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    Annihilation: A Novel
    Annihilation: A Novel
    Annihilation: A Novel
    Ebook198 pages3 hours

    Annihilation: A Novel

    By Jeff VanderMeer

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ALEX GARLAND, STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC

    The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award-winning novel that "reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world" (Kim Stanley Robinson).

    Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

    The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

    They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateFeb 4, 2014
    ISBN9780374710774
    Annihilation: A Novel
    Author

    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.

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    Reviews for Annihilation

    4/5

    2,899 ratings157 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Annihilation is a science fiction (or possibly fantasy?) novel with the pacing of a thriller. For decades, Area X has been a land apart. A shady branch of the government has been sending in expeditions. Sometimes the expeditions return. Often they don’t. Our narrator is a member of the twelfth expedition, a team of four women sent to investigate the mysteries of Area X. What she finds is beyond her wildest imagination.Each of the four women is known only by her job title. The narrator is the biologist. The others include a psychologist (the leader), an anthropologist, and the surveyor. Beyond the narrator, it felt like the team members didn’t get much characterization. To be fair, this is because not all of them made it very far into the novel. The publisher’s blurb makes it sound like Annihilation is a character piece and that the drama comes from the interactions among the four. This isn’t really true – there’s a bit of intrigue within the group, but most of what drives the book comes from Area X itself.“The effect of this cannot be understood without being there. The beauty of it cannot be understood, either, and when you see beauty in desolation it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.”Area X was delightfully creepy. I absolutely loved how strange and uneasy it was. It is utterly impossible, and no explanations or answers are provided as to how or why Area X exists. Possibly there’s some answers in the two sequels. Regardless, I enjoyed the chills the setting gave me.Annihilation is a short read. With it’s fast paced thriller pacing and less than 200 pages, it didn’t take me long at all to get through it. Once I had, I immediately went and requested the sequel from the library. I don’t think this book will be for everyone – its sheer strangeness may put some people off – but I would suggest giving it a try.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
    • 2/5
      This book is so seriously not for me. I kept reading, looking for something or someone to latch onto that would draw me into the story, but aside from a few brief moments, such as realizing they were all being hypnotized I couldn't find anything. I don't particularly enjoy an unreliable narrator, and I was frustrated by ending the book knowing as little about what was going on as I did beginning it. This is definitely a me-thing, and for me it just didn't work.
    • 4/5
      Annihilation straddles the line of science fiction and horror, and it's kind of wonderful because Vandermeer walks such a fine balance between them--with plenty of suspense thrown in. The book moves fast, and the characters are disturbingly believable, to the extent that the book feels almost too real more often than not, as if we could be looking at something just in our own future or just on the other side of it. With all of that added into Vandermeer's careful descriptions and uncanny way with words, the book is kind of wonderful.I'd absolutely recommend it, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
    • 4/5
      Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer is the first book in the Southern Reach trilogy, but it can be read as a standalone. It has also been adapted into a movie starring Natalie Portman, which will be released at the end of this month. The Southern Reach, a government agency, studies Area X, a mysterious zone of unfettered wilderness that suddenly appeared decades ago. Since its manifestation, the agency has sent out numerous expeditions only for the teams to either never return or to come back as fundamentally changed people. The first book is narrated by a member of the twelfth expedition, a team composed of four women: the biologist, the anthropologist, the surveyor, and the psychologist.

      The first chapter begins with the biologist, our narrator, reflecting on the first day of the expedition. Her detached descriptions of the individual members of the team, as well as the standardized process that brought them here, sets the tone for the rest of the book. Her understated reactions to the bizarre environment around her also provide a sense of how reserved she is in comparison to the rest of the women. She is curious about Area X, but its strangeness does not frighten her. VanderMeer utilizes her scientific mind to create a setting that is easy to visualize, yet difficult to comprehend.

      The entire book is the biologist’s journal, although it reads as a highly literate one. There are no dates, and it stays on topic for the most part, minus a few flashbacks to her past work experience and her relationship with her recently deceased husband, a member of the eleventh expedition. The plot is more of a journey of the mind than a tangible series of events that lead to a satisfying conclusion. The mind is very esoteric, and so is this book. While I occasionally preferred the sections where characters interacted with each other, as opposed to the biologist’s examinations of her environment, there is a decent balance between the two. That being said, this is a highly atmospheric book, so if you don’t like pages of description, you probably won’t enjoy it.

