Annihilation

This book is crazy and you never know what it might throw at you, but maybe you don’t need to know everything… or anything.

Annihilation is the first book in a science fiction trilogy known as The Southern Reach. I started reading this back in March before I saw the film adaption on Netflix. After watching the film, from the 50% of the book I had read, I was heavily disappointed, and I immediately picked this back up to finish the original story. For years, Area X has remained mysterious and remote behind its almost impassable border. Cordoned off by the government under the guise of an environmental disaster, a government agency, unknown to the public named the Southern Reach, has funded eleven expeditions into the Area. One ended in mass suicide, another in a hail of gunfire, and the eleventh expedition all ended in a fatal cancer epidemic. Now, four women make up the twelfth expedition, heading into Area X in order to discover more about it. Follow the story of the Biologist in this first novel. When I first saw this book in Tesco, I grabbed it purely because it was less than 200 pages and seemed to be a quick read. I didn't really care if I enjoyed it at all, I just wanted something I could breeze through for my reading challenge of which I am painfully behind. It wasn't long into the book that I found myself hooked in, devouring pages with deadly swiftness, lost to the world of Area X and wanting to know more and more as each page turned.I'm not sure what it is about this book that I utterly adored. I think it might be due to the fact I am studying to become a marine biologist, so seeing the story in front of me, portrayed by a Biologist's point of view, and coming across scientific really piqued my interest more than usual for books like this. VanderMeer has somehow created an entire novel based around horror and strange, aesthetically horrifying creatures, that has left me speechless. Upon picking it up to finish last night, I devoured through this book, turning pages so quickly I was giving myself paper cuts. Still, I eventually had to call it a night and sat down just now to breeze through the remaining 20 pages and I adored it. I've just finished it and I would very gladly sit and breeze through the 195 pages of this book once more. I adore it. The Southern Reach is a trilogy I will definitely be buying in full shortly onwards, and this is a book I will be reading again, hopefully, not too soon in the future. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys science-fiction, horror and anything of the sort. This is a new genre of science fiction, in my opinion at least, and it should be read by anyone who adores the genre.

I didn't know whether or not I would like the book but I did very much. It was surprisingly short but I felt that this was just right. This ensured the words on the page were worth it.The descriptive writing was excellent. Area X is a strange place which reminded me of the area in [b:Roadside Picnic|331256|Roadside Picnic|Arkady Strugatsky|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1173812259s/331256.jpg|1243896] (and the film Stalker). I felt as though I was there and I could visualise the creatures, the coastline and the tower.However, I didn't really warm to any of the characters. I didn't really feel for the main character the biologist, though I felt more for her husband as I learnt about him.I found it a page turner and the climax was perfect. I will be reading the next in the series. I toyed with giving it 5 stars but I save 5 stars for 'wow' books. This was almost there...

I finished this book yesterday. I enjoyed it, but I didn't think I loved it. I immediately wanted to download the next one, but I actually exercised some restraint for once. (Unusual for me, judging by the pile of books next to my bed). But then last night, I had wierd, Area X inspired dreams all night long. Eerie, creepy, but not really bad dreams. The writer got into my head more than I realized. The first half of the book felt disjointed, but I honestly only read a paragraph or so at a time, so it took me a while to really get into the story. (Thanks kids for interrupting with your incessant demands for meals and things!) The suspense was delicious because it built so steadily and quietly. I found the narrator compelling, even as I became aware of how compromised she might be. I didn't want it to end, yet I felt the payoff was satisfying without being too neat. I am excited to read the next book, but I feel that this one stands on its own. In the end, I liked the disjointed feeling, the fact that little was fully explained, that the narrator was deliberately telling and not-telling, leaving many aspects obscure and mytsterious. It kept me off-balance and interested, it kept me thinking and turning the pages, and now it is keeping my imagination going, even after I closed the book.