Authority: A Novel (10th Anniversary Edition) (The Southern Reach Series, 2)

NOW AVAILBLE IN A SPECIAL NEW TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

In Authority, the New York Times bestselling second volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.


After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X—a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization—has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.

John Rodrigues (aka "Control") is the Southern Reach's newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he's pledged to serve.

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368 pages

Average rating: 6.71

52 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

AUniverseOfInfiniteApathy
Mar 17, 2025
8/10 stars
A modern day Lovecraft, VanderMeer has an incredible propensity for the unsettling. The tension rises almost imperceptibly, tiny oddities overflow into fullblown paranoia and you won't even see it until seconds before impact. The book has two, pivotal moments where everything falls into place. The beauty of looking back after those moments and seeing how well VanderMeer silently built the tension up to the point. Everything spirals out of control so quickly, but when you look back, all the pieces were there just waiting to be put together.
LucyCarrillo
Feb 18, 2025
7/10 stars
Book 2 in the southern reach trilogy. Although now there is actually a fourth that just came out last fall. This book follows the point of view of Control, who is trying to figure out at headquarters. What is going on. He never enters area X until the end when he dives in. He is following the biologist there, because area X the border has expanded and engulfed headquarters. The scariest scene was when Whitby was on the shelf, curled up, incubating. And then reached out and touched the back of Control’s head.
torihbu
Dec 14, 2023
8/10 stars
- a continuation of Annihilation, further explaining Area X & the secrets behind the Southern Reach
- focus on the bereaucratic issues surrounding SR that are compounded by the dangers of Area X
- not as science fiction-y as Annihilation, less time spent within Area X, but adds context to the first story

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