woodslesbian 's review for:

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

3.5

mysterious tense slow-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: Yes

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I knew that Authority wouldn’t hit the same for me as Annihilation did, and while I was right, I did still enjoy this one enough to continue the series! There was a lot of really good, interesting detail given into the research being done in Area X that fleshed out a lot of information from the first book, and the office politics, while a little slow in places, were effective in building up a sense of dreadful atmosphere throughout the course of the story. My absolute favorite bit, of course, were all the little odd, uncanny moments around the facility, and especially the little glimpse we get into the first expedition!! So many strange and horrifying details without any explanation, which made for really strong, memorable scenes that reminded me why I loved Annihilation so much. Still, this entry in the series was not nearly as striking for me as the first book was and was way less memorable. I think part of this is simply that I wasn’t very interested in Control as a character—he’s got a decent backstory and motivation and everything, but he just didn’t click for me and I felt like I was just waiting for “the biologist” to show up again throughout. The story itself also felt a little more sprawling than the fast, tightly contained plotting of the first volume, but that makes sense for the length. While I will be continuing in the series, I’m also pretty sure at this point that Annihilation has its own special place in my heart as an individual piece of writing that is really hard to reach.