      One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is how Area X affects the people and things that interact with it. In order to subvert some of the negative interactions discovered on past expeditions, the Southern Reach sets strict rules, most notably that expedition members must never know each other’s real names: “Names belonged to where we had come from, not to who we were while embedded in Area X.” They are also not permitted to bring modern technology with them due to unforeseen reactions on the first expedition. VanderMeer leaves the reasoning for most of these rules up to interpretation, which is frustrating, but that’s the point. Area X also changes people, which is interesting to see carried out. The biologist, as detached as she seems, is not immune after all.

      Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation is a glimpse into an area with a mind of its own from the perspective of someone immersed in fact over emotion. It’s a unique book because it’s highly introspective, yet the narrator’s observations are so clinical that everything that she experiences feels removed, which disorients the reader. The book also teaches you to enjoy the journey, not just the destination, because while some answers to the mysteries of Area X are provided, many are left up to speculation.
    • 4/5
      I usually read a book BEFORE seeing the movie, but I'm ok with seeing the movie first in this case, largely because the movie is quite different from the book. Both do a terrific job with the premise - Area X is fascinating, scary, bewildering and unique. Usually an unreliable, or dreamy narration bothers me, but here the plot was clear enough that a bit of deviation from "reality" was fine, plus it works in tandem with what Area X does to people who wander inside. Fantastic, would probably be 4.25 stars instead of 4 if I could rate it that way. Really keen to continue the trilogy.
    • 3/5
      I started to read this because of the film of the same name. I would have to say this one of those eerie novels set in a landscape that is both familiar and undergoing a transformation due to an outside agent. The protagonist is part of another expedition, there have been others, into a zone which being altered by something completely alien. The author does not tell the reader exactly how this has transpired and in this sense, the book has echoes of the Strugatsky brothers "Roadside Picnic". Having completed the first book in the series, I intend to read the next two. If you enjoy weird speculative fiction, then this one is for you.
    • 4/5
      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. There is also something unusual at play, a force. Not wishing to spoil anything, I will note that the team has taken certain precautions. The protagonist herself is a guarded soul. She has reasons for such as she reveals. There are elements of Hrabal here which I enjoyed. There are aspects of Lovecraft which remain shadowed. I read the novel in one gulp as 1) we had a freak ice storm 2) we were without AT& T for 4 hours and 3) I had a midrange sinus condition. Thus no tv, internet and I was somewhat surly. This is a meditation on estrangement. Annihilation explores how the triumph of the natural is inscrutable to human endeavor.
    • 4/5
      A modern dance of sci-fi and Lovecraftian weird fiction.
    • 4/5
      Genuinely creepy and fantastical. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it managed to be unsettling without menace, unlike, say, House of Leaves which was terrifying. I wasn't sure if I would like this enough to want to read the next two in the trilogy, but I'm going to order them now in these great looking hardback editions.
    • 4/5
      Very intriguing book. I was especially intrigued by the imagery and the plot. Extremely original. I am impressed.
    • 3/5
      Well-written, atmospheric story with mounting tension and dread throughout. I realize it's part of a trilogy, but this book felt very incomplete, and that annoyed me. Having maybe one or two things resolved would have been nice.
    • 3/5
      Elegant and scary.
    • 5/5
      Four women, known only by their titles (biologist, psychologist, anthropologist, surveyor), have been sent through some kind of “border” from a world like ours to a place where there are many familiar things (plants, animals, structures, geography) but no people, and where nothing makes sense. The team has been told they are the 12th expedition to Area X, a part of their own world which has suffered a catastrophe and is no longer inhabitable or understandable. Most of the previous team members have been killed or become murderers themselves, or died after returning, or disappeared. The biologist, who is the narrator, quickly discovers that the psychologist has been regularly hypnotizing the other three to keep them focused, calm, and under certain illusions as to what they are experiencing. Where the team has been sent is unclear: possibly where they've been told, possibly another world or reality. At one point I wondered if they’d been miniaturized and injected into a living being. And, of course, there’s the possibility that the whole experience is taking place in the biologist’s mind, or that her memories of the past are products of hypnotic suggestion or madness. This was one of the most inventive and tense books I've ever run across. Each page brings surprises and new clues, so many, in fact, that less and less makes sense. Will any of the team retain their sanity, or even survive? Does death mean something different here? And what is the “border”, anyway, and how can it be found in order to return home? Other reviewers commented negatively on the use of job titles rather than personal names, but I thought it added to an understanding of the distance the characters felt towards each other and their environment. There were also comments that the book ends abruptly, but here, too, I disagreed. I knew before reading this that it was the first part of a trilogy, but it also stands alone: the end made sense to me, even if Area X didn’t. I’m looking forward to the next installments (one is being published today and one in September, 2014), but I can really use the break to relax before submerging myself in this story again. In fact, after finishing this book last evening, the only thing I could think to do to clear my head was to watch a couple of bridal reality shows. That’s how far this story took me in the other direction.
    • 4/5
      “Silence creates it's own violence.”  A group of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist and a biologist, who also doubles as our narrator, are sent on a mission to Area X. Area X is an isolated coastal territory, that has been cut off from the rest of the continent. It is a lush, beautiful place, teeming with fauna and wildlife. It is also mysterious and dangerous. This is expedition twelve. The preceding missions have gone very badly...This is a slowburn dystopian tale, the first in a trilogy, with a nice creepy undertone. There are shades of Atwood and Bradbury here, which adds to it's allure. The other reward is it's brief length, a bonus we can all appreciate. Looking forward to book 2...
    • 4/5
      Haunting story of a mystery that remains a tantalizing mystery still at the end of the book. In many respects this book reminded me of A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay. The plots bear no similarity, but the sense that I can almost understand what the story is about is very similar. This explains the wide range of responses to this book. Some people love it, others hate it. If you want all the answers by the end of the book, then this is not for you, because by the end of the book you will probably have even more questions.

