Authority

It's really slow and all the time skips are annoying as hell. I already didn't love the first book but thought I'd give this one a try since I bought a copy with the whole series in one book. The series is just not for me ig

Gave up at 30%.

Dystopian horror mystery following the events of the first book, Annihilation, as John ‘Control' Rodriguez, the new director of Southern Reach, the agency tasked to study and contain the mysterious and malevolent nature landscape called Area X, takes up his post trying to understand what happened. So this second book in the series had certainly a different vibe from the first book. Even if the weird dreaded atmosphere was still perfectly rendered by the author, this was more reminiscent of Twin Peaks with a fever dream quality and flashes of weirdness with humour. The writing style was still as good as the previous novel, with some gorgeous prose. 
The main character was interesting though I wasn't completely invested into his story, though I did like his yearning for another character. I felt the pacing didn't work completely for me, especially the second part of the book. Still I really liked the first and last parts, and the ending too.  I'm looking forward to read the third book (and will probably check out the fourth that was recently released). 

I listened to this second entry in the mind blowing Area X (now) quadrilogy last summer when the consequential US election was looming (see my review on "Authority" for more about this.) It's taken me months to write this review and now that the results are known, the theme of an unrecognizable, destructive force moving across the US landscape feels more apt than ever. The narration is excellent as it helps bring to life the more cloak and dagger, intrigue rich plot of the first 2/3's of the story. The story accelerates - getting creepier and wilder in the final third. The relatively dry, mysterious aspects of the start are worth navigating through to get to the ripping conclusion of this 2nd entry in what was initially a triology unlike any I'd ever read (ornlistemed to) Otherworldly, yet so very familiar as well.

The book is somewhat slow and chaotic. The author is very detailed on describing the environment, he is a master on world building. I grew a little tired of it.

I like the mystery, the exchanges between Control and the "biologist". I will probably read the next book of the saga.

An interesting piece of world building following the events of Annihilation. I didn't find it as interesting in setting or characterization as the first book, but it left enough breadcrumbs of the interesting world to get me through it easily enough.

It's been a bit since I read Annihilation, but I'm surprised at how different this is from that! Nearly a totally different genre. Yet, the story picks up more or less where Annihilation ended.

I definitely had more fun with Annihilation. This book tries to feel a little more John Le Carre and doesn't really get it, IMO. I had a hard time suspending my disbelief when it came to some aspects of the organization management / roles / responsibilities drama (which takes up a lot of this book). When we start using codenames like Control, Central, Voice, etc., some of the spy novelty wears off. Can't say why, but it becomes far less interesting, to me. For example, there are a few things that are in question throughout big parts of the book (who ix X, what is Y, stuff like that). Yet, when they're revealed, I am never that surprised.

The final third of the book is worth the much slower first third. The middle third is a transitional space. Once we get a bit nearer the ‘weird fiction' of it all, the suspense elements return and it is far more interesting.

I'll be interested to see how the third book continues on. It is clearly setup and that bodes well for a compelling beginning. I wish this had been a bit shorter. I also bumped upon the author's use of sentence fragments as illustration's of internal thought or whatever. I'm not sure if this featured so prominently in Annihilation, but I noticed it big time in Authority.

This has a ton of fantastic moments (Control yelling at the Voice on the phone!), but overall is dragged down by a flop and annoying protagonist, and a lot of time wasted rehashing things from the first book. Once it gets going, it REALLY gets going, but it's frustrating to spend so much time waiting for Control to catch up to everything we knew on page 1.

I was such a fan of [b:Annihilation 17934530 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) Jeff VanderMeer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403941587l/17934530.SX50.jpg 24946895] so this was rather a letdown because it was such a slog. Halfway through I switched from my print-copy to the audiobook just so I could be done with it faster. Not that there weren't some intriguing elements in it, but everything moved too slow and not much happened.

Jeff Vandermeer does it again in “Authority”, by showing us all a new perspective about the Area X and what it means, this time from the outside, Southern Reach side. The story was very nice again, just a little more sluggish than I would have expected. But it ended up in a nice cliffhanger, enough to make me want to read the next book, as to see where the mystery is going to take me.

5 word review:

Slugging through, intense ending, tbc.

I imagine literature teachers would love this book. And as a former lit kid, I loved it too. I can picture me and my old classmates (a class of only 5 kids) picking this apart and having so much fun with it.

As Luen said, there's not a single wasted word in the novel. The selection of each word, the construction of the passages is absolutely brilliant. There are layers to this writing, it lends itself to interpretation and doesn't treat it's readers like idiots.

Within just a few sentences you know exactly what kind of character Control is. As the story progresses you get to feel what he's feeling. When he's losing grip the sentences start to fall apart. When he's confused the paragraphs can feel jumbled. When he's comfortable at home with his cat he wisecracks more often. It's masterful writing.

The story itself is atmospheric and interesting HOWEVER the abrupt ending threw me off. The last bit of the book was noticeably less gripping than the rest of it. I was forewarned that this book and the third should be treated as two parts of the same story so I'm looking forward to that.

Regardless, Jeff VanderMeer is very talented.

Man, what a boring book.

-0.5 for the use of the term “socialist dystopia”

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! It took me while to get into, but once I did, I was Hooked and didn't want it to end (hence why it's taken me over a month to read, that and school lmao)!!!!!!!!! I have too many feelings that are inexorable to articulate, but this series and the way it was written feels So so familiar and comfortable to me!!!!!!!!!!

