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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
The overwhelming *f*words in the final third was absolutely unbearable for audiobook. And I mean turrets level cursing with no escape. Felt like poison in my ears. I was totally onboard with the weird and wonderful bizarreness that is just like the rest of the series- but jumping into the third POV of the book was absolutely painful. I really tried to finish but it was so abrasive I could not continue. May be better to read on the page as your mind can skim/ignore the word vomit and maybe see what is actually happening in the book. For the audiobook however? I could not get past it. Incredibly frustrating.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Of all the Area X “trilogy” books, this one felt the most like Jeff giving himself permission to be as indecipherable as he wants. I will say, like many people have already said, the last 1/3-1/4 of this book is quite jarring, but I think it works. We aren’t supposed to be comfortable in this environment. As a reader, it transports us to Area X in a way we otherwise would not have been. Top three wtf moments in no particular order: Bodies in the barrels, need I elaborate? The cameras are alive and can be shucked like oysters. Gross. Lowry eats the sloughed off shed of a maybe maybe not Whitby. HUH.
Think I needed to get some distance from the Southern Reach series to realise what it is I adore about it. After a trilogy with no answers, it was a relief to come into this book knowing I wouldn't get any and enjoying it all the more because of this.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cursing, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Abandonment
Minor: Car accident
challenging
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I –
…I loved Annihilation. To borrow another reviewer’s words, throughout Vandermeer’s books in this series, “I was always chasing the high he gave me in Annihilation,” and I fully agree with that sentiment, feeling a bit let down with each subsequent book.
Absolution was confusing and hard to read in many spots, almost like the writing style was designed to make my eyes cross and/or my brain scramble. My realization while typing my last sentence: that was probably the idea to mirror what Area X does to people! But I’d like just a little more plot and clarity to balance out the confusion, at least in the first two parts of the book. The third section’s confusion, while EXTREMELY frustrating to read, did make more sense narratively — the narrator was on lots of drugs and was also experiencing the effects of modern Area X (whereas the first sections of the book were about its early years, when things were just uncanny versus reality warping).
I feel like I have to read this 3 more times in quick succession to fully understand everything and maybe catch other references… but I won’t, or at least not yet until I re-read the rest of the Southern Reach. My brain needs a break and wants to read something where the sentences makes sense 😅
…I loved Annihilation. To borrow another reviewer’s words, throughout Vandermeer’s books in this series, “I was always chasing the high he gave me in Annihilation,” and I fully agree with that sentiment, feeling a bit let down with each subsequent book.
Absolution was confusing and hard to read in many spots, almost like the writing style was designed to make my eyes cross and/or my brain scramble. My realization while typing my last sentence: that was probably the idea to mirror what Area X does to people! But I’d like just a little more plot and clarity to balance out the confusion, at least in the first two parts of the book. The third section’s confusion, while EXTREMELY frustrating to read, did make more sense narratively — the narrator was on lots of drugs and was also experiencing the effects of modern Area X (whereas the first sections of the book were about its early years, when things were just uncanny versus reality warping).
I feel like I have to read this 3 more times in quick succession to fully understand everything and maybe catch other references… but I won’t, or at least not yet until I re-read the rest of the Southern Reach. My brain needs a break and wants to read something where the sentences makes sense 😅
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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:
N/A
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
Like most people, I liked the second part best and almost didn’t finish the third part until the quantity of F-words diminished enough to make sense of sentences.
With Vandermeer I feel like I’m always chasing the high he gave me with Annihilation, but never hitting it. I get tastes in other books but never the same payoff. This one came close at times, but still left me unsatisfied.
With Vandermeer I feel like I’m always chasing the high he gave me with Annihilation, but never hitting it. I get tastes in other books but never the same payoff. This one came close at times, but still left me unsatisfied.
Couldn’t make it through the last third of this book, but I liked the first two thirds a lot.