      I also was intrigued by the book, because as a biologist myself, I can relate to the main character.
    • 4/5
      Just the right mix of mystery and action. Very clever. Looking forward to getting my teeth into book2
    • 5/5
      Just bought yesterday and read in one day! Just a great sci-fi adventure from a single person perspective. A "Day of the Triffids" for the contemporary era.
    • 4/5
      Arresting, absorbing and disturbing fantasy about Area X, a secret place filled with the bizarre and supernatural. The book was like a cross between Christopher Priest and Lovecraft, strange beings and happenings written in a luminous, complex and immersive style. I don't know if I'm going to read the rest of the series but I did enjoy this. It is a slow read and idiosyncratic but well worth it.
    • 4/5
      The 12th team to explore Area X enters knowing that no previous expedition has survived. Narrated by the fiercely introverted biologist, the rapid disintegration of their mission is inevitable. What is Area X? Where is the border? What happened to the previous expeditions? What creature cries in the night? Why is the mysterious sunken Tower missing from the maps? What lives within? This is a novel of identity, perception and transition/transformation rather than characters and plot - don't expect action or engagement. Difficult to engage with, but fascinating in its own right (although not quite polished enough to get a full 4* from me).
    • 5/5
      This is the first time I’ve ever read anything by Jeff VanderMeer, and I’ll admit at first I had my misgivings. I’d picked up this book because of the great things I’ve heard about it, and also because the premise sounded fascinating. However, VanderMeer is also best known for his contributions to “New Weird”, a literary genre that’s been hit or miss with me – but mostly miss. Still, I looked at the modest page count of Annihilation and figured that even if it didn’t tickle my fancy, at least it would be a quick read.Man, and am I glad I gave this one a shot. Yes, the story is weird and a bit surreal – two descriptive terms for a book that would normally make me take off for the hills – but what I didn’t expect was how thoroughly atmospheric and intense it was. If Annihilation were to be made into a movie (actually, I believe that’s already in the plans), my dream director for it would be Ridley Scott because I think his particular approach would be perfect for the overall tone and visual requirements of this novel. It’s just got those vibes.And really, I say weird but it’s really not that weird. I mean, I was able to follow along, so there’s hope for me yet. Still, how to explain this utterly unique and uncanny novel to the uninitiated (geez, that’s way too many “U” words in a sentence)? You don’t even get names for any of the characters. The story is narrated by a woman simply known as “The Biologist”. She goes on an expedition to a place called Area X with the other members of her team, the Psychologist, the Anthropologist, and the Surveyor, to see what they can find in this chunk of land that has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. I think this idea of a scientific mission was a big part of the appeal for me; Anthropology and Biology are fields that fascinate me because I double majored in them, and I’m all about stories about treks into the wilderness for the sake of science.The team also has the task to find out what happened to the expeditions that came before, and here’s where thing get a little eerie. All those involved in the previous eleven attempts to investigate Area X have ended up dead in some way. With the second expedition, all the members committed suicide. Everyone in the third died because they turned on each other with their guns. Members of the eleventh expedition, the one that came before the Biologist’s, came home from Area X as ghosts of their former selves before all dying of cancer several months later. What we find out later on is that the Biologist’s husband was one of them.This book is strange and unsettling, which satisfied my appetite for horror. But while I’d been prepared to be a little creeped out, given what I knew of the plot from the description, what I didn’t expect was the feeling of heart-wrenching melancholy that came over me as I was reading about the Biologist’s memories of her husband. There’s a tragic, haunted quality to her narration during these parts, and the lonely and isolated environment that is Area X merely served to emphasize this. Knowing that the character is a rather quiet, antisocial and withdrawn woman, the sincerity and forthrightness of her confessions touched me, but at the same time it was also a source of anxiety. Why would she be telling us all this unless she believed something awful and unthinkable was about to happen? An ominous air of mystery surrounds this story like a shroud and its secrets are revealed only bit by bit, compounding the reader’s feeling of dread as the plot line advances towards the conclusion.Truly, I am surprised by this book. And seriously impressed. I took to VanderMeer’s writing faster and more comfortably than I expected, but then he also makes it easy with his elegant prose. I was right that this was a quick read, and it was even quicker because I enjoyed it so much. Now I’m really looking forward to picking up Authority, the second book of the Southern Reach trilogy.
