Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Annihilation

Area X is a mysterious and apparently dangerous region that has been explored by eleven previous expeditions, with varying success. The members of the eleventh expedition returned under mysterious circumstances, with missing memories, and all died of cancer within a few months. We follow the twelfth expedition as they enter Area X and almost immediately encounter strange and inexplicable phenomena for which they are not prepared. The story is part science fiction, part psychological horror, and answers your questions only to leave you with many more.

A friend recommended this book, and I usually don’t like science fiction, but I recently read (and loved) Dune, so I thought I’d give it a try. Unfortunately, my favorite thing about Dune—the worldbuilding— was almost nonexistent in Annihilation. I can appreciate the lack of description and backstory as a device to increase the suspense (and establish our narrator as unreliable), but it’s just not my cup of tea. I also didn’t like a single one of the characters;

especially as the narrator became increasingly unreliable and suspicious. I felt like I was trapped in her head, willing her to do one thing…and then she would promptly do the opposite. The final straw was her murder of the surveyor.

I really enjoy stories where the setting becomes another character (a la Dune, Piranesi, or Wind, Sand and Stars, just to name a few of my recent reads), especially if that setting is really just nature itself. Annihilation did this to an extent, but the confusion of the story and disorientation of the narrator and the situation prevented Area X from becoming truly alive. This may be a personal problem though; I was talking to a friend about books recently and she pointed out that I like to understand, and she’s right—it’s the reason I love really strong, intricate worldbuilding and am disappointed by endings that don’t tie everything nicely together.

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):

definitely not happy by my standards, but it’s the first book in a trilogy so of course it has to leave room for the next story. I don’t know if I’ll ever finish the series, but it did leave me with unanswered questions…

Content Warnings

booksthatburn's review

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ANNHILATION is built on twin pillars of grief and uncertainty, as the biologist of a four-woman expedition into a strange land begins to mistrust her present she tries to reassess her past.

There are many obvious analogies to draw in the way the biologist's ruminations on her history are driven by her attempts to analyze her increasingly disturbing present. For me they land in this strange middle zone of, on the one hand, being fairly obvious comparisons to draw in a novel and thus feeling a bit boring, and on the other hand they completely make sense for the character to have pondered and journaled in this situation. They're so perfectly fitting that it seems obvious, but nevertheless I was rarely bored.

I ended the book feeling like I knew a great deal about the biologist (but never her name), and not very much about Area X itself. What she was able to convey was confined to a few (very cool!) areas within what is implied to be a much larger space.

I'm intrigued enough to move on to the sequel. There are a lot of little moments I love, tiny descriptions and ways of thinking about the world, and I would happily read more of those.

Content Warnings

caitycat's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

elizabethdove's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A friend describe this book as "swimming". Without being set literally in the ocean, it certainly has quite an underwater feeling - like you are submersed in the environment, almost drowning it. Vandermeer is a master of evocative writing and setting, and the mysteries and changes of what is happening to the biologist draw you in like honey, fascinating and dark. Thoroughly enjoyed it and looking forward to reading the next installment.

Content Warnings

aasplund's review

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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