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Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)

Jeff VanderMeer

Start date: August 23, 2017

Finish date: August 23, 2017

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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What Members Thought

May 17, 2023 Netanella rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, 2023-may-reading-challenges, horror-aficionados, weird, 2023-ha-mount-tbr, dystopian

"We all live in a kind of continuous dream," I told him. "When we wake, it is because something, some event, some pinprick even, disturbs the edges of what we've taken as reality."

What a strange and disturbing story this is, chosen for the monthly read at Horror Aficionados. Definitely not horror, more along the lines of environmental sci-fi psychological mindfuck. The author does a great job in creating a sense of unease and dread throughout the story - the main characters are not named, are ev ...more

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Mar 30, 2014 Barondestructo rated it liked it

A team of four women are are set out to explore a mysterious region known as Area X. By all accounts, they are the twelfth group to journey into the bizarre amazon-like territory. All of the previous expeditions have ended badly, marked by murders, suicides, disappearances, and, in the case of the eleventh, the inexplicable return of its members, sickened and psychologically broken by their experience. Our narrator, a biologist, apprises us of her team’s progress as they venture deep into Area X A team of four women are are set out to explore a mysterious region known as Area X. By all accounts, they are the twelfth group to journey into the bizarre amazon-like territory. All of the previous expeditions have ended badly, marked by murders, suicides, disappearances, and, in the case of the eleventh, the inexplicable return of its members, sickened and psychologically broken by their experience. Our narrator, a biologist, apprises us of her team’s progress as they venture deep into Area X, making strange discoveries and unearthing hidden agendas, all the while dogged by a creeping suspicion that all is not right…

This book is admittedly weird but, surprisingly, actually the most grounded of author Jeff VanderMeer’s considerably weirder body of work. It’s a seemingly straightforward tale rooted in science and exploration that, slowly but surely, veers into the dreaded unknown. No mushroom people or squid-like creatures plague the pages of this book which, nevertheless, possesses an undercurrent of simmering horror reminiscent of Lovecraft. It also reminded me of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves with its slow burn mounting sense of foreboding. Or, for more t.v.-centered readers, it feels like a deeper, more nuanced, intellectually-provocative version of Lost.

As we bounce back and forth between the present and the past, gaining insight through our protagonist’s journal entries – a narrative device that, unlike most first person accounts, offers no assurances regarding the fate of our narrator – the secrets of Area X open up to us, offering glimpses but no real answers. Though if the answers ultimately do come, one can’t help but wonder: Will we be able to understand them or will we, like our narrator in one of the book’s most brilliant passages, be so overcome by its otherworldly nature that we’ll be incapable of processing the truth?

Regardless of where we end up, Annihilation is a hell of a ride. VanderMeer does a masterful job of gradually immersing us in this uncanny environment, every eerie encounter and bewildering find drawing us in ever further until, by the time our protagonist makes her final descent into “the tower”, we find ourselves equally ensnared, unable to turn back and unsee what we have witnessed, unlearn what we’ve been told. With the reminder that the tiny microcosms that thrive under our noses, taken for granted and largely ignored, may hold the key to some vaster enigma far beyond our imaginings, can we ever look at them the same way again? Our reality is teeming with potential alien incursions and the Devil may well be in the details.

Overall, an engaging and enjoyable read. I look forward to the second book, Authority, with equal measures eagerness, curiosity, and annoyance.
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Feb 28, 2016 mina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Real rating: 3.5. (I add the 0.5 just because I am curious enough to continue reading this series).
Tiring, but yet I keep going. I think I tend to keep reading a SF/F book if contains mistery or it is a kind of a thriller. I cannot let go until it is solved.

The following might contains spoiler, although I don't think it matters.

It was told from a first-person perspective, the biologist. All characters in this book (at least all characters at the present) are females, but I don't have time to und ...more

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Mar 26, 2015 SFReader rated it really liked it

Stop me if you've heard this one:

An anthropologist, a surveyor, a psychologist, and a biologist walk into a place called Area X which has been cut off from the rest of human civilization for decades. The four comprise an investigative team recruited and sent by a shadowy government agency known as the Southern Reach. Their mission? Much the same as the previous eleven expeditions that have gone before them: Find out what they can about the strange, isolated land to which they've been sent and re ...more

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Mar 02, 2014 Tani rated it liked it

Shelves: male-author, horror, 2015-novels, strongladies2015

Updated on reread: Downgraded a star, but more a reflection on my updated feelings on ratings, rather than a change in enjoyment. The large amount of imagery in this was hard for me to follow, since I'm not a hugely visual reader. And I find the main character so hard to deal with, probably because I feel like we're very similar in some ways, and just completely different in others, so she gives me a bit of mental whiplash. Will actually continue with the series this time. I'm planning on listen ...more

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Aug 29, 2014 Kivrin rated it it was ok

Very odd little book. I found the lack of character names very distracting and strange, but maybe that was the point. It was all a little too obscure for me. At the end of the book, I still had no clue exactly what the heck was going on, and I had no real interest in the main character. Not sure I'll continue the trilogy. ...more

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