Absolution
Ratings30
Average rating3.7
Its always scary when one of your fav trilogies gets a new book 10 years later ... Of course I expected ending with more questions than answers! Overall it was fun to add a bit more context to this universe. Looking forward to the next one Jeff has planned!
First part (1/6th?) was ‘hard' to get through. Just confusing because the whole series is. But then you understand stuff. Dead Town expedition, the rabbits, Old Jim, Lowry. I loved all 4 books for the cosmic horror and environment. Terroir. The parking lot puddles. If you've come this far and enjoyed the first 3 books, this is good stuff. If you dnf'ed book 2 or 3 then this 4th isnt gonna provide you any absolution. 4/5 for me. This whole 4-part trilogy should reward me a full re-reading. Someday :)
But actually, I dont understand jackshit at all and I'm gonna love reading reddit theories and watching theorie-videos. All the theories - that's book 5. The weirdness, what is real? Wtf is going on? The cosmic horror. I love it!
Other than the last section, I don't understand why this book exists. A press release I saw recently said something to the effect of this book answering questions the other books asked. First, no it doesn't, and second it actually leaves me with more questions. As always, I like the writing and storytelling. But this story doesn't really add much to the saga.
Late this past summer, soon after I finished listening to all 25 hours of the audiobooks of the first three Area X novels (I'd read them when they first came out) - imagine my surprise that Vandermeer was inspired to write a (final?) book in the Southern Reach series. With the narrative of the three "prequel" novelas in this 3th book, the universe is fuller, the lore (and gore) richer, but I dont know if the complete arc is better. I am glad that a 4th book didn't go foward from where "Acceptance" ended as the uncertainty of that world speaks for itself. If the goal of this 4th book is to explain what/who is behind Area X and/or where it came from, at best incomplete answers are gained. It does give much insight into Command and how it handled The Southern Reach from the earliest days of odd happenings. As one who digs the sheer creepy insanity of Area X, I got some of this - especially in the 3rd novella - but I also got too much, unnecessarily opaque story about the people and tatics of Command. There's surely some cause and effect between these two, but it mostly escapes me - even after so many mostly thrilling hours I've spent in this beautifully bizarre world of Area X.
