Annihilation: A Novel (10th Anniversary Edition) (The Southern Reach Series, 1)
SPECIAL TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award-winning novel that “reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world” (Kim Stanley Robinson).
Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for years. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. Expeditions into Area X have ended in disaster or death.
In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the latest expedition. The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and the narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover lifeforms that surpass understanding. But it’s the secrets they carried across the border with them that change everything.
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Community Reviews
This was everything I love about the sci-fi genre! I'm hoping the rest of the series can compare.
Okay so this was a bookclub read with my peers and I actually enjoyed it that way this time around! I also did the half end of the book as the audiobook and that made for a much better experience for me.
The first half was a little hard for me due to the lack of dialogue, because I felt this book did have a lot of tell vs show and I kinda struggled with that. But once the bookclub picked this up, I found my self enjoying it much more. I suppose due to being able to discuss this with others as we all started it together.
Anyway to the meat of this book!
***SPOILER***
The psychologist was crazy she creeped me out a lot. I think they were all some sort of messed up group. I really visualized Area X a lot and the weird creatures that showed up (the crawler anyone?). The biologist which is the FMC was a little weird too and she seemed off to me. I did think the writing was a little stilted and felt there was a lot of telling vs showing, also a lot of lack of dialogue that made it hard for me, but this is mostly due to the biologist recounting her experience/journal entry of Area X. I felt the movie was much better than the book, just my thoughts. With that being said, I am not sure if I will continue the rest of the series and may be one I give a shot if and only with the bookclub if we pick up the rest of the series. I do think it is a decent filler audiobook, but not sure I would recommend the physical book. Just my thoughts
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