HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Authority: A Novel (The Southern Reach…
Loading...

Authority: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) (edition 2014)

by Jeff VanderMeer (Author)

Series: The Southern Reach (2)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
3,2291794,180 (3.56)1 / 102
"In the second volume of the Southern Reach Trilogy, questions are answered, stakes are raised, and mysteries are deepened. In Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer introduced Area X--a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization. This was the first volume of a projected trilogy; well in advance of publication, translation rights had already sold around the world and a major movie deal had been struck. Just months later, Authority, the second volume, is here. For thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X has taken the form of a series of expeditions monitored by a secret agency called the Southern Reach. After the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez, aka "Control," is the team's newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves--and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he's promised to serve. And the consequences will spread much further than that. The Southern Reach trilogy will conclude in fall 2014 with Acceptance"-- "In the second volume of the Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most troubling questions are answered... but the answers are far from reassuring"--… (more)
Member:Flora.Pollen
Title:Authority: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy)
Authors:Jeff VanderMeer (Author)
Info:FSG Originals (2014), Edition: First Edition, 368 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

  1. 31
    Solaris by Stanisław Lem (Tuirgin)
    Tuirgin: Despite the concept of Area X being strikingly similar to the Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic, there are also echos of Stanisław Lem's Solaris—the idea of a type of communication so alien to human modes of communication that it can be harmful to us.
  2. 10
    Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanisław Lem (paradoxosalpha)
    paradoxosalpha: Epistemological disease in bureaucratic espionage
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

Group TopicMessagesLast Message 
 The Weird Tradition: The Southern Reach13 unread / 13paradoxosalpha, April 2018

» See also 102 mentions

English (175)  Italian (1)  French (1)  Chinese, traditional (1)  All languages (178)
Showing 1-5 of 175 (next | show all)
Slow-moving, and it was hard for me to relate to the main character because she is an asshole. ( )
  womanhollering | May 21, 2024 |
This is the first fiction I read by Jeff VanderMeer; I had read and enjoyed his writer's manual Booklife, and when I saw this book as the i09 book club choice earlier this year I figured it was worth a look. I'm glad I did.

In some ways, this book is a slight throwback. It's told entirely from inside the mind of the narrator, a biologist discovering a mysterious area along with a handful of other women chosen for their backgrounds and their skills. It's mostly narration, like books from good old-time adventure writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard. Those stories tended to read like a newspaper account sometimes, but Annihilation reaches out and engages you right off the bat.

I highly recommend this novel for its depiction of a woman of science with attachment issues striving to understand how the place she explores is changing her, and questioning the nature of her mission and the people behind it. ( )
  tjrourke | Mar 23, 2024 |
It took a while to get into, but I think I liked it more than the first ( )
  bookonion | Mar 13, 2024 |
An interesting concept. However, the characters seem to be consistently held at arms length, even to the point names are not given. There are timesI know I ought to feel… something… for the main character and it falls flat. I don't feel any need to continue with the series. ( )
  Jawin | Mar 4, 2024 |
A strong plot similarity to Lovecraft's "Mountains of Madness", in that the protagonist is a scientist describing an expedition into the unknown, where strange and incomprehensible horrors dwell that threaten with the possibility of swamping our world. It's an inherently interesting plot to me, and this book delivers well enough to recommend, though I have some reservations.

Rather than let the horror continuously build, VanderMeer keeps cutting into the action with flashbacks to the protagonist's earlier life, seeking to give us a better, more literary understanding of her, but her character just pales in interest compared to what's going on in Area X. Her thoughts also sometimes follow an incomprehensible logic, jumping from Point A to Point D with no evident clue of how D follows from A.

As the first in a trilogy, a lot remains unclear and vague after finishing the book, which is fine with me as I intend to read the next installment. The world building here is worth keeping on with to see how the nature of Area X develops and is revealed. And I'm eager to know, is the horror here something ancient, as in Lovecraft, or is it something newly created due to man's exploitation of the natural environment? Or a combination, like Godzilla? ( )
  lelandleslie | Feb 24, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 175 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (10 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Jeff VanderMeerprimary authorall editionscalculated
Aaltonen, EinariTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Blomeyer, MarionCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kellner, MichaelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nyquist, EricCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pinchot, BronsonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Strick, CharlotteCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
For Ann
First words
In Control's dreams it is early morning, the sky deep blue with just a twinge of light.
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

"In the second volume of the Southern Reach Trilogy, questions are answered, stakes are raised, and mysteries are deepened. In Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer introduced Area X--a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization. This was the first volume of a projected trilogy; well in advance of publication, translation rights had already sold around the world and a major movie deal had been struck. Just months later, Authority, the second volume, is here. For thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X has taken the form of a series of expeditions monitored by a secret agency called the Southern Reach. After the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez, aka "Control," is the team's newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves--and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he's promised to serve. And the consequences will spread much further than that. The Southern Reach trilogy will conclude in fall 2014 with Acceptance"-- "In the second volume of the Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most troubling questions are answered... but the answers are far from reassuring"--

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.56)
0.5 1
1 25
1.5 5
2 98
2.5 14
3 315
3.5 81
4 401
4.5 31
5 153

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 206,963,810 books! | Top bar: Always visible