Authority

Written by Jeff VanderMeer

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The bone-chilling, hair-raising second installment of theSouthern Reach TrilogyFor thirty years, a secret agency called the Southern Reachhas monitored expeditions into Area X—a remote and lush terrain mysteriouslysequestered from civilization. After the twelfth expedition, the Southern Reachis in disarray, and John Rodriguez (a.k.a. “Control”) is the team’s newlyappointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, andmore than two hundred hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secretsof Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control toconfront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he’s promised toserve.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio
• Release date: May 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482987461

Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer is an award-winning novelist and editor. His fiction has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in the Library of America’s American Fantastic Tales and in multiple year’s-best anthologies. He writes non-fiction for the Washington Post, the New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, and the Guardian, among others. He grew up in the Fiji Islands and now lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife.

Reviews for Authority

[tldegray-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

After not particularly enjoying the first book, I will admit to being curious enough about what on earth was going on to open this book. When I saw it had an entirely different setting from book 1, I decided to read it.

The problem I'm having with these books is that they are telling me everything is changing, but I have no idea what things were like before so I can't tell they're changing and I don't care. I'm not feeling the eeriness nor the urgency.

[pwaites_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Authority is the sequel to Annihilation, which you should read first. This second installment of the Southern Reach trilogy focuses on the Southern Reach itself, the government organization that studies the mysterious and dangerous Area X. John Rodriguez, who prefers to be called by the name Control, is appointed as a the new director of the Southern Reach, likely due to the influence of his powerful mother. He soon learns some members of the previous expedition have returned, and he begins interviewing the biologist.The most impressive thing about Authority was that it was able to keep Annihilation‘s sense of creeping unease without being set in Area X itself. However, the change of setting meant that this installment did loose some of the series’s appeal.Authority is a hundred pages longer than Annihilation, but it feels like not much happens until the very end, which was the most exciting part of the book. The rest of the book is Control being mired in government bureaucracy, secrets, and hostile colleagues. I did like his relationship with his secret agent mother and some of the reflections on his family, but it didn’t exactly lend to a fast pace.“Control thought of the theories as “slow death by,” given the context: Slow death by aliens. Slow death by parallel universe. Slow death by malign unknown time-traveling force. Slow death by invasion from an alternate earth. Slow death by wildly divergent technology or the shadow biosphere or symbiosis or iconography or etymology. Death by this and by that. Death by indifference and inference. His favorite: “Surface-dwelling terrestrial organism, previously unknown.” Hiding where all of these years? In a lake?”There’s still few answers as to the nature of Area X, but fragments of new information are provided. One of the sources of tension of the novel is that the reader (provided they’ve read Annihilation) knows more than Control, particularly when it comes to why the biologist was wandering in an empty lot with no idea as to how she got there…Hopefully the final book will provide some answers. If you liked Annihilation, I would suggest reading Authority. If you can get past the drag in the middle, the ending is well worth it.Review originally published on The Illustrated Page.

[hskey-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Supremely disappointing. I loved Annhilation and found the dreamy, distant narrative fit beautifully with Area X, the expedition and the main character's unreliability in terms of her memory, and her willingness to share details.Authority has almost double the page count and about a tenth of the story. I have no idea why it's so long, the plot doesn't warrant it. It's dull, repetitive and uninteresting. I don't agree with VanderMeer's focus on specific details, structure or characters. There's such an interesting idea here that doesn't get fleshed out all. The concept of a secret agency harboring potentially alien/unknown secrets sounds like a terrific idea, but the whole book is lifeless. It needed a shot of adrenaline, three of four more story beats, and needed to be cut down like crazy. A few cool moments to be sure, and I will be reading Acceptance unquestionably. I don't want to sound like it's poorly written, either. It's not. VanderMeer has a wonderful way of words and creeps you out in a fun way when he wants to. But here...man alive, I can't tell you how bored I was reading it. I've heard this one is very divisive, so I shouldn't be surprised.

[codonnelly · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As dull as I found some parts of this book, I've got to admit that Whitby is one of the most fascinating and oddly lovable characters I've ever read. I could read an entire series just about him.

