Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) in Reading with Style

Sep 15, 2019 Dan's rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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.

Μολις εφτασα σε αυτο το απόσπασμα..
Όντως αυτο που ακολουθει στη δεύτερη καθοδο σε αφηνει άφωνο

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Feb 06, 2015 Shaina rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-spec-fic, horror, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Shaina's rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ (I thought about a 3.5, but the fact that I'm interested enough to read what comes next bumped it up to a 4.)

Original review here: http://shainareads.blogspot.com/2015/...

Annihilation introduces us to the all-female team of the twelfth expedition to Area X, a stretch of wilderness cut off from civilization after a mysterious, unknown "thing" happened there. The Southern Reach, an equally mysterious agency, sends teams of scientists into Area X to investigate its weirdnes Shaina's rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ (I thought about a 3.5, but the fact that I'm interested enough to read what comes next bumped it up to a 4.)

Original review here: http://shainareads.blogspot.com/2015/...

Annihilation introduces us to the all-female team of the twelfth expedition to Area X, a stretch of wilderness cut off from civilization after a mysterious, unknown "thing" happened there. The Southern Reach, an equally mysterious agency, sends teams of scientists into Area X to investigate its weirdness. Because it's really weird. There are creatures that moan in the night, spore-spewing/message-writing plants and pulsating, possibly living buildings that don't show up on maps. Explorers from previous expeditions come back from Area X placid and hollow or don't come back at all. Add in that not all the expedition members are on the same page (read: one of them has the ability to hypnotize the others at will), and we've set the stage for a LOST-esque creepfest.

Our protagonist, the expedition's biologist, is pretty weird herself. We never learn her name, because the Southern Reach doesn't do names. As we explore Area X alongside her, we learn about her past—her inattentive parents, her troubled relationship with her husband (who previously went to Area X and came back an empty husk), and her seeming disinterest in connecting with anyone. I found her detachment from the situation fascinating. Instead of visceral, emotional reactions to the pure WTFery that's happening around her, she waxes logical, perhaps philosophical. We get statements like:

"Nothing that lived and breathed was truly objective—even in a vacuum, even if all that possessed the brain was a self-immolating desire for truth." (pg. 8)

Then, not long after a terrifying, agonizing encounter with one of Area X's inhabitants (vague because spoilers), she says:

"I am aware that all of this speculation is incomplete, inexact, inaccurate, useless. If I don't have real answers, it is because we still don't know what questions to ask. Our instruments are useless, our methodology broken, our motivations selfish." (pg. 192-193)

I'm hesitant to share much more, because I feel like this is a book that defies summary. It's also only part one of a larger story, so it's difficult to analyze it on its own. I did feel that it occasionally got too caught up in its own grander ideas; it was less "What's going on in Area X?" and more "What does what's going on mean?" I don't mind getting meta, but sometimes it gets in the way of the thread of a story.

All in all, this book was (you guessed it) weird, and I'm excited to see where VanderMeer takes Area X and the Southern Reach next. I would recommend it for people who enjoy supernatural elements and grand philosophizing with their sci-fi. ...more

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