Book Review: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Title: Annihilation (Southern Reach #1)
Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Release date: February 4th, 2014
Back in 2018, I watched the film adaptation of this book and absolutely loved it. Outside of movies like ‘Splice,’ ‘The Mist,’ ‘The Ritual’ and the Alien franchise, few movies hit deeper and inspired me more. In fact, my novel ‘Mastodon’ owes a lot to that movie. I loved the journey into Area X, the discover of odd things and this surreal ending that involved so many layers. It was still rattling around my brain when I outlined ‘Mastodon’ and I owe a huge amount of thanks to VanderMeer for inspiring me so much.
Saying that, a few years ago, and after ‘Mastodon’ was released, I figured it would be prudent for me to give the series a read. I purchased the Kindle ‘Area X’ three-book bundle and not too long after cracked open ‘Annihilation.’
Andddddddd…. promptly DNF’d it.
It wasn’t what I was expecting. It wasn’t like the movie. Yes, I know, the movie was an adaptation of the book, but still, I was expecting a journey, them crossing over and going in and none of that happened.
So, I let it sit. I knew I needed to readjust my expectations, but I needed time for that.
Recently, I was trying to decide what to bump up my TBR to offset some of the review copies I was on a time line with, and I saw my book (and real life) pal Julie aka grimdreadful had posted about reading it, that I decided now was the time to dive back in.
What I liked: Told through the point of view of the main character – the biologist – the book follows a group of four who make up the twelfth expedition into Area X. This is a strange area where suddenly things have changed and the government has worked to keep people away and it off of the known maps.
Not long after arriving, the group finds an anomaly, something the rest call a tunnel, while the biologist believes it to be a tower. In the distance, an odd – but known – light house.
It’s with that set up that VanderMeer creates a speculative juggernaut that keeps us readers wondering WTF is actually going on while also completely immersed in what is allegedly going on. And I say allegedly, because we never truly know if what the biologist is telling us is the truth, or simply their version of the truth, Area X working to glamor them and subtly shift key details.
We learn that the biologist’s husband was on the eleventh expedition, an expedition that seemingly disbanded and every member randomly returned home, forever altered.
And we learn that the leader of the group, the psychologist, may not be on the up and up.
It makes for an unsettling and uneasy experience, one filled with philosophical moments and revelations that continue to have the reader mistrust everything that they read.
The ending is another piece of that puzzle. An ‘ending,’ though for my money, I wouldn’t put any faith in how it happened being how things actually happened.
What I didn’t like: While I didn’t DNF it this time, I still was frustrated with a lot of the glossing over of some moments that could’ve been really amazing. We learn of the odd creature in the swamp/jungle that howls/moans, but never really get any details of it. We get tidbits of their journey to base camp, but nothing really about crossing over the border or the hike there. And, the open-endedness of the ending made for a frustrating conclusion, mainly because with so much information at the biologist’s hands, we still don’t fully know what they decided to do.
Why you should buy this: Fans of elevated and cerebral speculative sci-fi with horror elements will really love this. There’s three more books in the series – two that both arrived in 2014 and one that arrived last year – but I think for me, this is as far as I go with it. But, if you’re looking for a foray into an odd place with odder things and unreliable characters, I think this book – and series – will be right up your alley.
