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Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)

Jeff VanderMeer

Start date: January 6, 2016

Finish date: October 10, 2018

Discussion: THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY

Why we're reading this: We think Jeff Vandermeer is ok!
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THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY

Authority SPOILERS THROUGH END OF BOOK
By Amy (Other Am… · 12 posts · 21 views

last updated Apr 23, 2016 07:56AM

Annihilation thread #3 (ch 5 Dissolution) SPOILERS THROUGH END OF BOOK
By Amy (Other Am… · 54 posts · 22 views

last updated Apr 22, 2016 11:32AM

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What Members Thought

Feb 17, 2014 Melki rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, thriller, horror

The first thing I noticed on the staging level before we reached the wider staircase that spiraled down, before we encountered again the words written on the wall...the tower was breathing. The tower breathed, and the walls when I went to touch them carried the echo of a heartbeat...and they were not made of stone but of living tissue.

Four scientists embark on an expedition to Area X.

From the beginning, they view each other with suspicion and doubt; it does not help that they have been encourag ...more

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Feb 01, 2014 David Katzman rated it it was amazing

Jeff Vandermeer's latest work is haunting. Annhilation is a short cross-genre horror sci-fi fantasy work that packs quite a punch. I would describe it as roughly a cross between House of Leaves, Pollen by Jeff Noon, and H.P. Lovecraft. The House of Leaves comparison arises from the way that Vandermeer manages to derive a significant creep-factor from structures. The Pollen connection arises from the way nature (is it?) has finally turned against humanity despite humanities presumption of dominat Jeff Vandermeer's latest work is haunting. Annhilation is a short cross-genre horror sci-fi fantasy work that packs quite a punch. I would describe it as roughly a cross between House of Leaves, Pollen by Jeff Noon, and H.P. Lovecraft. The House of Leaves comparison arises from the way that Vandermeer manages to derive a significant creep-factor from structures. The Pollen connection arises from the way nature (is it?) has finally turned against humanity despite humanities presumption of domination over nature, and H.P. Lovecraft is an obvious touchpoint thanks to the inexplicable, the embrace of the incomprehensible and that which is beyond understanding.

Annhilation is the first of a trilogy, the second of which is coming out next week: Authority Southern Reach Trilogy 2. I've already reserved my copy at my local indie bookstore. (Hey, support yours.) Vandermeer is an excellent writer; his capability with language is highly literary and refined. This is a rather simple story and yet it captures a disturbing atmosphere; it weaves a strange web partly because it brings us close to nature, which few of us civilized people are exposed to, and second because that nature has been changed...altered...which conjures--without needing to ever once use the phrase "climate change"--the pending horrors, which our human civilization has inflicted upon the biosphere. This subtle un-stated implication is what makes this story so frightening. Its lies are truth.

The story itself follows a small expedition into Area X. They are the twelfth expedition. None before have...survived, not really. Some came back, also changed, but they didn't last. This small all-female group (the Southern Reach--some sort of world government?--seems to be testing out different mixes of people to see how they do) consists of a biologist, a psychologist, an archaeologist, and a surveyor. The story is told in close first person, a point of view that seems to bother some folks, but it's my favorite. It's the one which, when done well, achieves inner realism, and the greatest potential to forget that the author exists. The biologist is the main character, and she feels quite believable. A rather lonely, hard-to-get-to-know person but when seeing her from inside, we can understand her. We get to know her and that is also part of the horror. Will she survive? I desperately wanted her to make it. Area X is a zone where nature has returned to formerly inhabited areas, the Wildness has come back and taken over. The expedition is sent in to figure out what is going on. And guess what? It's weird. It's scary. It's intriguing.

I will say no more because this is a treat worth exploring on your own, but I do highly recommend this modestly terrifying work and look forward to part two. Part three will also be released this year! Amazing.

ps. Here's my review of another Vandermeer book, City of Saints and Madmen.

pps. This is just personal taste but now having read two Vandermeer books and two China Mieville books...I find Vandermeer to be the better writer. China is wildly creative but has less of a grasp of language, character and atmosphere. ...more

34 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2015 Brad rated it liked it

Shelves: kept-me-up-at-night, goodreads-author, weird, astonishing, read-in-2017

At this point -- having finished Annihilation, the first book in Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy -- I have no idea what is actually going on. And I don't know if I want to know.

