by the end of the book. I heard a rumor Vandermeer is writing a novella about her post-Area X expedition and I’m in.

But here’s the thing. There are sooooo many plot points that get squeezed into this book, along with the dubious nature of the narrators, that I found myself wondering what’s real, what’s conditioning from Central, and what’s hallucinated (I’ll get to Lowry).

SO many questions. I don’t need my hand held when I read a book, but after four books I don’t enjoy feeling like I know less than what I did at the outset.

Whitby was the Rogue. Got it. Rogue time traveled to child Whitby’s schoolyard to impress upon him the importance of joining The Southern Reach. And then left a note on his dessicated corpse saying “Do Not Eat.”

Lowry, you foul mouthed, disgusting, whackadoo.

The cameras from the rabbits, the state of the art guns, the binoculars… Area X seems to ingest this stuff and… what? Use it against the expeditions? Leave haunting video clips of shit that never happened? Was Landry spiking everyone’s canteen?

The initial chapters from Lowry’s perspective were rough reading. Not just because every third word was the f bomb, but to get inside the head of someone that dark and depraved is never a fun experience. Kind of like Brady in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy by King.

Cass-Not-Cass developing respect and affection towards Old Jim was the best part of the book.

Sorry for the random nature of my review. I finished the read this morning and still trying to parse everything out.

Hi all. You might remember me from a post I made about the first two books earlier this week. Yeah. I binge read Acceptance and I’m still pretty high on the series. STOP READING NOW IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS.

Ok. Some thoughts.

I didn’t mind the POV shifts throughout this book. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Saul the lighthouse keeper much, but as we witness him gradually succumb to the innocuous alien flower splinter and go from the gruff, friendly bear of a guy to someone incapable of resisting the forces that are transmogrifying him… he’s easily one of the most tragic characters in the series. The scene at the dive bar when the pianist starts hitting the keys so hard his bones shatter and everyone (including the Director’s mother) is dying… holy crap. Saul’s daily journal entries are horrifying as we see the crazy religious schizo dialogue emerging over the course of his chapters in the book.

Ghost Bird and the Biologist. I hate that it takes so long to get to the Biologist’s last will and testament/journal, but if there was a silver lining in her fate, it was being able to spend thirty years in that somewhat benign alien ecosystem on the island, observing the tide pools to her heart’s content with her owl sidekick. More heartbreaking anguish when we learn she gave up her fight against the alien metamorphosis a week after her owl companion dies.

Control. Yes, Control’s story was the weak link for me here. I mean, did this kid ever stand a chance? From the get go his grandfather and mother were pushing him into service as a spy, and he was obviously struggling with his life direction. Holding his father’s carvings close the entire time he was in Area X just drove home the fact that he was anywhere but the place he wanted to be. And his own mother willingly conspired with Lowry to brainwash him?! No wonder Control has some mommy issues. At least Ghost Bird recognized how much trouble he was having keeping it together (especially after their encounter with the Biologist’s new form… wow), and she provided him with some physical comfort before they arrived at the tower. Dude was ready to call it a day there at the end though, wasn’t he? Ok, bye.

Didn’t expect Grace to be there waiting at the island, but I appreciated her new attitude after spending three years in the shit. Shocked she didn’t get atomized by the Crawler when she shot Ghost Bird during the big communion. Nice to see GB and Grace make amends at the end. I have a feeling they’ll have a part to play in Absolution.

Edit*: Nope. Absolution is a prequel to the first three books. My bad.*

S&SB sounded like some sketchy ass CIA ghost ops group. And they stumbled across something far above their pay grade. Good job, dipshits.

Speaking of spy ops… Lowry (I envisioned him as played by Nick Nolte) was such a douchebag. Great to see the part near the end when the Director/Gloria/Sophia basically called him out for the cell phone. Who knows how much his meddling and bullshit led to ruining our world. There’s ample evidence his brainwashing efforts throughout the books has given us a few unreliable narrators.

Loved the idea of time dilation and potential multiverses at play. The Lovecraftian vibe Vandermeer infuses with Area X is palpable too. When Control is faced with what The Biologist has become, it’s like staring into the abyss with Cthulhu, and he just disconnects for a while. And to Grace’s credit, she doesn’t demean him or disparage him for being unable to cope with the horror of what he’s just witnessed.

Overall? I’m glad I’ve been able to read these books back to back to back. Overall, I’m giving it an 8.5/10.

Individual books?

Annihilation: 9
Authority: 8
Acceptance: 8.5

So… I’m curious what everyone else thought of this one?

https://a.co/d/0cGWk8sk

https://a.co/d/0bc460fG

I apologize if I’m not supposed to post links to external stores. I’m just curious if anyone can help me make an informed decision on which set has the uncropped version. Thank you

I’m always surprised when I check Reddit forums after I read a book or watch a movie that I’ve really liked, because it never fails that 75% of the common sentiment is “Meh. It was okay I guess.” People are entitled to their own opinions, but it still surprises me in cases like this.

**MAJOR BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ANNIHILATION AND AUTHORITY**

Maybe it’s because I’m reading the series back to back without any gaps between publishing dates. Maybe it’s because I love stuff like Stephen King as much as I enjoy a good spy thriller by Le Carré. The narration shift didn’t bother me with *Authority.* I thought it was great to go from an unreliable narrator in *Annihilation* (the biologist who tells us the story via her notebooks) to an unreliable narrator in *Authority* who is slowly realizing he’s also had hypnotic suggestions put in place before coming to Area X.

How unreliable? I went back and re-read the part when the shit hits the fan at the Southern Reach building and Control bails as fast as he can. The whole day after he discovered Whitby’s mural and Whitby himself, screwed away on that shelf(!!!) felt like a fever dream and then the cosmic horror of the Area X expanding… opening up…

After he runs into his mother at his house, you realize he’s not losing his mind. Some serious Chthulu shit is going down. The cosmic egg has hatched. Control is rightfully losing his mind because he knows our world, as we know it, is about to come to an end.

I mean, wow.

Lastly, I’ve been listening to Bronson Pinchot’s narration for part of the read, and he’s phenomenal.

Tl;dr: Don’t be dissuaded by negative reviews on the second book.