Annihilation

Captivating, easy to get through, interesting to the last word. Thought provoking on the concepts of nature, biology, humanity, life, and death. Leaves you excited to pick up the next one.

This was so good! The writing is beautiful and the place is so bizarre and almost haunting. I wish I didn't have to wait for the next one from the library.

I'm a sucker for a story where the characters don't have names and are only identified by their scientific field of expertise

While I didn't really dig the structure of the book, the ideas and the mood it conveyed kept it interesting enough to go on to read the next book, which was a better read for me. Still, I love me some mood-setting in horror-ish books. This is fairly clearly the first in a trilogy, but it also feels like a stand-alone story, which I appreciate.

didn't care much for the premise, or the movie, some reviewers say it is very slow paced

Ballard in the Anthropocene.
Scientists, journals, guns, abandoned swimming pools, dispassionate alienated narrator.
And a complex entanglement of humanity & nature.

Couldn't put it down

A rich layered psychological thriller.

An invisible hand manipulating a team of explorers drawing them deep into dangerous places. Mmmmm Numnumnum.

Hypnosis, planted suggestions, intellectual brainiacs reduced to insanity, savagery or madness. Yes yes yes!

The story had me in its grip. I couldn't put it down. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Bought the 2nd book immediately. I hope it holds me all the way through the next two books. Can't wait to see how this unfolds.

I can't continue. 60 or so pages in and it's just so dumb. They send a bunch of scientists into a zone and control them with hypnosis? The main character keeps the discoveries to herself and even if she told the others I feel like they wouldn't even care?
I'm sorry but the fact that it's fiction doesn't mean the plot can be this stupid. Reminds me of World War Z but that had at least 50/50 ratio of good and terrible short stories. This is just a terrible novel and once again proof that mainstream means mostly shit. The devil's in the details, in the behaviour of the characters. Alien Covenant is another comparison that comes to mind. Remember how they went to alien planet without scafanders and any other precautions and got infected? Yeah, that's Annihilation all the time.

3.5

“Ecosystem of Trauma”

“I was a thing in a swimming pool being observed by a monstrous little girl. I was a mouse in an empty lot being tracked by a fox. I was the prey the starfish had reached up and pulled down into the tidal pool ... There were thousands of “dead” spaces like the lot I had observed, thousands of transitional environments that no one saw, that had been rendered invisible because they were not “of use.” Anything could inhabit them for a time without anyone noticing “

I got almost half through and it just wasn't grabbing me so I gave up. I'll be watching the movie.

A book that really makes you think and concentrate. Gives you lots of possible thoughts and definitely makes you want to read the next one!

Lovecraftian, earthy weirdness.

My introduction to this book happened by accident. I was browsing TikTok (not the best place for book recommendations) and somehow I started getting more and more videos about books. At that point, I hadn't picked up any literature in months. Eventually I came across a video recommending “weird” books. There were books like “Negative Space” by B.R. Yeager, “You Should Have Left” by Daniel Kehlmann, and Annihilation. Annihilation hooked me the most with the themes of wilderness, government mysteries and anomalies. Like, the main setting is the Area X ... my favorite series is the X Files, put an X in the title with the themes I described above and I'm yours.

I ended up reading this book every day until I finished it. At work in a coffee shop, on the train, on the subway, at home late at night already when my girlfriend is asleep. I couldn't tear myself away from it. This book reminded me how much I am fascinated by nature, how addicted I am to mysteries and the inexplicable in stories, and it has it all. I don't know where VanderMeer got such a knowledge of biology and ecology, but the accurate descriptions of bird species, animals, trees and plants is what elevated the reading experience for me.

Everything strange in the book is given with the realization that to make anything supernatural convincing you have to leave it unclear, give enough for the reader to form an idea and leave everything else to the interpretation. And the seemingly unanswered questions would have left me unsatisfied or at least with the opinion that I would find my answers in the next book, but no. This is the first book in a trilogy of books, but after reading it, the book feels complete. I'm sure if you only read this one and don't read any further, you won't come away disappointed. All of this to bring me to a moment where thinking about what I had read, I realized that there were topics and issues that were never explained, but at the same time I didn't feel like I was ripped off or that the author was lazy .... everything felt right.

