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A review by machadamia
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I rarely read horror books and this one really felt so creepy that I couldn’t read it at night. The premise is rather simple but the world behind it is so complex. It tells of an expedition to Area X but as they enter it, more and more things start happening such that it makes us as a reader doubt reality. Just as the narrator does. We are reading from the POV of the biologist who is rather a calculative and cold hearted person. Who didn’t open her heart to love and whose husband was in the previous expedition.
I think the sense of not knowing what is going on and what might happen next was the thing that played with us psychologically. All truths given to us turned out false, all the things in Area X were so creepy because they displayed a human like element though they were decidedly not. That all added on to the very strong sense that something is seriously wrong with this place. And because it is written like a journal, I am not mad that the endinggave us no proper conclusion about the place. I liked it that way actually, it made me feel so unsettled even after the book has ended which honestly was probably what the author wanted to do.
Really though, not much happens. We don’t see thembattling anyone or anything and nothing world ending happened too. The biologist just finds out things and we learn more about her as a person - that she hates people, pretty much but loves nature and ecosystems. That her husband was in the previous expedition and that’s why she joined. That she already was kind of resistant to the psychologist’s ways from the start with her unwillingness to cooperate with the questions. We also learnt about a “changing” that occurs to people. Whether they want to or not I guess the place affects them. And it seems that all those animals with human like gazes might actually have once been human.
The scariest part has got to be the husband’s journals mentioning that he saw doppelgängers of the members of his expedition walk out of the tower and out. That was sooo creepy in so many ways.
Overall a very good read. I went in with no expectations other than it’ll be scary and it really delivered. Not one to be read at night for the weak hearted (aka me).
I think the sense of not knowing what is going on and what might happen next was the thing that played with us psychologically. All truths given to us turned out false, all the things in Area X were so creepy because they displayed a human like element though they were decidedly not. That all added on to the very strong sense that something is seriously wrong with this place. And because it is written like a journal, I am not mad that the ending
Really though, not much happens. We don’t see them
The scariest part has got to be the husband’s journals mentioning that he saw doppelgängers of the members of his expedition walk out of the tower and out. That was sooo creepy in so many ways.
Overall a very good read. I went in with no expectations other than it’ll be scary and it really delivered. Not one to be read at night for the weak hearted (aka me).