[asxz-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Still creepy, even as most of this takes place outside of Area X at the headquarters of the Southern reach organization. This is a densely packed collection of nightmares and hypnotic suggestions as the central character identifies himself as 'Control' even as he clearly demonstrates that he has little.

This is a great middle section ramping up the stakes from the first and making me both nervous and excited about the third. I cannot read the phrase, "I am not the biologist," without all the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

[jonfaith · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was as if a different person put the key in the ignition and drove away from everything that was familiar.

Well, shit. It is another Sunday and my sinus issues haven't been resolved, neither have my questions concerning the first volume of this inspired arc. The problem is, I'm afraid, I'm not sure any answers would suffice at this point. Authority is readily described by critics and fans as a spy novel. My experience in the genre may be limited, but this isn't cloak-and-dagger. Authority is more of a procedural, much like Edward G. Robinson's character in Double Indemnity sifting through the receipts, piecing together possible scenarios. Introduce the paranoia of the first installment and the resulting admixture becomes, well, taxing. It isn't the structure of the work which challenges, nor is it a display of imaginative wordplay. It is an opaque events being experienced by blunted characters. I did not care.

[starknits_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hypnosis, boarders and the unknown such a great story.
Left me wanting more to know what is going on I hope it is answered in the 3rd book

[nkmunn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This second volume Takes the reader of book one back through the looking glass. The narrative persona switches from female to male from an alien landscape to a human one

[ahs7wolfy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A new director has been appointed to the Southern Reach to get to grips with the current state of the investigation into Area X but faces resistance to his appointment by the former director's assistant and second in charge. There's also the debriefing of the returning members of the last expedition to conduct also so Control, as he likes to be called, has his hands full. Getting straight answers from the staff that still remain at the outpost is challenging at best and Control doesn't know whether that's the characters themselves or if being at the Southern Reach has infected everyone with an obfuscation disease. There also seem to be factions back at headquarters and this makes Control wonder just how much control he actually has.This follow-up to Annihilation sets quite a different tone to its predecessor. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, I didn't enjoy the direction this one took quite as much. More focus on the bureaucracy element of the organisation investigating the phenomenon behind Area X than what it actually is. As I predicted after completing the first volume in the trilogy I wasn’t expecting too much in the way of answers to the mysteries of Area X and I was correct in that summation. I’m not entirely sure all the answers will be forthcoming in the next one either but I’m willing to venture forth in hope of at least some. Especially as I quite liked the ending to this one, even if it did finish with a bit of a cliff-hanger.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For the first half of the book, my major problem was that every time I read more than a few pages, I tended to fall asleep. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't keeping me awake. Taking the eerie tone and looming sense of dread from the first volume and applying them to a workplace environment just didn't work for me. After snoozing through the book for several days, I slapped myself a few times and powered through the second half in a day. Fortunately, I was rewarded for my efforts with a build-up in the momentum of the book that lifted me past the early doldrums to a satisfactory conclusion that leaves me wanting to read the concluding volume soon.

[robertday_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In my review of the first book of the Southern Reach trilogy, 'Annihilation', I commented on the various influences I saw in the text, and added "with a big dollop of Kafka". Well, this novel changes the focus, and can best be described as a mix of Kafka and le Carré.A new director arrives at the headquarters of Southern Reach, with a remit to try to understand what happened to the Twelfth Expedition, unearth the motivations of his predecessor and to bring the organisation back under some sort of control. Indeed, in a nod to le Carré, this character refers to himself as 'Control' nearly all the way through the book. He is thwarted by his new colleagues, who are by turns insubordinate, enigmatic, obstructive and incomprehensible. Even on the occasions that they try to be helpful, Control finds that their actions can defy understanding.Control also has the opportunity to debrief the biologist, protagonist of 'Annihilation'. This process is just as problematical; she is given to announcing that she "is not the biologist", though whether that means that there is a question of identity, a matter of the role that she is expected to fulfil, or indeed of her own self-understanding is open to question.Control's own role is also not necessarily what it seems. His past comes back to haunt him; is he his own agent in this investigation, or is he a pawn in the hands of others?We learn some more of the history of Area X; but then events begin to spiral out of Control's control and he has to strike out on his own and disregard his orders.This is a dense and complex read, though not without some amusement at Vandermeer's wordplay. It is utterly unlike the previous book, and yet follows on so naturally. It is a slow burn of a novel, and certainly will not be to every reader's taste. And although we see more of the world outside Area X, and Control's interaction with it, it still reads as though Area X and the Southern Reach could be anywhere. The story ends on a cliff-hanger; it will be interesting to see where the final volume, 'Acceptance', takes us.

