Annihilation: A Novel (10th Anniversary Edition) (The Southern Reach Series, 1)

Mysterious to a fault, Annihilation is an ambiguous journey through a biologist's encounter with a strange ecosystem and even stranger companions whose motives are beyond our comprehension. It's a lightweight yet dense forest of weirdness the reader is thrown into along with the narrator, who finds herself just as lost in her mind as she is in the secrets of Area X. There's suspicion and dread trawling through every page of this book, and for me, it was a delightfully succinct exploration of how we as human beings deal with things in the world and ourselves that we can never understand. Some in my book club found the lack of concrete answers to some of the many questions raised in the book to be unsatisfying, which is fair. To me, the point of the book was not to find out the truth behind Area X but to reckon with the lies that we tell ourselves and each other about the strange world we already find ourselves living within, even as it changes us beyond recognition. Short, sweet, and quality writing: this book is the filet mignon of modern sci-fi mysteries. I was satisfied, though I recognize it may leave others wanting more.

4.5 damn near perfection

This was everything I love about the sci-fi genre! I'm hoping the rest of the series can compare.

Good read, short and sweet. Very Lovecraftian. More horror than Sci Fic.

3⭐️

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

The story was creepy, thrilling and left me wanting to read more. Any you know reading it while high just amplified the strange beauty and dread of Area X. The Journey into the unknown stoned, sparked my imagination and left me pondering the nature of reality. Definitely a must read. I cant wait to read the next book.