From the Bookshelf of 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]…

Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)

Jeff VanderMeer

Start date: July 15, 2015

Finish date: July 15, 2015

Discussion: . Week 32: Trilogy (1)

Why we're reading this: [2015 Reading Challenge: Trilogy Book 1] Not the kind of book I would normally pick up at all. I liked th…more
[close] [2015 Reading Challenge: Trilogy Book 1] Not the kind of book I would normally pick up at all. I liked the cover, and the description reminded me of Lost, which I loved. Not really Lost-like, except that weird things happen. I prefer more of a psychological thriller than a supernatural one, but I finished it. It was okay for the type of entertainment it was meant to be. For me, it could also fit under these reading challenge categories: one-word title, thriller, book that scares you, book you can finish in a day.

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Showing 2 of 41 topics — 225 comments total

. Week 32: Trilogy (1)

* Week 32: Progress Post
By Zaz , Mood Minion · 16 posts · 44 views

last updated Oct 30, 2015 04:37AM

* Week 32: Introduction
By Zaz , Mood Minion · 3 posts · 90 views

last updated Jun 20, 2015 12:34PM

showing 10 of 10 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Apr 04, 2016 Xueting rated it really liked it

Shelves: unputdownable

Definitely one of the most strange, haunting books I have ever read. I've seen some reviewers here calling it 'horror' and I may agree. It's especially horrific because everything's so vague and unknown. I am so in love with the writing - the language and the style - but I didn't like feeling so confused most of the time. It's probably important and inevitable that the reader feels confused and uncomfortable, given the strange nature of not only the Area X world but also the narrator's thoughts, ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2015 Nicole rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2017, our-personal-library, favorites, dystopias-and-post-apocalypse, fiction, weird-fiction

My husband and I don't often agree on books, so this month we're attempting our first recommendation-switching read. He's reading Ancillary Justice on my recommendation, and I read this on his. I hope he likes my book as much as I liked his!

Reading this gave me two primary emotional reactions - fascination, and dread. There's obviously something very wrong in Area X, and the further the biologist descends into its study, the more the dread grows. But at the same time, neither she nor I could loo ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 11, 2015 Stacey D. rated it really liked it

What a quirky, creepy little book! The story is narrated by a rather unusual personality who is a member of a four-person expedition that has journeyed into a seemingly abandoned ecosphere called Area X, beyond the Southern Reach. The location seems like somewhere off the coast of Florida or the Florida Keys, but I'm not sure. Without giving anything away, a number of events happen over the course of several days. This odd world "beyond the border" and away from "base camp" is weird and unexplai ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 15, 2015 Vince rated it liked it

Annihilation reads like an early episode of the television series Lost. Four women are on an exploratory mission of the mysterious Area X. Not much is known about their mission (or the missions of those who have been lost to Area X before them). Not much is known about the Southern Reach, the organization that has sent these missions into Area X. Not even the names of the women are known.

Our guide through Area X is a woman known only as the biologist. Her compulsion to explore Area X even in the ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2019 Ghostcat rated it really liked it

Even though I appreciated the movie adaptation, I was a bit suspicious if I would enjoy the book due to the amount of negative comments. But it turned out that I had a real pleasure reading this one, the descriptions are efficient and clear, the characterization by functions worked great with me and as I read the last page I immediately started to read the following volume, Authority.

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