Acceptance
Ratings268
Average rating3.6
A wonderful cap to the first two books. Explains enough about what's going on to feel satisfying, without laying out a blueprint of the whole idea. Leaves plenty of mystery at the edges, plenty of things to still wonder about and turn over. But not so much that you feel left hanging by the story. A better delve into a lot of the characters and a beautiful look at the world Vandermeer has created.
I listened back to back to back through the three (then) Area X novels this past summer - see my reviews on "Annihilation" and "Authority" for my context. In many ways this is the richest of the initial trilogy as it alternates among three time lines within the same physical geography. Although the events - midway through the expeditions into Area X; before the border transforms the Coast; and after the catastrophe which ends "Authority" - happened years apart, this structure illuminates the interconnected people, themes, landscapes and intrigue. The audio narration is excellent and this helps to differentiate among the plot threads. When I arrived at the end of the 25+ hours of listening across the three books, I felt satisfied, yet longing to know more about the nature and origin of the force creating Area X. Imagine my excitement at learning Vandermeer felt compelled to write a fourth book "Absolution" which was released a month ago. I'm near the conclusion of that novel - gotta wrap this so I can finish that set of three novellas!
This one just didn't land for me. I zoned out so much during the biologist's journal. I felt like there were no surprises, I pieced everything together ages ago.
Contains spoilers
Annihilation was such an excellent little jewel of a book, and each successive book in the series let the air out of the balloon a little more. I really just don't feel like this added anything that really needed to be added.
Beautifully written as always.
A book to read if you like discussing theories with your friends and lit analysis.
NOT a book to read if you need clear cut answers and an open and shut story.
Overall, my rating for this series at the moment is:
1. Annihilation
2. Authority
3. Acceptance
3.8/5 probably the best book of the series but it still suffers from the same problems as the other two. Drags in certain parts but I liked that each chapter switched between characters. Overall 3.5/5 for the series.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can Barely articulate how this made me feel even after sleeping on it!!!!!!!!!!! This entire series made me feel seen in a way that I didn't think was possible, and that was SUCH a WONDERFUL conclusion!!!!!!!! Though I have heard VanderMeer is going to come out with a fourth book, and I sure hope he does!!!!!!!! This series feels like coming home and finishing this book and ending the series feels so painful!!!!!!! I am experiencing the Full Range of human emotions and then some about this series!!!!!!!!! HIGHLY recommend!!!!!!!!!!!
Area X is expanding, taking with it the Southern Reach border facility and its occupants. And, like an infection, the locations where the copies of the surveyor and the anthropologist appeared are also becoming part of Area X. The copy of the biologist, Ghost Bird, and Control have passed into Area X though an entry point created by Ghost Bird. In flashbacks the story of perhaps how the phenomena came into being is slowly revealed and how the lives of the psychologist, the lighthouse keeper, Control's secret-agent mother, Control's maternal secret-agent grandfather, the lone survivor of the first expedition, and two enigmatic people from a group called the Science and Séance Brigade are intertwined in that story. We also follow Ghost Bird and Control within Area X as they travel toward the island and through their characters learn more secrets, find more unanswerable questions and experience more horror.
VanderMeer, in his writing, is able to bring about a feeling of true alien otherness in which the characters in the story can never hope to understand or deal with Area X in any humanly rational way. We receive hints that it is a piece of a larger whole escaping destruction and pulled into Earth existence intentionally through a secret scientific/alchemical experiment gone wrong. Does it come from the stars or does it exist in another time, place and/or dimension? Is it an area controlled by an alien entity (the tunnel/tower creeper)? Is the entire biome the entity? Is it an actual intelligence or is it made up of more than one intelligence? Is it trying to communicate, invade or is it simply indifferent in its existence? What it does do is change/absorb everyone and everything that it comes in contact with into itself through destruction and/or unfathomable mutation and mimicry.
“Wait, that's the end? That's how he ended this?” – Me, after every book in this series
VanderMeer has excellent prose and is great at creating unsettling atmospheres and an aura of mystery. He is not so good at character development or delivering payoffs. Like the rest of the trilogy, this is an enjoyable read but a little disappointing, in part because it was anticlimactic. The resolution, if there was one, kind of came abruptly and without explanation. And like the rest of the series, this is a slow burn that slowly and subtly builds tension, which is fine, but the tension never builds to a proper payoff.
Great for its atmosphere and prose, but with a plot and characters that were underdeveloped.
I think, after reading these last two books and expecting to learn something, anything, about Area X, I would have been content with just reading the first book and stopping there. That book in itself felt perfectly mysterious and philosophical and creepy. These last two books just muddied the water for me and left me feeling like I just slogged through a whole lot of nothing to get nothing back.
I really enjoyed all the different viewpoints/times throughout the book, however some were better than others. Overall I really enjoyed the series.
This was easily the most incoherent of the three books in the trilogy. I really loved the first one, Annihilation, and the second, Authority, was interesting, but this last was a bit of a slog. Sure, several questions got answered, but I knew not all of them would be. It was only my own stubbornness that made me finish this trilogy.