On a separate note, I want to talk about the main character. Her personality, flaws, it all felt so real that she felt real. The book gives details of her life with moments that are too fictional but also touching and wounding events after which you as a reader can not help yourself but empathize with her, although consciously criticizing her decisions here and there. Biologist is a strong character whom must have been extremely difficult to write, and if not, I just envy VanderMeer's abilities.

Annihilation was the first book in my return to the hobby of reading, and it's the most satisfying return ever. The book actively plays with your imagination, makes you think and empathize. A masterpiece.

Really enjoyed this book, it's short, but not in a way that feels like anything is missing. The story just moves quickly and keeps you locked in the whole time.

I think the unsettling nervous curiosity best describes my feelings best when It clicked that I was reading the journal of someone who most likely died in Area X. Not only that but that if I'm reading it, someone else must have found it and brought it back.

So many questions left unanswered, I'll be reading the second book.

3.5. Good book, ending was confusing and not fully satisfying

Parts of this book really worked for me and parts were a bit of a slog. As it's practically a short story, the slog was at least over very quickly. The underlying mystery of what's going on in Area X was definitely intriguing and the author did a great job of building suspense and tension throughout, but I largely came away wanting more. Just not quite enough to continue reading more of the series.

honestly hard to read. probably a lot deeper or smarter than i understood but tbh it was a whole lot of nothing SORRY

Was expecting to like this more than I did, I love the construction of the world and motivation of the expedition but the actual content felt flat in some way. Like it was trying too hard to be profound.

Voor Victor 💙

Starts off strong but falls flat during middle of the book. Story doesn't progress and the pacing changes in a way that makes it boring and repetitive.

Annihilation at first glance is a book of science fiction in an ever growing world of mystery and the fear of the unknown. As someone coming from the film first I was shocked and relieved to read the introduction and learn the true motives behind the mind of Jeff Vandermeer. This book is about climate change and how nature does not discriminate.

This is a first impression review after reading the introduction, a review will be posted once I finish this book!

-Sean

Good writing and character development. A bit overwhelmed at the culmination and overly detailing and sometimes losing thread of thought

I returned about 2 months ago to VanderMere's "Southern Reach Trilogy" for the same reason I re-read Ben H. Winter's "The Last Policeman" trilogy. Biden was still running and I felt a collective creeping towards disaster was upon us. Rather than an planet killing asteroid (see my review for Winter's novel) in this first (almost novella length) book, we learn of the mysterious Area X which is growing from a place on the coast of somewhere in the southern U.S. Listening to the audiobook was a good choice as the various readers capture well the multiple perspectives across the trilogy. The unsettling, fantastical, yet oddly plausible unfolding of what is likely an alien lifeform changing a landscape and those who enter it, is the heart of a tale unlike anything I've ever read or listened to. The characters, while never given first names, are fleshed out and believable as they take the reader to a landscape familiar - and deeply disturbing. If you finish this first novel, you'll be hooked and ready to spend many more hours exploring Area X.

Damn you Goodreads for your lack of half or quarter stars. This is more 3.5 to me. I think this is an instance of the movie being better than the book. Though I saw the movie first. So that's likely skewing my opinion. The movie is also fairly vague and inconclusive. Which doesn't bother me too much. It leaves room to take what you will from the story.

I felt themes of divorce and/or loss. I didn't immediately made the connection. When I got divorced I remember seeing “dissolution of marriage” on the final paperwork. Only then did it really set in. I think the final part of the book being named “Dissolution” put me in that frame of mind. So maybe I was looking for meaning when there might not have been.

The biologists journey through the tower and past the crawler reminded me of pushing through grief, seeing all the permutations of it and deciding that you will go on. There were a couple quotes I neglected to highlight to support my theory. I'll try to dig them up.

one of the most underrated science fiction novels i have read in a long time. while the writing style was very unique, it added to the book and to the feeling that the book gave of suspense and tension. i'm so glad i decided to give this book a chance, rather than listen to the countless hateful reviews on this novel. i was initially interested in reading the book because i watched the movie adaptation about 4 years ago and was blown away by it. while the book is nothing like the movie- i still loved it because it gave greater insight into many of the questions i wondered when i watched the film. i'm so glad this book exists- and i plan on reading the rest of the trilogy when i get the chance. amazing book!