    • 5/5
      Stunningly rich, strange, unsettling, fantastical thriller The first expedition found a pristine wilderness – a new Eden_All members of the second expedition committed suicide_Members of the third turned on each other_The eleventh did return only to succumb to an aggressive cancer_Expedition 12 has now entered Area XSo starts the one of the best fantasy books I have read. Expedition 12 is made up of just 4 people: biologist, anthropologist, surveyor, psychologist (all female – yeay!). All picked and trained by the mysterious Southern Reach Authority to continue investigations into the most secret of areas. And that’s all I am going to say, beware of spoilers. The delicious unfurling of information is one of the highlights of the book, the careful parcelling out of information, the dance between confiding in the reader and keeping things hidden is joyous. Nothing in this book seems to be an accident, it’s there because its needs to be, it is so tightly written and constructed but still manages to flow so well and so fast. This is as much a thriller as sci fi/fantasy and is a book to devour. Written in diary format our unnamed, unreliable narrator comes alive, others flitting in and out through shared experience or flashback. Our biologist is a compelling person, one of those characters that stays with you whether she gels with you or no. As will Area X, the sense of place is evocative and dangerously enticing based on real environments but elevated with a touch of weird. Flaws? I can’t actually think of any. This book demands a reread, maybe after the initial awe has faded I can pick at. I could say it’s not one for those who are comforted by hard facts and the plots closed but it’s the 1st of a trilogy and its short and breathless and it’s a good place to dip your toe in. The story is fascinating and intriguing, the experience of the indescribably otherness is wonderfully done and VanderMeer’s craft worth looking at. What this books manages in under 200 pages is a rich, deeply satisfying story that deserves to be devoured: plot, pacing, character and writing all there in service of a story. No wonder I am gushing.Yes it is the 1st of a trilogy that will be released this year. Whether it stands or falls based on the others I cannot say but this is story can easily standalone as long as you are happy to ponder the tumult of questions. Yes this will have wide appeal. This is a thriller and a mystery and a fantasy, a science fiction novel, an action adventure and a horror. Yes the film rights have been sold (although I really want a PC game)And yes I highly recommend it. “Annihilation!” she shrieked at me, flailing in confusion. “Annihilation! Annihilation!” The word seemed more meaningless the more she repeated it, like the cry of a bird with a broken wing”
    • 4/5
      This is the kind of book where you constantly find your self short of breath. The paranoia, quiet horror and utter weirdness of VanderMeer’s slim novel is suffocating and claustrophobic., yet very believable.Nobody quite seems to know what the deal with Area X is. Under the jurisdiction of the anonymous Southern Reach, this pocket of strangeness behind a border that is both abstract and absolute, is under exploration by small expeditions, sent in one after the other. The second expedition were all found inexplicably dead. The third killed each other. The eleventh suddenly reappeard in their own homes, without knowing how they got there, and somehow strangely different. The twelfth expedition is small, consisting of only five people, all women, with a rather vague task of exploring and refine the maps of the area.But behind it’s first pristine impression, nothing is right in Area X. Something is moaning in the reeds at night. Something impossible to pin down is wrong with how the animals look. There is a feeling of a presence under the waves. And halfway between the base camp and the abandoned lighthouse, there’s a construction, a winding tunnel, that isn’t on any of the maps.Written as the journal of the Biologist, this is an understated, horrific wonder. We follow the psychological tension growing between the members of the expedition, as it becomes more and more clear they might not have the same agenda. The desperate tries to make sense of what they find, and later just to stay sane and alive. This is a thin book, but it’s incredibly dense. It’s pretty amazing the ambience it creates in under two hundred pages, and i’m sure it’s weirdness with linger for a long time. At times though, VanderMeer’s attempts at describing the undescribable, or to pinpoint mental states that have no names, become a tad too abstract for me. I occasionally find myself slipping, having to flip back to recall what I actually read. That said though, this is a deeply original weird horror by one of my favorite writers, and I just can’t wait to see how it will continue.
