Scan barcode
alexaela's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
je ne sais pas quoi dire... honnêtement, j'ai adoré l'ambiance horrifique, le concept très post-apocalyptique de la zone X, ainsi que notre biologiste solitaire et sa relation complexe avec son mari. par contre, la zone X reste profondément mystérieuse jusqu'à la fin, le peu de choses découvertes nous laissant d'autant plus confus qu'avant, on reste un peu sur sa faim. heureusement que c'est une trilogie! go lire la suite asap en ésperant que celle-ci réponde à certaines de nos questions...!! nb: je me demande si les prochains volumes gardent le même personnage principal... perso, j'ai plutôt l'impression que pour elle l'histoire est "plus ou moins" arrivée à sa fin. huge "final girl" alien vibes.
woodbyte's review against another edition
2.0
This sounded like an interesting story. I read it because of Sword and Lazer. This book was on my to read list.
I finish the story and my only reaction is meh. This story did nothing for me.
I finish the story and my only reaction is meh. This story did nothing for me.
chanelchapters's review against another edition
3.0
3.25
People go into the wild to examine something and every time they do weird stuff happens.
On this 13th expedition, once again, things go awry.
This book was very similar to Our Wives Under The Sea.
If you like atmospheric, quietly creepy and SUPER ambiguous and inconclusive books then you’ll love this.
But for me, I need more answers.
People go into the wild to examine something and every time they do weird stuff happens.
On this 13th expedition, once again, things go awry.
This book was very similar to Our Wives Under The Sea.
If you like atmospheric, quietly creepy and SUPER ambiguous and inconclusive books then you’ll love this.
But for me, I need more answers.
elianaosburn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
jf6167's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
kctormak's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
valie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
If you haven’t, Google the starfish
saxifrage_seldon's review against another edition
3.0
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Jeff VanderMeer’s 2014 book, "Annihilation," is the first book of his Southern Reach Trilogy. The novel follows an expedition of four women into Area X, an unspecified and mysterious location on the coast. All the women are only identified by their profession: biologist, anthropologist, psychologist, and surveyor. The role of this expedition is somewhat murky as they are told they are the twelfth expedition into the area (a fact they soon realize is wholly false). We soon learn that all previous expeditions ended in disaster, whether through mysterious deaths, team members killing each other or themselves, or reappearing outside of Area X’s border as mere shells of their former selves, only to die months later from cancer.
The narrative begins with the team already inside Area X, finding the place extremely eerie. While the landscape, on the surface, resembles a dense forest and coastal area, there are numerous peculiarities. For example, the characters hear a mysterious howling sound, whose source remains unclear and is never unveiled. They also encounter various species of animals that resemble Earthly creatures but with something off. The biologist, for instance, encounters a dolphin with human-like eyes. Additionally, there are non-human-created landscapes and structures, such as the “Tower,” which is actually a tunnel with a spiral staircase lined with a “living” text that begins, “Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead.”
The book was highly lauded upon its release and even won the 2014 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Despite this critical acclaim, the book has proved extremely divisive amongst readers. While it has been praised for its immersive and eerie atmosphere and as a worthy successor to Lovecraftian cosmic horror, others have criticized its ambiguity and character development.
Like many of these critics, I’m on the fence about it. For one, I agree that there is a lack of character development with the exception of the biologist, who is the narrator. The characters felt more like plot devices and symbols rather than fully fleshed-out individuals. Their dialogue is clunky, and their motivations are unclear. This can somewhat be explained by the fact that they are all hypnotized by the psychologist, who is the leader of the team. Moreover, there is a lack of emotional depth concerning the events that transpire in the book. I never felt invested in the conflict between the team members or their deteriorating mental states. It all felt too distant, and the absence of names for the characters added to this detachment.
That said, by the end, I came around and really appreciated the arc of the biologist. The book is told from her perspective, including flashbacks to her childhood, her time as a researcher on a coastal bay, and her relationship with her husband, who was a medic on the eleventh expedition and who returned only to die of cancer. Through these different temporalities, the biologist presents herself as someone extremely closed off, more concerned with the ecologies she observes than with any human connections. This is more pronounced when she is infected by spores in Area X and, instead of being frightened, welcomes it. As the narrative progresses, particularly after reading her husband’s journals, the biologist becomes more open about her feelings, making her character more complex. The climax of her development occurs when she confronts and fights "the crawler." Initially driven by scientific curiosity, her fight with the crawler leads to an acceptance of the unknowable and a shift in her focus to her late husband. She escapes the crawler and, by the end, refuses to leave Area X, instead exploring more deeply in search of her husband “in any form,” as he requested before leaving.
The book is extremely ambiguous and leaves many loose ends, whether it is the landscape of Area X or the intentions of the shadowy government agencies organizing these expeditions. However, I didn’t find the ending as ambiguous as most people. In terms of character development, I felt that the biologist’s arc was complete. In relation to the larger ideas of the book, the biologist realizes that the alien crawler is an entirely unknowable being working to create a new world that mirrors but distorts the current one. The various expeditions are essentially fodder for the crawler’s remaking. It is also clear that Area X is expanding. Despite the vagueness of the government agencies' motivations for sending out these expeditions, the psychologist's dying words indicate that the biologist has “changed sides,” suggesting that these agencies see Area X and the crawler as threats that must be neutralized.
