Annihilation: A Novel

Jeff VanderMeer

Feb 2014 · The Southern Reach Trilogy Book 1 · Sold by FSG Originals

About this ebook

A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ALEX GARLAND, STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC

The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award-winning novel that "reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world" (Kim Stanley Robinson).

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Ratings and reviews

This book is weird. I'm not sure I would recommend it, but I will definitely say that I loved it. I think there are a lot of metaphors in it. It's kind of a love story at the end. And I thought that was sweet. I'm going to read the other two in the series. It was cool how there are statements in this book that applied to completely bizarre situations, but for me they were insights into very ordinary parts of my life. Very weird feeling like such strange events are relatable. Well done, Jeff. Well done.

I'm not so sure this book will be everyone's cup of tea. A lot of the events that happen kind of get brushed off as "Indescribable" which can be totally frustrating at times. Half way through i found myself disliking it because many things seemed to be left up to my imagination; that felt lazy on the writer's part. All in all, by the end of the book everything seems to come together the best it can and I felt like it was worth while.

I guess I had a similar experience with this book as many others. It was difficult to maintain J terest as most of the story is very slowing moving. It is related to the reader as a journal entry of the main Character, the biologist. Because of this, there is little dialoghe between the characters who comprise the expedition team Sent in to Area X. While we get to know the biologist very well, I never got a feel for the other characters. The story itself is less about events and more about the biologist's thoughts and feelings about her time in Area X. This is what it makes it a difficult read. For me, it became a little more interesting towards the end, and left me intrigued enough to continue with the trilogy.

About the author

Jeff VanderMeer is the author of Dead Astronauts, Borne, and The Southern Reach Trilogy, the first volume of which, Annihilation, won the Nebula Award and the Shirley Jackson Award and was adapted into a movie by Alex Garland starring Natalie Portman. VanderMeer speaks and writes frequently about issues relating to climate change. He grew up in the Fiji Islands and now lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife, Ann VanderMeer, and their cats, plants, and bird feeders.