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Authority (Southern Reach, #2)

Jeff VanderMeer

Start date: February 9, 2016

Discussion: THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY

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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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Jan 16, 2022 BJ Lillis rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Annihilation had a focus, a concentration that rendered any sketchiness of plot or one-dimensionality of character irrelevant. Authority is sprawling and messy by comparison. But it is a satisfying sequel, nonetheless. Although the main character is not as strong a presence as the Biologist was, and his emotional arc doesn’t hold together nearly as well as hers, he is nonetheless an appropriate narrator for the questions this book is asking. Less fully-rounded character than spy-novel cipher, he ...more

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Apr 16, 2024 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ecological-fiction, sci-fi, series, american-21st-c, dystopian, novels

I enjoyed the Nebula-winning Annihilation, but was not immediately encouraged to read the other two books of this trilogy (all published at points along the year 2014 and soon to have a new volume in October 2024!). I found that this sequel is more readable (like I found with Atwood's The Year of the Flood) than its predecessor.

Rather than travel with Expedition 12 from the Southern Reach into Area X, we stay at Ess Arr in the head of John "Control" Rodriguez, the new director of the agency unde ...more

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Jul 02, 2019 Christian Molenaar rated it it was ok

Shelves: sci-fi

(1.5/5 stars)
Jeff VanderMeer follows up the breezy, energetic Annihilation with Authority, a 300-page slog through bloated bureaucratic office politics and endless non-conclusions. The book's first couple hundred pages deal with its central character attempting to suss out answers regarding the mysterious Area X where most of Annihilation took place, only to be met with obstinate challenges to his (ahem) authority and insubordinate office backstabbing.
Unfortunately, VanderMeer fails to do this i (1.5/5 stars)
Jeff VanderMeer follows up the breezy, energetic Annihilation with Authority, a 300-page slog through bloated bureaucratic office politics and endless non-conclusions. The book's first couple hundred pages deal with its central character attempting to suss out answers regarding the mysterious Area X where most of Annihilation took place, only to be met with obstinate challenges to his (ahem) authority and insubordinate office backstabbing.
Unfortunately, VanderMeer fails to do this in a way that is any modicum of fun for the reader, and Authority feels more like watching an episode of The Office on repeat than the gripping spy thriller it wishes to be. I understand the author's attempt at making the reader feel as frustrated as the book's protagonist when met with so many verbal brick walls and questions instead of answers, but because the novel's plot barely exists and no payoff is ever delivered, the audience is left just that: frustrated.
Essentially, the book is nearly 300 pages of exposition setting up an event that the main character barely witnesses before a final 50 of near-aimless wandering and an abrupt deus ex machina ending.
The only thing keeping me from giving this book a single star is the quality of the writing itself, and even that wore on me; VanderMeer is a skilled writer with a particular aptitude for vivid descriptions of scenic minutiae, but not every detail needs to be so lovingly rendered all the time. The pages upon pages of descriptions of office floor cleaner scents ultimately end up weakening the novel's few moments of narrative action; scenes of abject cosmic horror are robbed of their impact when placed side-by-side with equally (if not at times more) detailed renderings of the mundane goings-on of a forgotten government office.
If sufficiently edited, Authority could have been an effective novella acting as a prologue to whatever comes next in the Southern Reach trilogy. As it stands, however, the novel is bogged down by far too much unnecessary detail and useless plot points to tell its scant story well. Overall, I'm honestly puzzled as to how this book was even published in its current form. ...more

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