In all, I believe that the book is about the folly of humans’ attempts to control and understand. Area X is beyond human comprehension and attempts to understand it leads both to the destruction of those agents and the growth of the area. This desire to know and control is seen as undergirding the eventual subsumption of the earth and the remaking of humanity through the perception of the “crawler.” Instead, through the example of the biologist, one should give up this attempt and instead accept the unknowable, ever-changing nature of reality.
To conclude, there were many elements I loved about the book and some I didn’t. The ambiguous and eerie atmosphere, the exploration of identity and transformation, and the unique narrative style were captivating. However, the lack of character development and emotional depth made it difficult to fully engage with the story at times. I look forward to reading the rest of the series to see where the narrative takes me and to find out more about the mysteries of Area X.
Jeff VanderMeer’s 2014 book, "Annihilation," is the first book of his Southern Reach Trilogy. The novel follows an expedition of four women into Area X, an unspecified and mysterious location on the coast. All the women are only identified by their profession: biologist, anthropologist, psychologist, and surveyor. The role of this expedition is somewhat murky as they are told they are the twelfth expedition into the area (a fact they soon realize is wholly false). We soon learn that all previous expeditions ended in disaster, whether through mysterious deaths, team members killing each other or themselves, or reappearing outside of Area X’s border as mere shells of their former selves, only to die months later from cancer.
The narrative begins with the team already inside Area X, finding the place extremely eerie. While the landscape, on the surface, resembles a dense forest and coastal area, there are numerous peculiarities. For example, the characters hear a mysterious howling sound, whose source remains unclear and is never unveiled. They also encounter various species of animals that resemble Earthly creatures but with something off. The biologist, for instance, encounters a dolphin with human-like eyes. Additionally, there are non-human-created landscapes and structures, such as the “Tower,” which is actually a tunnel with a spiral staircase lined with a “living” text that begins, “Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead.”
The book was highly lauded upon its release and even won the 2014 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Despite this critical acclaim, the book has proved extremely divisive amongst readers. While it has been praised for its immersive and eerie atmosphere and as a worthy successor to Lovecraftian cosmic horror, others have criticized its ambiguity and character development.
Like many of these critics, I’m on the fence about it. For one, I agree that there is a lack of character development with the exception of the biologist, who is the narrator. The characters felt more like plot devices and symbols rather than fully fleshed-out individuals. Their dialogue is clunky, and their motivations are unclear. This can somewhat be explained by the fact that they are all hypnotized by the psychologist, who is the leader of the team. Moreover, there is a lack of emotional depth concerning the events that transpire in the book. I never felt invested in the conflict between the team members or their deteriorating mental states. It all felt too distant, and the absence of names for the characters added to this detachment.
That said, by the end, I came around and really appreciated the arc of the biologist. The book is told from her perspective, including flashbacks to her childhood, her time as a researcher on a coastal bay, and her relationship with her husband, who was a medic on the eleventh expedition and who returned only to die of cancer. Through these different temporalities, the biologist presents herself as someone extremely closed off, more concerned with the ecologies she observes than with any human connections. This is more pronounced when she is infected by spores in Area X and, instead of being frightened, welcomes it. As the narrative progresses, particularly after reading her husband’s journals, the biologist becomes more open about her feelings, making her character more complex. The climax of her development occurs when she confronts and fights "the crawler." Initially driven by scientific curiosity, her fight with the crawler leads to an acceptance of the unknowable and a shift in her focus to her late husband. She escapes the crawler and, by the end, refuses to leave Area X, instead exploring more deeply in search of her husband “in any form,” as he requested before leaving.
The book is extremely ambiguous and leaves many loose ends, whether it is the landscape of Area X or the intentions of the shadowy government agencies organizing these expeditions. However, I didn’t find the ending as ambiguous as most people. In terms of character development, I felt that the biologist’s arc was complete. In relation to the larger ideas of the book, the biologist realizes that the alien crawler is an entirely unknowable being working to create a new world that mirrors but distorts the current one. The various expeditions are essentially fodder for the crawler’s remaking. It is also clear that Area X is expanding. Despite the vagueness of the government agencies' motivations for sending out these expeditions, the psychologist's dying words indicate that the biologist has “changed sides,” suggesting that these agencies see Area X and the crawler as threats that must be neutralized.
In all, I believe that the book is about the folly of humans’ attempts to control and understand. Area X is beyond human comprehension and attempts to understand it leads both to the destruction of those agents and the growth of the area. This desire to know and control is seen as undergirding the eventual subsumption of the earth and the remaking of humanity through the perception of the “crawler.” Instead, through the example of the biologist, one should give up this attempt and instead accept the unknowable, ever-changing nature of reality.
To conclude, there were many elements I loved about the book and some I didn’t. The ambiguous and eerie atmosphere, the exploration of identity and transformation, and the unique narrative style were captivating. However, the lack of character development and emotional depth made it difficult to fully engage with the story at times. I look forward to reading the rest of the series to see where the narrative takes me and to find out more about the mysteries of Area X.
tase5's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25