    • 5/5
      So, my mind has been blown. This is the first book I have ever read by VanderMeer, but it most definitely will not be my last. A cross between Lost and several other mysterious science fiction tales, Annihilation captures the reader from the very first page and never lets go. I was absolutely paralyzed by this book, and I simply could not put it down. I really wish I would have had the time to read it all in one sitting, as I nearly did except for the last 40 pages or so, because I think it is a much more complete and suspenseful read that way. The dread and just general suspense grows continuously from the very first page and continues to escalate throughout. I found myself sitting on the couch with the TV on, as everything outside of the two pages in my view began to blur and become so much less than background noise. Which ironically enough, is similar to the experience that the main character has as she explores this unknown territory, which makes the puzzling even more so for the reader after completion. Much like Area X, Annihilation just never loosens its grip and you find yourself questioning what you're reading and how in the world an author could craft such a complex, yet simple, terrifying, but subtle story. I can't help but feel like I was part of the twelfth expedition to Area X, as my ideas and thoughts came to me through the lenses of the biologist. Which, is another creepy but great thing about this book, is that the characters have no names. They are simply referred to by their titles, each of which has a certain importance to the story. There is so much hidden in each and every paragraph of this book, and the words are all chosen carefully to create a unique experience. I think readers will all have their own experiences, but there is an overarching story here to guide the reader through Area X and the expedition. It's really hard to say in words why this book amazed me so much, other than to highly recommend it to you and every reader I know. This may very well end up being one of the best books of 2014, and it has definitely landed itself in my personal top ten of all-time reads.
    • 4/5
      Annihilation is narrated by a female biologist who is part of a four-woman expeditionary group into Area X. Area X is a closed-off zone that is contaminated in some unknown and scary way; no previous explorers have returned intact. One of those in the previous group was the husband of the biologist. The biologist makes some frightening discoveries about what appears to be a living landscape, and the expedition quickly turns into horror movie material. The biologist does survive at least until the end of this book, the first of a planned trilogy. We would know that in any event since the book is written as if it were the biologist’s journal. It is not surprising this story has been optioned as a movie; it is going to make one heck of a scary film!Note: Not all of the issues get resolved, either because it is going to be a trilogy, or - equally plausibly - because some of it may just be beyond the ability of human beings to understand.Evaluation: I didn’t really get engaged in the book until about halfway through, and yet, it wasn’t a book I felt I could discard either. By the end, I was fully onboard and ready to find out what happens next!
    • 5/5
      If Annihilation is any indication, 2014 will be a good year for fiction.Written by Jeff Vandermeer, promoter of the new weird (see also: Jagannath), Annihilation is a tour de force, a slow burn of wonder and dread the culmination of which leaves the reader demanding more. Happily, Annihilation is the first entry in The Southern Reach Trilogy; Authority will be published in June, and Acceptance in September. (Fun fact: Whilst Googling, I discovered that the books are slated to be made into movies.)Annihilation begins with the entry of an expedition into Area X. Area X is a contaminated environment, abandoned by human life decades ago. The Southern Reach, a government or institution responsible for Area X, organizes expeditions to study the region. Annihilation relates the story of the twelfth expedition, comprised of the psychologist, the anthropologist, the surveyor, and the biologist, who is also the narrator. It is not giving anything away to say that the expedition goes horribly wrong.Area X is in many ways a pristine wilderness, untouched by human