[nwhyte-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'd be willing to consider the first volume further, but reluctant to include either of the other two

[ouroborosangel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Completely different from the first. Equally engaging, amazing and enraging. Going to get the third and last today to find out how the story ends.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The second book in the trilogy is even better than the first. Very different from the first this volume gives us the whole picture and background in which volume one was set. While it remained mysterious, we now get all the answers which arose. The fantasy element I felt in "Annihilation" has become more defined with a possible alien connection. Yet the book leaves us with just as big of a mystery as it answers. This series is my first foray into sci-fi for many years and I'm finding it highly satisfying. Have to wait on the "hold" list at my library for the last volume.

[trayceetee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a pleasant surprise, when I started listening to the audio book, to find that it was narrated by Bronson Pinchot! He did a fabulous job, and I look forward to listening to more audiobooks narrated by him!
As much as I loved and tore through the first book in this series, I had no idea I could possibly love this one any more. Yet I did! I found this part of the story extremely captivating! Again, excellent character development, fabulous scene descriptions, etc. I really felt like I was inside "Control's" mind. I LOVED that the character named John Rodriguez thought of himself as (and insisted others called him) "Control". I mean, I don't think I've heard of a better nickname in my life.
What started out as a simple, seemingly clear-cut job of Control doing recon on a situation that has gotten a bit out of hand, even as government funding for it is dwindling, becomes a twisted, mysterious trip down the rabbit-hole... one which Control may or may not find his way out of--and he may or may not WANT to find his way out!

[dukedom_enough · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This second book of Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy pulls back from the mysterious Area X, to examine the Southern Reach itself - the covert government agency tasked with understanding the phenomenon, located a few miles outside the border. After 30 years of sending in expeditions, the Reach has gotten nowhere. We follow the viewpoint of John, usually called "Control", who is due to become the new director; the previous director was the psychologist on the expedition in the first book, and did not return.The newly arrived Control finds that the staff of the organization have low morale; some seem not quite sane, and hidden agendas abound. The assistant director resists the takeover. Control himself is a sort of hereditary covert-operations prince, shielded from the consequences of previous failures only because of the power wielded at very high levels by his mother. He needs to succeed here, success that seems ever more unlikely given the dysfunction he encounters.The surveyor, the anthropologist, and the biolgist from the expedition recounted in Annihilation have returned. From that first book, we know that they must not be the actual women who went in, but doppelgangers of some sort. Control doesn't know this, and begins to debrief them. But the assistant director moves the surveyor and the anthropologist outside the Reach, inaccessible to him, her objectives evidently having overridden those of the organization. Control's interviews with the biologist - the first book's viewpoint character - proceed slowly. She claims to have little memory of Area X.The book presents a fine examination of an institution that has gone crazy because it can neither carry out its mission nor stop trying. As much effort goes to political infighting as to the mystery they face. As in the first book, actual scenes of horror are metered out sparingly. When Control views video recordings from the first expedition into Area X, long before, what he sees is made all the more terrible by Vandermeer's withholding of detail, but we do learn about the screaming.I think the best explanation for what Vandermeer is doing here is in one statement by a minor character:"We keep saying 'it' - and by 'it' I mean whatever initiated these processes (...) - is like this thing or like that thing. But it isn't - it is only itself. Whatever it is. Because our minds process information almost solely through analogy and categorization, we are often defeated when presented with something that fits no category and lies outside the realm of our analogies."The other book I think of here is Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, in which humans will never understand the mysterious planet they explore. The explorations into the Zone in Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic also come to mind. We humans can only understand a few things. Area X cannot be understood.But it can be experienced - or suffered. The book's end is satisfyingly suspenseful as Control pursues the escaped biologist through a rugged landscape.

[lindoula-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Book 1 was so good, and this was just so disappointing. Not sure whether to take a gamble on book 3 or not.