Have rated all four books in this trilogy as 4 stars, though I'm still quite unsure about what I just experienced. Initially frustrated by the fact that there were never any easy answers, I've read a few reviews that point out that this isn't a straight science fiction text, but more of a “weird” fiction, a genre I'm not all that familiar with, but which apparently has less of a reliance on tying things up.
There's a lot to enjoy in here, particularly the writing style which is very hypnotic. It washes over you with a kind of steady, wave-like rhythm, appropriately, given the strong presence of the sea in the book - and hypnosis, of course.
This is a terrible review, partly because I feel this trilogy has put me in a kind of fugue state. As if I have been colonised by Area X and am not sure where my own interpretations and impressions end, and Area X itself begins.
It's very haunting, and I think will stay with me for a while. Not so that I can try to solve the mystery (I don't think that is possible) - rather, so that I can revel in it.
Wow. This is a good, weird ending to good, weird trilogy. I'm not sure how to process it just yet. I think I'm satisfied.
You can find more reviews like this on my blog.
You could know the what of something forever and never discover the why.
I did really like Acceptance. It did a great job of tying everything together while still letting Area X keep its air of mystery. If you want answers to your questions, you're going to hate how this series ends. I personally thought it was very well-done. The chapters switch between perspectives, giving us some new POVs and some insight into characters that had previously been pretty mysterious. I loved that we were able to delve back into Area X, which I find to be such a compelling environment. I think Jeff VanderMeer does an incredible job of creating the atmosphere there and I just adore reading about it. If you've enjoyed the series so far, it's definitely worth it to continue with this one.
This didn't quite bring it home for me, but it gave the story a decent closing. Note I didn't use the term “resolution.” There sure as hell isn't a tidy bow on the end of this story, which is pretty much to be expected. But I wish the hints at explanation had more follow-through. It's like he gives enough breadcrumbs to make you think there's going to be an “aha!” but then there hardly ever is. We do pretty much get an explanation of how Area X started - but of course, it's wrapped in a lot of “human cognition and perception cannot conceive of this” baggage as well as poetic nature descriptions and first-person hallucinating and navel-gazing, so it can be hard to unpack.
If you're willing to tolerate the ambiguity, I still recommend the series! It brings the weird in a way that's both unique, and also echoes everything from The Color Out of Space to Rebecca to Lilith's Brood.
On the one hand, this book gives you insight into the minds of certain characters that were only observed from a side in previous books, some really nice backstory with a bit of gay romance, and continues where the story left off in the previous book. The characterization is great, and so is the suspense.
On the other hand, the mystery of Area X is never truly revealed, save for little hints (some of which I found too ambiguous).
I'm a bit disappointed, I have to say, but I still enjoyed this book, as well as the trilogy as a whole. I saw somewhere online that the author is working on another book set in this universe. I look forward to that!
Let me start off by stating what so many other reviewers acknowledge; Jeff VanderMeer can WRITE. Sometimes, what he's writing about magnificently is vague or completely unclear to me, but boy, do I enjoy the ride! Even when otherworldly creatures are oozing through marshes or stomping over the landscape, I can see every eye and gaping maw.
With that said, “Annihilation” was my favorite of the series with “Authority” a distant third. I know I'm supposed to be reviewing “Acceptance,” but can I really ignore the way it fits into this this very different trilogy?
The shifting point of view often delves into the back stories of the first two books. I loved seeing pre-Area X from Saul's and the Director's eyes, but both Control and Ghost Bird were a bit of a snooze. Of course, an entire book from Control's perspective was part of the problem with “Authority.” Yet, I would have liked a little more explanation about the ending. Control turns into something with paws, but somehow makes it back through the wormhole to an alien-free Area X (well, not totally alien free with the biologist's copy, Ghost Bird, running around). And, what of Lowry? Was his post-expedition, super-aggressive self a copy, too?
Was the 8-pointed flower really alien, or was it a gateway into an alternate dimension? The alternate dimension seems to make more sense to me otherwise I can't account for what happened to the alien colonizers.
Despite a somewhat lukewarm review of “Acceptance,” I can recommend the trilogy as worthwhile and plan to read more of the author's work.
Answers. Everyone wanted answers in this one, but I think it would have been too much of a cop out to give a clear cut resolution. If that's what you're looking for in this final volume of the Southern Reach trilogy, then you'll likely be disappointed. Don't get me wrong, there are answers to be had, there are a lot of story lines that come full circle and you get a much bigger picture of things only hinted at in the previous books. However, a full on resolution is never forthcoming, it is all very open to interpretation and to thoughtful contemplation. This is what I actually really liked about this finale and from other reviews I've read, others have really disliked. There is no A+B = C equation to the end of the story. It is meant to make you think, to make you try and put the puzzle pieces together yourself and discuss it long after the last page and the closed book. And I think that's perfect. I think any answer wouldn't have been good enough and the enduring quality of the story is more about the questions it asks, rather than the answers it gives. I really enjoyed it, in the sense that I have never really read anything quite like it. The writing is amazing through all three novels. It is darkly poetic and yet still manages to tell a story. Overall the journey this trilogy took me on was unique and dark and otherworldly and I really reveled in it.