I'm gonna be honest. Annihilation started off as a slow burn and a slightly irritating read because the descriptions are so alien. Then about half-way through, something clicked, and I realized what many people have realized: that this is one strange, clever, off-putting, beautiful and disturbing book. It's both maddening and magnificent. Surreal and honest. VanderMeer somehow wraps Annihilation in a veil of mystery that keeps you turning the pages even if you don't get straight forward answers. There are incomplete discoveries. The hows and the whys of Area X are disposed of (and really don't matter but I'm still wondering about it). And yet, you end up caring for the Biologist, our narrator, and her plight in Area X. And the ending is strangely satisfying.

For those who haven't read the book: An Anthropologist, a Surveyor, a Psychologist, and a Biologist, all female, make up the 12th expedition to AREA X. The expeditions that have come to this region before have not fared well. They have disappeared. They have come home mere shells of themselves and died of cancer. They have turned on one another and killed each other. There is a reason why the expedition members are only known by their field of expertise.

Our Narrator, the Biologist, embarks on the expedition after the death of her husband. Their fractured relationship haunts her journey into the unknown regions, as she is witness to the trauma Area X creates and the startling beauty that also resides within it. The region slowly begins to change her (and she refers to it as a form of brightness) as she comes to terms with herself and her husbands death.

My conclusion (without giving too much away) is that this atmospheric novel is dealing with questions of regret, memory, and manipulation (be it scientific, environmental, or emotional). It deals with the often frightening and darkside of human emotions and Area X almost feels metaphorical. I'm sure many others will have a different interpretation and I think that is why VanderMeer writes the way he does. The loose mystery offers many different readings.

For me, it was the relationship between the biologist and her husband, that was the emotional crux of this book.

I ended up liking this one more than I thought I would.





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This book is great! No only is it an easy read, but the story line is amazing. It doesn't feel rushed or boring and it really gives a lot of detail for the reader. I really recommend this book! ( )

Another book I regret not finishing in one sitting. There rises a slow and dreaded anxiety as you begin to read it that carries and heightens as you continue on. Every time I looked away from the book or put it down, that spell was broken. So if you plan to read this, do it when you have enough time to finish it all in one go! ( )

Though I quite enjoyed the first book in the Southern Reach trilogy, this second one took the plot in a much different direction, choosing to focus on the office politics of the staff of the Southern Reach, instead of examining Area-X itself. The language was still dreamy and ethereal, but I wasn't nearly as engaged as I was in the first book. I'll need to drag myself into the third and final novel, hoping it makes this previous one pay off. ( )

I don't even know where to begin when describing this book. Plus, I am not sure I want to give any of it away. This book is a riddle wrapped up in a mystery. It is beautiful and horrific. I finished it and immediately wondered if it would read differently when all three books are out. There are so many layers to this book that I am fairly sure it will be a different book on a reread. It has the best first page of a novel since Stephen King's The Gunslinger. If you can read the first page and not want to go on then this book is probably not for you. My favorite book of the year so far. ( )