You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
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
Great installment to an already mind-blowingly intricate and thought provoking universe. The last third of the book was a trip to read from such a unique perspective.
Fun read I recommend this and the whole series of you like trippy sci-fi horror.
Fun read I recommend this and the whole series of you like trippy sci-fi horror.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Wanted to like this as much as the other Southern Reach books, but it maxed out the amount of unhinged chaotic weird I could manage in a book. Two stars bc parts I and II were ok, part III lost me completely though
What a weird and unexpected turn for the Area-X series. The initial trilogy was largely fantastic and I looked forward to Absolution.. but, I found it boring and largely unreadable. I'll share a short quote as an example: 'He’d been hired to do a job—several jobs, actually—and one of them was to shoot the fuck out of things when the things needed the fuck shot out of them. Sky’s reply, besides a burning stare meant to reduce his meat facade to a skull face.'
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Honest to god, from someone who gave Annihilation 5 stars and who liked the original trilogy, 1.5 stars. This book was straight dookie. He must have had some bills to pay. Total unmoored disconnected noncommittal nonsense. I finished the book so that I could be a credible hater, but listening to 87 f-bombs in a row and every other word at 1.75x speed almost broke me. Who would even want Lowry’s perspective he’s insufferable. Old Jim is practically just a straw man version of Saul Evans. The only interesting character, Cass, was of COURSE not delved in to as much. Why not have the book from her perspective? Anyway. Massive waste of my time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Moderate: Death, Gore, Gun violence
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3 stars because VanderMeer is a fantastic wordsmith doing fascinating things, but I really can't rate this any higher because as a novel, it sucks.
It's not really a novel, more like three connected novellas that would've better suited being exclusive material available to super-fans via a Patreon. What I mean is that if you generally liked the original trilogy and hoped this book would reveal new things about Area X/Central/etc. or otherwise expand the universe, you will be disappointed. What's presented here is more like...minutiae about events and characters we already know that only people who starving for ANY new content would find rewarding.
As a reading experience, VanderMeer write really interesting prose and has some amazing images, but story-wise...this dragged. Pacing is all over the place, and each novella ends just as it starts to get intriguing. Plus, there's no narrative payoff.
The only good thing I can say this book did for me is that it made me appreciate Authority and Acceptance more because this book makes them look much better in comparison. Annihilation remains the best novel in the series by far.
It's not really a novel, more like three connected novellas that would've better suited being exclusive material available to super-fans via a Patreon. What I mean is that if you generally liked the original trilogy and hoped this book would reveal new things about Area X/Central/etc. or otherwise expand the universe, you will be disappointed. What's presented here is more like...minutiae about events and characters we already know that only people who starving for ANY new content would find rewarding.
As a reading experience, VanderMeer write really interesting prose and has some amazing images, but story-wise...this dragged. Pacing is all over the place, and each novella ends just as it starts to get intriguing. Plus, there's no narrative payoff.
The only good thing I can say this book did for me is that it made me appreciate Authority and Acceptance more because this book makes them look much better in comparison. Annihilation remains the best novel in the series by far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism