Annihilation: A Novel (Southern Reach Trilogy, 1)

Rating: 3.5 Stars Imagine, if you will, that you are lost within an alien landscape. You do not know whether you have left this earth or crossed through an alternative dimension, or whether you yet remain in a strange forgotten corner of the world. The only thing which connects you to the rest of humanity is a journal. A journal of a woman whose name you do not know, whose life is slowly unfolding as you turn the cracked and brittle pages, and whose fate will yet remain a mystery at its close. Annihilation is a strange, disquieting and eerily beautiful novel which takes the reader on an expedition into Area X; where those who enter leave changed, if they leave at all. This is a tale of discovery and quiet observation, a preternatural mystery which should be slowly savoured until you are nothing but lost in the wilds of VanderMeer’s imagination. - Annihilation follows the expedition of an unnamed protagonist, the biologist, as she journeys into Area X, a mysterious and extensive partition of land under an apparent imposed quarantine. Previous expeditions have entered but all have returned altered, if they returned at all. Together with a psychologist, an anthropologist and a surveyor, the twelfth expedition makes its way into this strange and mystifying land only to find that danger is as likely to come from within as without; no one remains the same in Area X. With towers that spiral into the earth, strange cries in the night and creatures straight out of a fever dream, finding a way home might be the least of their problems. - Annihilation is a quiet flight of (science) fantasy across uncharted territory; a novel which slowly draws you into a world of sinister discovery. Area X is a vast and mysterious zone which takes on an almost alien appearance; its utter unfamiliarity creating a heady and foreboding atmosphere which weighs heavily throughout. VanderMeer’s writing is effortlessly engaging, leading the reader one step at a time into this strange, hypnotic and almost hallucinogenic world which, whilst not overtly involved, rides a line of tension from beginning to end. Throughout the novel Area X appears overwhelmingly large, but despite this impression the narrative remains confined to a comparatively small zone which the expedition is reticent to leave. Whilst the necessity for staging the narrative in this relatively small area is somewhat apparent, my own imagination was straining at these invisible borders, desperate to discover more of the land and its utterly strange inhabitants. But if it was a ploy to make me want to read book two, it worked! VanderMeer has set me on a voyage of discovery which I am determined to see through. Our unnamed protagonist is a thoughtful, analytical woman whose perspective of quiet observation and discovery make her an engaging character. Whilst this works in the favour of the biologist, we gain little perspective on the supplementary characters beyond her observations. Her tendency to watch rather than communicate means we never establish any meaningful connection to the other members of the expedition and care little for them when events conspire against them. This does, however, add to the air of mystery and tension; anyone is capable of anything, everyone is disposable and no one is safe. VanderMeer’s first foray into Area X is a beautiful, subtle and incredibly atmospheric read which resonates with a sense of the unknown and the unknowable. His lyrical writing is saturated with the strange, forming a sinister and other-worldly tale which becomes increasingly difficult to put down. Whilst I would have preferred a little more action throughout the narrative and a more climactic, defined conclusion, the story remained absorbing throughout and the beauty of VanderMeer’s writing more than made up for it. This is a tale of quiet enjoyment. Of the strange. Of dreams and of nightmares. - If you like your science fantasy subtle and eerie, and wish to venture into the unknown, then Annihilation might just be the book for you. This is a novel which diverted all of my expectations and still managed to impress. Jeff VandeerMeer may be a new addition to my bookshelves but I imagine he’ll be there to stay.

This is not science fiction, this is on a par with the feelings I get reading Edgar Allen Poe. Wow. This is another extraordinary, brilliant tale from Jeff VanderMeer. What a mind! What a brilliant and strange museum of dystopian artefacts he has there, and this tale assembled via outstanding prose, assured pacing, exquisite timing, all leading you slowly from science-suspense into a horror most profound. I was impressed from page one, and before page 3 I was completely enthralled and helplessly captured. Thereafter, I was possessed. The mere fact that anyone would choose to enter Area-X after so many deaths, so much insanity and horror, speaks to our mindset and culture today. VanderMeer immerses us in this travesty we call modern life and watches as we drown. I recognise about halfway through that what I'm feeling reminds me of how I felt as a teen, reading Edgar Allen Poe. - images from the upcoming (and very different) movie "Annihilation" (2018) trailer here There are so many aspects of how VanderMeer has constructed this tale, from the intentionally unnamed characters, the unreliable history of previous expeditions, the imposition of hypnotic distortions of perception, the almost biblical poetry of The Biologist's progressing insanity, the surreal sounds and images, the tension and mistrust of the team, and the growing realisation that all will go terrifyingly wrong, trapped with no way out. Incredible. The Biologist's past makes her both the perfect narrator, relating her experiences and her past with scientific rigour, yet so personally and intimately entangled in the present and the past that we feel ourselves in a fever-dream along with her. Wow! There is no way to review this book in one, or ten, or a hundred pages. This book must be lived, this book must be absorbed, this book must be allowed to colonise you. Impressions, quotes and notes as I read: 12% - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - “Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives while from the dim-lit halls of other places forms that never could be writhe for the impatience of the few who have never seen or been seen …” 17% - quotations - Looking for hidden meaning in these papers was the same as looking for hidden meaning in the natural world around us. If it existed, it could be activated only by the eye of the beholder. - At the time, I was seeking oblivion, and I sought in those blank, anonymous faces, even the most painfully familiar, a kind of benign escape. A death that would not mean being dead. - There are certain kinds of deaths that one should not be expected to relive, certain kinds of connections so deep that when they are broken you feel the snap of the link inside you. 24% - my note - Seriously brilliant and weird. Through the lines of text on the walls, VanderMeer induces an unfocused foreboding in our minds... - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - ... in the black water with the sun shining at midnight, those fruit shall come ripe and in the darkness of that which is golden shall split open to reveal the revelation of the fatal softness in the earth … 67% - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - ... but whether it decays under the earth or above on green fields, or out to sea or in the very air, all shall come to revelation, and to revel, in the knowledge of the strangling fruit and the hand of the sinner shall rejoice, for there is no sin in shadow or in light that the seeds of the dead cannot forgive … - There shall be a fire that knows your name, and in the presence of the strangling fruit, its dark flame shall acquire every part of you. - There shall be in the planting in the shadows a grace and a mercy that shall bloom dark flowers, and their teeth shall devour and sustain and herald the passing of an age … That which dies shall still know life in death for all that decays is not forgotten and reanimated shall walk the world in a bliss of not-knowing … - Assimilator and assimilated interact through the catalyst of a script of words, which powers the engine of transformation. Definition: Dystopia "imaginary bad place," 1868, apparently coined by J.S. Mill ("Hansard Commons"), from Greek dys- "bad, abnormal, difficult" (see dys- ) + utopia. Related: Dystopian. Reader "Ali" asks this question of VanderMeer - The collapse of the anthropocene is a theme in your works, but they also hold out potential for a transformed human agency. Grotesque shifts still leave behind a residue of the human. Annihilation is on this track with the biologist's contamination. Do these transformations relate to your sense of human (d)evolution? What is gained or lost by leaving behind individual consciousness for something more rhizomatic? Jeff VanderMeer replies Thank you for the truly great question, Ali. To me, this is the essential theme of our time, and it's not about giving in or checking out. It's about adaptation to what's coming. Of course, I'm coming at it from a kind of fantastical point of view. No matter how I deploy science or specific detail about our real world, I'm still somewhere between the real and the metaphorical in these explorations. In part to get the distance to explore modes of thoughts, and in the absence of being able to imagine being truly not-human, to get as close to that as possible without marginalizing that state of being as horrific. I suppose I don't see it as leaving behind individual consciousness as being in greater harmony and collusion with the contamination we already experience but that is invisible to us, and to also thereby better understand that we do not in fact stick out from our landscape, but are part of it. This is something we've forgotten over the last centuries, and the farther we get away from understanding this, the farther we get from long-term solutions to questions like...What do we contribute to our biosphere? Why do we privilege human-style intelligence to the exclusion of all else? Why do we see as strengths those things that are actually now weaknesses in ourselves as a sustainable species on Earth? This doesn't even get to the question of being able to see our environment with a fresh eye--so that we no longer think in terms of being stewards or despoilers but some other philosophy altogether. And this in the context, too, of not bringing with us the old "culture creatures" as Schama puts it in his book Landscape and Memory. That we might see with clear vision but also perhaps with a hint of awe just how thoroughly we live on an alien planet that is full of wonders we're only now beginning to understand. And of which we are at times the most mundane

Like many reviewers on here, I was drawn to Annihilation because of the captivating movie trailer. Impatient for the movie, I decided to give Annihilation a read, feeling rather excited that it was part of a three-book trilogy. The first third of the book really did grab me. I was impressed by the concept of the book. I was beguiled by the mystery, and I felt compelled to keep reading so that I could gain answers and discover the secrets of Area X. The book is also nicely written. Very vivid, too. I read this book quickly. (Let’s be fair, it is pretty short!) Unfortunately by the halfway point, I felt my interest in the book waning. There was just something missing. Instead of progressing, the story became rather stagnant. I even felt like I was also trapped in Area X, feeling very clueless about it all. Perhaps that’s the author’s purpose? I don’t know. I also felt a lack of empathy for any of the characters to the point where the biologist (narrator) was the only necessary character. For me, the book had no resolution. It provided me with none of the answers I sought and that was extremely unsatisfactory. With that said, the book wasn’t all bad. The science and the world of Area X is breathtakingly beautiful. I am hoping that the film deviates from the book and provides the audience with a much clearer plot, and also, those all-important answers. I’m really not sure whether or not to read the next instalment in this trilogy. Part of me wants to, because I actually still yearn for answers. But the other part of me thinks that the next two books might be as disappointing and confusing as this one.

Came fast and in time. Love this book. Got the soft cover book its 195pages. Amazing book you should definitely order it.

If Loren Eiseley, Charlotte Perking Gilman, Sigmund Freud, and Franz Kafka had a literary baby, it would look something like Annihilation. In Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, an all-women expedition of four is tasked by a secret organization— the Southern Reach—to explore a mysterious region known as Area X, which has been abandoned/cut off from civilization for decades. They are the 12th such expedition, the last one occurring two years earlier, and it’s made clear very early that those earlier ones had some tragic and/or horrific endings. Not long after arriving, they discover a mysterious underground structure (a “tunnel” to everyone save the biologist, who insists on calling it a “tower”) that, unlike the lighthouse and the abandoned village, is not on their map. Her recording of subsequent events is interspersed with flashbacks to her early professional life and to her marriage. And really, even though all that comes out in just the first few pages, this is all I want to mention about the plot, because much of the pleasure—and it really is a pleasure—is the slow reveal of all that ensues, not merely the plot points but the slow reveal of character as well. And equally, or perhaps even more pleasurable, is what is not revealed. Or maybe more precisely, what is not explained. Suffice to say, this is not a novel for those who like clear-cut answers. Or even, you know, just answers, clear or no (though it is possible, this being the first in a trilogy, that some of the mystery will be made more clear by the end of the entire story). Nor is Annihilation a novel for those who do not care much for unreliable narrators, since the biologist is constantly calling into question not only her own conclusions/speculations, but even her own observations. If she can’t trust her eyes, how are we the readers supposed to? Or whatever theories she comes up with based on whatever it is her eyes see? Now, I happen to be a fan, generally, of unreliable narrators. So I’m already predisposed to like what VanderMeer does here with this character. But beyond that, I just really liked this character herself. If one ignores the whole can’t-trust-what-she-sees part, she has a startlingly sharp vision. This is true when she is looking at the world around her, whether that world is the transitional and partially alien landscape of Area X or the more “mundane” worlds of her youthful backyard, or an empty lot near her house, which are allegedly “comprehensible” to us but have their own inexplicable nature, are themselves part of the fantastical (and as old stories tell us, fantasy is not always benign). And so Annihilation is filled with lots of nature imagery, all of which VanderMeer, who is clearly a sharp observer himself, conveys in vividly precise fashion. Beyond the natural world, though, the biologist also has a clarity of vision with regard to herself, say in terms of her love of solitude, or with regard to her relationship with her husband, that is hard not to like and respond to. Besides the descriptive imagery and the sharp characterization, there is a wonderful sense of dread and suspense, of horror, that builds and builds throughout the novel. It’s that great kind of creepiness that feels so good even as you feel the shadow stretching out over you inch by inch and you know you should run like hell. That kind of hurts-but-feels-good pain of picking at a scab. Between the high level of weirdness that I don’t want to say anything much about, the engaging nature of the narrator and the steadily increasing level of suspense, the book is truly compelling. Not quite in the page-turning fashion of a good mystery or action novel (and then what happens? And then what?) but in the way you just can’t help but look at that flash of movement in the darkness you saw in the corner of your eye, you can’t help but go down that hall, then around that corner. Maybe “fascinating” is a better word than “compelling.” I also was captivated by the questions raised in Annihilation, such as how we view nature, what is our place in this world, how do we respond when we encounter the ineffable? Questions of agency, of influence, of what lies beneath the surface, of how or even if one can remain “alone” in a world that constantly presses upon us and also impresses upon us the requirement to share, to interact, to “connect.” And other ones as well. Craft-wise, I think this is one of Vandermeer’s best novels (and I say that as a fan). The pacing is spot on, the prose shifts gears as needed but generally has a great sense of spare rhythm to it, and shifts between flashback and present time are handled smoothly—he seems to know exactly when to interrupt and when not to, as well as when to return. Finally, it’s exactly as long as it should be and no longer. But the whole is larger than the parts here—yes, I like this book for its craft elements—the prose, the characterization, the tone—and yes, I like it because it tells a compelling story about a likable engaging character. But at the core of Annihilation is something ungraspable, and so it’s also nicely appropriate that I can’t quite nail down exactly what it is I love about this book (as opposed to being able to say what I like about it). But boy, did I love it. Despite being the first in a trilogy, the book ends in such a fashion that I’d be quite happy if this were it. That’s not to say I don’t care what comes next, but despite, or perhaps because of, the enigmatic nature of the climax and the many mysteries left hanging, it’s pretty near a perfect ending in my mind. And pretty much a perfect read. Highly recommended.

Um excelente livro. As perguntas começam logo cedo e continuam vindo. Mistérios se acumulam e você quer saber mais sobre aquele lugar. Não vejo a hora de ler os próximos livros.

Very good read...with nice detailings of area x...u can visualise every events...very good n short book...experience the thrill...nice writing after jules verne...

This is a very different take on what the reader would consider to be an alien invasion. And it's an hypnotic, spiralling descent into hell. Evocative, mysterious, terrifying, it's impossible to put it down. Little spoiler here: ----- the reader doesn't get all the answers, and that's what I loved as well. You fill the gaps with your own imagination and make up the rest. ----- Also, I'll argue that you don't need to embark into reading the trilogy. As weird as it sounds, this book has its own end and it's perfect. This is a very good, almost dreaming little novel.