Annihilation
Ratings951
Average rating3.7
I liked this book a lot. It is quite a bit different from the movie, but equally odd and surprising.
A hauntingly beautiful way of alluding to how avoiding the “Tower” (darkest demons) can distort so much of our experience with Self (the surface). We are Nature alongside all around us. By contract, we are constantly changing and everything is alive, aligned, and interconnected. Every-time I think about this book something new and eerie emerges.
Very Lovecraftian. Great gradually building sense of dread. Had no idea this was a movie?
I think I understand why it's popular. But it's just not for me.
None of the characters give a damn about each other enough to even warrant referring to each other by their names, so why should I care about them?
This is very well written, but written in such a distant, emotionless manner that I really couldn't give a hoot about anything.
There's definitely mystery here, and an otherworldly feeling, but it reads like a science journal - which I understand is exactly what it is in a way, but that doesn't make for compelling reading.
I didn't hate it, but just wanted to get it over with.
4.25-This book leaves you with so many questions but yet it compels you to move forward into the strange environment. One of the entries the main character writes in her journal is so true. This is in the context after so many deaths happened. “The terrible thing, the thought I cannot dislodge after all I have seen, is that I can no longer say with conviction that this is a bad thing. Not when looking at the pristine nature of Area X and then the world beyond, which we have altered so much.”
It just wasn't for me. I didn't feel the tension nor care about the main character. I can see why it is loved by many but I just didn't enjoy it. Only persevered as a result of book being so short. Hope everyone else loves it!
HOLY SHIT????? I think this broke my brain a little, but like in a good way!!!!!! This was SO well written, with Such good descent into madness And unreliable narrator elements!!!!!!! I don't wanna say too much about it because this is the kind of book that is Definitely better to know less about it when starting it!!!!!! HIGHLY recommend though!!!!!!
I was definitely intrigued and enjoyed the read. Started out pretty slow, the first chapter I felt was kind of boring/confusing. I say that as the same thing even though these two words mean very different things because, essentially, when I don't understand what's going on, I get bored. But it picked up and became a pretty interesting read as it went on.
A very strange story that is difficult to describe. We are presented with four unnamed women entering a truly alien region located near an ocean somewhere on Earth called Area X. A mysterious agency known as Southern Reach has been sending groups of volunteers to probe the slowly growing Area X for an unknown period of time and supposedly with little success; all members of previous expeditions either never returning or returning with psychological problems and little useful information. The story is told from the point of the woman known as the biologist with the other three members of the group being a surveyor, an anthropologist and a psychologist. This is supposedly the 12th expedition into Area X with the biologist's husband having been part of the 11th. Members of the 11th expedition had somehow left Area X unbeknownst to Southern Reach and mysteriously turned up back with their family members; however, they once again were changed and, after Southern Reach reacquired them, they soon became ill and died. There is a different kind of biology going on in Area X that seems to emanate from some unknown life form located in an underground, downward winding tunnel that the biologist perceives and refers to as a tower. Another point of reference important to the narrative is an old lighthouse within Area X. Those who enter the region soon come under the influence of Area X and begin to change in various ways, so it is hard to say from the narrative what is truly physical reality and what may be affecting the narrator mentally. I can't help thinking of the tunnel with its mysterious luminescent, living writing etched on the walls as an entry point to Lovecraft's realm of “The Old Ones.”
I found the biologist character to be a very cold person, possibly stemming from childhood trauma, and the other three women, who play more minor roles, not much better. She constantly realizes that her study of biology is what drives her, but in a self-interested way. She has little empathy or care for others, even her husband, and often berates herself knowing she is like this. The story covers the biologist's experiences and transformation in Area X, the fates of the other three members of the expedition and the discovery of secrets kept from the group. One note: For readers, like myself, who have first seen the film adaptation of this story, Hollywood, as usual, has taken great latitude in its presentation of the material.
I wanted to love this book, but it was just missing some sort of emotional anchor.