[porch_reader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book in the Southern Reach trilogy. This one takes place at the Southern Reach headquarters after the expedition describe in book one has returned. Little by little, we piece together some of the history of the Southern Reach. John Rodrigues ("Control") is the newly appointed director, but even he is in the dark about the details of Area X. At times, I had a little trouble staying connected to this story, but I'm interested enough in putting the pieces together that I'll definitely seek out book three.

[joshuaatkins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book two shifts focus onto a new main character, but leaves us firmly under the sway of Area X. A fascinating and slightly disturbing series so far. Can't wait to read book three.

[greeniezona · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't really prepared for this book to switch perspectives so radically. Authority is no longer told from the point of view of the biologist, nor from anyone who has been in Area X at all. Suddenly we are transported back to Southern Reach, the home of the Area X research, the launching point for all expeditions. A new director has been installed to replace the psychologist who did not return from the last expedition. Control (as he would like to be called) grasps at straws trying to make sense of what no one has been able to make sense of, by talking to SR staff, who range from hostile to indifferent to possibly crazy, deciphering the former director's notes, and interviewing the biologist-shaped person who returned from Area X with incomplete memories and the insistence that she is not, in fact, the biologist.

Control didn't ever fully come together for me as a character. I wanted to understand him and care about him, but mostly what propelled me through this second book was my pre-established interest in Area X and the biologist. This book didn't give much up in terms of increased understanding of either, only a little bit of context. It broke my momentum a little, and I decided to take a short break before diving into book three.

[wildrequiem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There were so many flashbacks that made the middle so slow, but it honestly doesn't detract from my obsession with this bizarre series. The end? Insane and still every bit as bizarre. I feel like this second book ended at an appropriate place, and can't wait to see how the stories from the first and second book converge in the final installment.

[aurorapaigem-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I think I enjoyed this book more than the first at the beginning, but then started to lose interest towards the end. I'm glad that I kept reading, because many plot twists were revealed, but the narrator spends too much time in his own head and repeats himself a lot. I'm curious to see how the last book in the series plays out. -Audio

[bness2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was even more frustratingly obscure and mysterious that I think I liked the first book better. About half way through the book I was as frustrated with how little Area X made sense as the main character, Control. It kept me fascinated enough though that I feel the need to read the third book. There are so many loose ends in this book, which is both frustrating and tantalizing.

[admiralfinnegan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sequel and different perspective on the Area X phenomenon. I found the characterizations to be more fulfilling, but the plot itself to devolve into little whorls or stagnancy at times. Still, a good follow up on par with the first.

[martialalex92 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

"answers all the questions" proceeds to answer none of the questions. It seems the author thinks being mysterious is the same as not actually fleshing out plot points or character personalities. You spend most of the book just waiting for something to happen, some kind of development. Then right at the end a bunch of stuff happens but suddenly we don't have time to overanalyze every little detail like the first 90% of the book

[tuusannuuska-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4,3 stars

I liked this a lot more than I expected based on the synopsis. I don't know if it was the great narration of the audiobook by Bronson Pinchot or what, but this book really held me in its grip. I feel like reading Acceptance straight away, but I think I'd rather wait for it to become available on Scribd here.

[roxiet-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’m really glad I stumbled onto this series. I usually dread the drawn out middle portion of trilogies, but the author didn’t disappoint on enhancing the plot. I finished this book with so many answers, yet even more questions and I couldn’t put it down. This is a series that I can’t wait to finish but know I’m going to be somewhat disappointed when it ends.

[jessicareadsthings · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't even know what to say. This series is awesome. Read it.

[ctkjs · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not really sure why I find this series so intriguing. Once again, there were times when I was so confused what was going on. I can't decide if moments were overly descriptive or overly vague, and suddenly I've missed something and shit is happening. I still found it intense and intriguing. Much like the characters in these stories, I just want to know–need to know–what the answer is to all of this, how it's going to end.

[pjohanneson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Spooky follow-up to Annihilation. It's a slow burn, with a new director at the Southern Reach facility having to navigate a Byzantine set of office politics and unearth the history of the twelfth expedition. Everything's off-kilter.