The journey of the Biologist in Area X (is that the letter X? or is that the Roman numeral ten? If you've heard the audiobook or you're Jeff Vandermeer himself, please let me know) is at times terrifying and at times thrilling and even occasionally adventurous. But the story I really loved was the Biologist's pe ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2016 Jonfaith rated it really liked it

There are certain kinds of deaths that one should not be expected to re-live, certain kinds of connections that are so deep that when broken you feel the snap of the link inside you.

Writing this now may be imprudent. David Bowie has died. That sounds like madness. Annihilation is grounded in mistrust. Paranoia is in place at the novel's conception. A team is sent into a quarantined area where the unnamed has happened. Being abandoned, it has returned to a natural state, rife with flora and fauna ...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Apr 06, 2016 Nate D rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2016, sci-fi, weird, favorites

Well, here's the most purely entertaining book I've read in ages. I sometimes dare the crazier ends of the pulp spectrum hoping for something like this sustained sense of weirdness and mystery, but most examples end up breaking the spell: something obvious, something stupid, something that just feels like bad writing or plotting. This obviously has to do with my weird sensibilities as much as anything, but this somehow seems to speak to my desires pretty directly, while avoiding any mood-breakin ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Dec 31, 2014 Jlawrence rated it really liked it

Shelves: sword-and-laser

Four and 1/2 stars.

One part J.G. Ballard, one part LOST, and a smidge of Lovecraft, but the combo being its own intoxicating, surreal, creepifying thing. VanderMeer sucked me into his tale of an all-female expedition (a psychologist, a surveryor, a anthropologist, and our unnamed narrator, a biologist) exploring Area X, an uncanny slice of wilderness cut off from the rest of civilization by the mysterious border, a place which has undone multiple expeditions before them.

The Ballard vibe comes fr Four and 1/2 stars.

One part J.G. Ballard, one part LOST, and a smidge of Lovecraft, but the combo being its own intoxicating, surreal, creepifying thing. VanderMeer sucked me into his tale of an all-female expedition (a psychologist, a surveryor, a anthropologist, and our unnamed narrator, a biologist) exploring Area X, an uncanny slice of wilderness cut off from the rest of civilization by the mysterious border, a place which has undone multiple expeditions before them.

The Ballard vibe comes from the powerful sense of a malignant or mutant nature reclaiming its own in the landscape of Area X, though VanderMeer is much more interested in his character's psychological reactions than Ballard (from what I've read of Ballard, he seems to only get interested in psychology when it veers to the pathological).

The LOST echoes come from the sense of an organization that knows more about the strange 'natural' area in question than it lets on, and which is lying to and manipulating our protaganists in order to try to find out more - and the shocks the protaganists go through at peeling back these layers (and frankly (view spoiler)). But again, VanderMeer has his own nuances and twists at play here.

VanderMeer excellently slow-burns the paranoia (view spoiler), creates an amazing, unsettling atmosphere, makes the unreal seem real, and puts an interesting narrator at the center of it all (I especially liked the flashbacks to her studies of the overgrown pool as a kid, and how that pattern of behavior echoed through her life).

My only disappointments were (view spoiler)

I've gathered from some comments on the S&L forums that the other books in the trilogy don't "answer everything," but I'm hooked and will be trying them out. I'm okay with the uncanny remaining uncanny if the quality of the tale remains this good. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 04, 2013 Joseph Michael Owens rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, science-fiction, literary-fiction, new-weird, urban-fantasy

Great read! Want book 2 ASAP! Hoping Peter Tieryas Liu still wants to dual-review this one with me!!

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2015 Trinity rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, z-2015-read-all-the-books, book-challenges

On to Authority. No other option.

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 02, 2017 Kate Sherrod rated it really liked it

Shelves: re-reads-2018

Had to re-read this after seeing the film. The one is a refraction of the other 8)

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 13, 2015 Stephen Bruce rated it really liked it

Shelves: saw-the-film, 21st-century, science-fiction, nebula-award, weird

Just after reading some longer, more meandering books, I found it pleasant to have a book with much tighter pacing. Sure, there are sometimes long descriptions or flashbacks here, but they don't distract from the interesting and weird story. The idea of expeditions sent to explore a strange, uninhabited zone with a strange alien presence reminded me strongly of Tarkovsky's movie Stalker (I still need to read the book it was based on, Roadside Picnic), but there were enough different elements—a f ...more

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