I'll freely admit I watched the film first after it came out, well, most of it. In fact, I turned it off and had to revisit it later. Thematic elements in the film were interesting and I wanted to see how much of it came from the source.
The answer is... Eh?
The format of the book and the prose didn't bother me. We're reading the character's account of said events, after all. The narrative is built on dream logic and somehow I feel like this being a series that continues on sort of cheapens any metaphorical impact the story provides.
Area X's mystery hardly matters in the face of what we're experiencing, right? Our protagonist lost her husband after he went off on a fool's errand of a job, veritably pushed away by his cold and distant wife, or so she thinks. She does miss him, though, in her own way, which pulls her into signing up for the same job to explore the same anomalous area on an expedition to track down what really happened to him.
She undergoes a series of hallucinations, there's some death and a lighthouse, as well as spores and creatures that molt human flesh and doppelgang whoever is there or something. Or something. Ultimately, reading her husband's journal, entirely addressed to her, is what prompts her metamorphosis.
Again, I'm just not entirely sure how effective any of this is continuing forward with the story, but it's worth a shot.
An odd book in that not a whole lot happens but you're still in a constant state of tension wondering what will happen next. VanderMeer builds great mystery while answering few of the questions that he raises.
If you've seen the movie, this is quite different.
Utterly fascinating and unique. Vandermeer's world-building (not sure what to call it?) was compelling and exquisite. His writing about nature (or, whatever we can describe Area X as) was captivating for me. And I loved how much this book served to ponder the nature of the self and what that truly is or can mean.
This was weird. The story is told in a journal style about an expedition to a place called area X - where some ill defined environmental catastrophe happened. As the story continues we learn more and more about previous expeditions to the area, but the overlying alien and strange experience dominates.
This book goes out of its way to feel uncomfortable to the reader. All the characters are referred to by their job description/specialization rather than their name. This impersonal feel gives a cold feeling to almost all the interactions. Then there is the weird otherworldliness of the environment with strange organic tunnels and creatures. There is the overriding mystery of what happened in area X, the untruths about previous expeditions, the jarring description of a bunker as a tower. These all go out of their way to leave the reader uncertain about what rules apply in area X.
I can appreciate the cleverness of these techniques and the craft with which they are applied. However, that coldness, that distance, makes it hard to get truly engaged with the story. This was weird, unsettling and ultimately a bit to cold for me.
I am very confused. But this book's path to confusion was definitely an enjoyable one.
I NEED THE NEXT BOOK, I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BIOLOGIST AAAAAAAAAA
Some of the writing in this is beautiful and strange in a way I really like, especially near the end. (That last trip into the Tower made this a worthwhile read for me)
However the first half is honestly kind of bland and disjointed and I'm left kind of wondering what the point was. It just felt like a series of disconnected events with some fake deep words written over it.
4.5 damn near perfection
This was everything I love about the sci-fi genre! I'm hoping the rest of the series can compare.
The movie was hard to understand, but the book was even more complicated...
I'm contemplating whether I should read the next one in the series.
More like a 3.5/5
Story : A couple of scientists go into Area X, a strange place that is in quarantine. Now that I think about it, this isn't about exploration, it's more about characters, and I kinda like this choice, but still, I wish I could have seen more from this Area X. The first 50-100 were a drag, but the second half... the fun begins! I don't understand why there are 2 more books... the ending was great.
Characters : They don't have names and this is only an element that makes you feel cold and isolated. Our main protagonist is shy and troubled, because her husband was in this place too. The parts about her past were a nice touch, but her journey into madness was great too. The other characters were fine, but I didn't cared about them... at all.
Overall : An interesting adventure into someones mind, full with uneasy paragraphs. I watched the movie, but from what I remember, it's so different from the book!
I don't even know how to review this book, I have no idea what I just read. The entire narrative felt like a bad acid trip (in a good way) and I felt like I needed a shower and maybe a hug after I was done reading it.
If you like science fiction and horror there's a lot to chew on here and I recommend it if you want more of a challenging read.
I'll probably continue to read the other books in the series eventually. I've left Area X for now, but did it leave me?