I good quick scifi read. I read this long after reading Annihilation and it immediately drew me back into the setting. Will definitely read book 3.

I just want to be clear right off the bat - this book is very boring.When I came into this book I was anticipating something as complex and challenging as [b:Annihilation 17934530 Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403941587l/17934530.SX50.jpg 24946895] was. What I did not expect was something so deeply committed to the concept of “Kafka-esque” that there would be very little that happened outside of the bickering of colleagues floating along in a crumbling institution. There is little in the way of thrills or horror, zero interesting characters, and nothing seems to really be going anywhere.I'm giving this two stars because it took be a good damn while to notice that nothing was happening and nothing really was going to happen, and that's a feat in itself. Jeff VanderMeer is very clever and actually a very funny writer, and for a while you're riding the tongue-in-cheek quality that the writing has. When you slow down and really read it - which is what I had to force myself to do in order to not chuck the book out a window - the writing is genuinely beautiful and smart. It felt largely for naught though. If you have the patience for it, then its possible to enjoy this book if you look at it line by line. As a whole though, for me, it felt like a whole lot of nothing.

Thirty-eight-year-old agent John Rodriguez, better known as “Control,” on a downward slide in his career, has been sent into the thirty-year-old Southern Reach facility as the new director and a “fixer” to try and get answers to Area X. Three of the women from the 12th expedition into Area X have suddenly appeared in various locations; the biologist, the anthropologist and the surveyor. The reader knows that from the original book the psychologist, the anthropologist and the surveyor were all killed in Area X and the biologist, who was going through transformation, decided to stay in Area X and travel further into its interior.

The Southern Reach has become a backwater secret facility, since in its thirty years of sending teams into Area X (many more than 12) nothing tangible has ever been learned. The staff has been reduced and the equipment in the creepy facility is aging or abandoned. The frustration, fear and losses of thirty years of fruitless efforts to understand Area X have taken their toll on the remaining staff. We learn that the missing psychologist from the last 12th expedition was the prior director of Southern Reach and, for unknown personal reasons, decided to join the 12th expedition into Area X.

As Control tries to get a better understanding of Southern Reach, the staff and Area X he always appears psychologically outmatched and stymied by the females that surround him, whether it be the uncooperative facility's assistant director; his main interest for information about Area X, the uncooperative biologist; or his domineering, but almost never present, secretive, high-ranking agent mother. And, he has to constantly check in with, and be harangued by, an enigmatic phone contact at Central (the CIA?) only known as the “Voice.”

The reader witnesses the events that take place at Southern Reach through the eyes, experiences and thoughts of Control as he attempts to figure out just what happened and is happening at the Southern Reach facility and begins to wonder if he, like the members of Area X expeditions, is just another pawn for Central in something larger.

WAY longer than it should be - nearly double the length of Annihilation, with a third of the plot. some intriguing tidbits and moments, but by and large pretty boring. i'd say stay away from this one unless you really want to do the whole trilogy

imo clearly just a set up book for book 3

Man. This book did not work for me at all.

There are 4(ish) things that I look for in books, and if even just one of them is well done I'll be happy.

Interesting character arcs - None. Control doesn't grow or change or do anything besides putz around and have things happen to him for 350 pages

Story - Just backstory for the next book? As soon as this book finally goes somewhere it ends on a cliffhanger for the next. No resolution, nothing. Wtf?

Plot - NOTHING HAPPENS. Control goes to the place. People are weird at him. He doesn't react. The end

Prose - WEAK ASS PASSIVE PROSE. It worked in Annihilation because the prose was in service to the character. The Biologist was distant and kinda weird, so distant detached kinda weird prose works. Control is supposed to be a cool spy-guy or whatever. Why is the prose still this weird wishy-washy passive voice nonsense??

Ugh. I hated this book.

Lets hope the third's better.

I'm generally not a fan of sequels. In fact, I tend to avoid any books that pare part of a series. But this is a sequel done right. It seems that VanderMeer planned this story as a trilogy. This book builds upon the world that “Annihilation” created without repeating any plot points. Whereas “Annihilation” was an expedition into the unknown Area X, “Authority” is the story of those on the outside, the scientists and bureaucrats trying to solve the mystery from their perspective. While not as creepy as “Annihilation” (though the creepiness gets ratcheted up toward the end), this is an engaging story that tackles the same themes from a completely different perspective. Definitely worth a read if you liked “Annihilation.”

I found this book much harder to follow than the first one. It could be because I half watched the movie before I read the first book. In this one, we get a character study of Control as he starts his job as Acting-Director of Southern Reach. The writing style is full of unintelligible half questions, and dramatic poetic short paragraphs. When I managed to follow along it was an enjoyable concise storytelling method but most of the time I would drift in and out of the narrative.

Introspectivo. Íntimo. Interior.

Me parece una gran continuación que muestra el otro lado. Seguimos intuyendo y persiguiendo sombras. Seguimos desentrañando el misterio.

Me ha encantado el enfoque, este nuevo punto de vista.

Buen protagonista, bien trabajado.

Léelo si te gusta que no te lleven de la mano y te lo den todo mascado.

This was a really good follow up to Annihilation, though I preferred that one. The atmosphere was good, but things were confusing, but maybe that worked because the main character was confused too. The last part dragged until the final few pages. I look forward to seeing how the series finishes.

I stopped reading it one day because I was a bit bored, and it took about two weeks for me to realise I never want to pick it up again. It definitely fell short of Annihilation in terms of how well it hooked me.