Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Annihilation

Excellent! I love warped realities and unreliable narrators and oh man was this book full of it. Also if you are an ecology person Vandermeer's descriptions are beautiful and he conveys the excitement biologists feel really well. If you are looking for cut and dry answers to the mystery this won't be for you

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bexi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

🤔🤔🤔

I knew I was in for a weird time because I saw the movie adaptation in theaters before I knew it was a book. The book is just as weird and perplexing, if not more. I'm not interested enough to continue with the series, but I might try some other books by the author.

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judassilver's review

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jess2obsess's review

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dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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draven_deathcrush's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I just thought it was boring. Maybe I didn't understand it, but I really didn't like it. I just wanted to read a book, so I picked this up. It was easy to get through, I finished it in a day, but it was just boring. I just didn't care much about it.

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gianna_lodato's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Maybe if my Intro to Bio class in college was taught with scary monsters like this I wouldn't be failing.

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alica2's review

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dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I really liked the vibe and pacing of this book; the way information about Area X and the biologist's backstory was revealed felt very tense and haunting all the way through the end. In the grand scheme of the book I feel like not very much happens - she spends most of the book going back and forth to the tower and describing the scenery and past events - but somehow the author still managed to make it feel intriguing. Ultimately this book feels more like a character study of the biologist (and to some extent the side characters as well) rather than the sci-fi thriller I was expecting.

My main problem is that some of the descriptions and worldbuilding were difficult to follow, although this might have been more due to the fact that Libby only had the audiobook available to borrow from my library, which isn't the way I'm used to processing books. I think I would have felt more absorbed in the world and enjoyed the prose a lot more if I was able to read it rather than having to listen to it.

The ending also felt a little disappointing because I was hoping to understand more about what's happening in Area X, but on the other hand I think it was a fitting wrap up for the main character's story. I also know that there are more books in the series so hopefully those will provide more answers and understanding of all the strange phenomena that occurred.

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kurumipanda's review

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dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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