hands, save those of the expeditions, for decades. Vandermeer, via the biologist, lavishes detail on the landscape, establishing for the reader a setting both familiar and "uncanny": The wetlands, the trees, the bright blue skies, but also large, unidentified reptiles, a low "moaning" phenomenon that occurs only at dusk, and, especially, the fungal life. Vandermeer's descriptions of the environment are vivid, appropriate not only to the character of the biologist, but also serving to simultaneously orient and unbalance the reader.The shifting relationships of the characters, all known only according to their function in regards to the expedition, contributes to the readers' unease. It soon becomes evident to the biologist (and, thus, the reader) that all is not as it seems. The psychologist, the leader of the expedition, appears to know more than she is saying, and is armed with phrases that provide her influence over the other team members, even to the point of subverting their independence. This knowledge complicates the biologist's relationship with the surveyor, who becomes suspicious of both her and the psychologist. Who can be trusted?The focus of the story is the exploration of two local landmarks, the lighthouse, which appears on the team's maps and appears to have been the scene of vicious assaults, and the "Tower," a strange inversion of the lighthouse, really, that tunnels downward into the earth and in which the surveyor and the biologist discover words written with luminescent fungi: "Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that..." Needless to say, the discovery of the words unnerves the team, and the Tower is the scene of some of the expedition's most horrific moments.It's impossible to provide more detail about the story without giving away elements that should be discovered by individual readers. Suffice it to say that Annihilation lives up to the appellations of "thriller" and "new weird." The revelations are as disorienting as the mysteries.Annihilation is a page turner, a masterfully crafted novel that demands readers' attention. Vandermeer's storytelling skills are on full display here, using setting, character and plotting to create in the reader not only a growing sense of dread, but also the need to confront the source of that dread. This readers' only regret is that Annihilation, at 200 pages, wasn't longer, and that Authority and Acceptance aren't immediately available. Highly recommended.(Special thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the opportunity to read an advance copy of Annihilation in exchange for an honest review.)
    • 5/5
      Area X has been contained behind the border for 30 yearsSo starts the first book in a new trilogy from Jeff Vandermeer. The Southern Reach has sent 11 expeditions into Area X. Many of them have failed to come back, or have come back changed Our narrator is one of 4 in the 12th expedition, she is a biologist and joins a psychologist, surveyor and anthropologist. This is her story. This is the story of the 12th expedition. This is the story of, well let’s not reveal too much here shall we?This is an example of isolation fiction with a hearty dollop of paranoia on top of the fear and mystery. Vandermeer weaves a web of wicked weirdness that conceals to reveal. We have so many questions that are not answered and may never be but this is because the mystery is, well mysterious. Our narrator is no more clued up than we are and, crucially, compromised. Can we trust her? Can we trust anyone on the team? Can we trust The Southern Reach? Why aren’t expeditions allowed to take cameras, or telecoms, or most other modern technology but are allowed to take guns? What is the true purpose of the expeditions? What is Area X? What is the significance of the Lighthouse? Do we really want to know what the strange noises in the night are? Why did the Biologist join the expedition?There are several Vandermeerisms (yes that is a word) that will appeal to fans of his earlier work (no spoilers but I bet you can guess what I mean) but this is a slightly different tale to those he has told before. He describes a real and lush landscape in almost cinematic terms. He also manages to make it feel uncanny with a few deft touches and therefore even though the palette is light he achieves a darker tale. I was in the story from the first paragraph, rushing gladly through the book simultaneously desperate to know what was going to happen and deeply dreading knowing in case that knowledge were to change me irrevocably. It will be compared to Roadside Picnic by the Strugatskys no doubt and possibly Dark Matter By Michelle Paver and there are brief elements of familiarity here if you are well read in the Weird. However Vandermeer has carved a compelling and fresh tale that may owe a passing nod to Lovecraft but only in the same way that a modern car would owe a nod to a Model T. If any complaint were to be levelled at this it would be that we are forced to wait some months before the second in the trilogy is released. Will we get our answers in that tome? Do we want answers? Perhaps it’s safer not to know. Overall – I can only describe this as Vandermeerian (yes that is also a word) in its brilliance. If you’re a fan of Vandermeer go, buy, read! If you’re not a fan of Vandermeer why the hell not?
    • 4/5
      The Good Stuff Unique and highly imaginative Lots of twists and turns and keeps you on your toes trying to figure out what is going on Incredible world building - full of unusual landscapes and creatures Highly intrigued and looking forward to reading the next two books in the trilogy Creepy and mysterious - have quite a few people at work who I think will eat this up I know its a minor thing but the next books come out in May and September so the storyline will be wrapped up by the end of the year. For a person who reads as much as I do (and lets face it is older and the memory isn't as good as it once was) this will be refreshing considering that many trilogies take at least 3 years to conclude Couldn't help myself - Area X felt like the setting of Lost (just a little) mixed a little with the X-Files Hooks you in right away and at times you will find it hard to put down -- sorry Jeff. Also leaves you wanting more. I am quite sure there will be a huge demand for the second story HarperCollins did a fabulous job of promoting this one!!!The Not So Good Stuff Characters are more of caricatures than fully developed characters Hard to connect with the narrator Difficult to review and provide favorite passages without spoiling anythingFavorite Quotes/Passages "The beauty of it cannot be understood, either, and when you see beauty in desolation it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.""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 the truth.""Maybe I don't know the answer. Maybe I just don't want to tell you."4 Dewey'sI received this from HarperCollins (as part of being an Indigo employee) and am in no way required to review or promote- I'm just such a book nerd I have to review every book I read
    • 4/5
      All of Jeff VanderMeer's books I've read have given me a shiver at one time or another, and this is no exception. The first in a trilogy, Annihilation is narrated by one member of a four-woman expedition into the mysterious Area X, in search of an explanation for the region's bizarre nature. None of the preceding expeditions have ended well, and right from the first pages, things don't bode well for this one either ...
    • 4/5
      Solitude, otherness, free-will - all are examined here but under an umbrella of the natural world that makes this something more than it is - in the best of ways .
    • 4/5
      Book Info: Genre: Psychological thriller (Per publisher); Lovecraftian fiction (per me)Reading Level: AdultRecommended for: Fans of Lovecraftian stories, surreal or bizarro fictionBook Available: February 4, 2014 in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formatsTrigger Warnings: killing, mind control, murder, attempted murderMy Thoughts: An early reader of this book described it as, “A little Kubrick, a lot Lovecraft...” and who could resist that juicy plum? I'm not sure what genre to put this in, however. While it is dark fantasy, it is also very gritty and “real” in many places. Any elements of magical realism are subtle and maybe the result of an unreliable narrator. Or maybe not. Maybe these things really are happening. The problem is that everything seems almost dream-like in many places.The Lovecraft comes about through the slow, creeping weirdness that gradually ramps up into more and more weirdness as the story continues. The plot is very surreal in many places. If a person isn't a fan of Lovecraftian fiction and/or bizarro or surreality, then they probably will not enjoy this story. However, if you take the time to focus and follow along, you will find yourself in a very interesting place. I, for one, will definitely be watching for the rest of this trilogy, to find out what happens, because it's just such a cool idea. I can't give you any details about the story as it would be very easily spoiled. But if you like Lovecraftian, surreal or bizarro fiction, then check this book out.Series Information: The Southern Reach TrilogyBook 1: Annihilation , available February 4, 2014Book 2: Authority, available June, 2014Book 3: Acceptance, available September, 2014Disclosure: I received a paperback ARC from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.Synopsis: Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.This is the twelfth expedition.Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything.

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    Annihilation - Jeff VanderMeer

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