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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Honestly just opens a ton of questions and answers none from the original trilogy. Frustrating read and sort of all over the place. The beginning was boring and the end was confusing. Had high expectations and they were not met at all.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A classic Vandermeer blend of spycraft, science-fiction, ecology, and horror. Tender moments, tough characters, and a whole lot of weird make this a great addition to the Southern Reach series.
Absolution slows down partway, but rewards patience with a plot that accelerates and pieces that come together (but never so many that Area X loses its weird). Bold narrative decisions in the epilogue maintain that thrilling pace. Once I hit the halfway point, I could hardly put it down. And I love putting books down.
Absolution slows down partway, but rewards patience with a plot that accelerates and pieces that come together (but never so many that Area X loses its weird). Bold narrative decisions in the epilogue maintain that thrilling pace. Once I hit the halfway point, I could hardly put it down. And I love putting books down.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was so excited to see that this 4th book had come out, because I “remembered” loving the first three so much. I knew it would be very mind twisty and disturbing and cthulhu-esque, but I couldn’t follow all of it. Maybe it has been so long since I read the other ones that I fell out of the groove, or maybe it is one giant, convoluted, 6th dimensional word salad. I liked it, but I feel like I missed something.
Narrator was fantastic.
Narrator was fantastic.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
VanderMeer is always a bit tough to wade through, but when he changes focus from Old Jim to Lowry in the last 100 pages, this improves quite a lot.
This book failed on pretty much every front. The characters were flat and honestly didn't inspire any depth of feeling, the editing was so poor it's like the editor ran it through AI and took a nap, there was so little plot...and what plot there was it was like...okay?? How does this enrich this world in any way? This book did absolutely nothing with respect to adding to the original trilogy, just brought up some familiar faces and threw them away just as fast. What about the cell phone? Why did the book stop right before Lowry returns mostly dead to "our world"? Was that beyond the grasp of an author who used the word fuck every fucking sentence to get across what a fucking meat head egotistical badass of a fucker Lowry was after spending 400 pages inside two dudes heads with nothing happening?
Honestly I've been chasing the dragon since Annihilation hoping Jeff would come up with something good again. But honestly, I'm pretty much put off from ever reading the author again after this book. I genuinely can't believe this grift is what comes out of ten years of thinking about a deeply fascinating world you created.
Honestly I've been chasing the dragon since Annihilation hoping Jeff would come up with something good again. But honestly, I'm pretty much put off from ever reading the author again after this book. I genuinely can't believe this grift is what comes out of ten years of thinking about a deeply fascinating world you created.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes