Take a photo of a barcode or cover
legendarybabypelican 's review for:
Authority
by Jeff VanderMeer
2/22/2024
Authority by Jeff Vandermeer is good, actually.
2/19/2024
50% complete
I came back to this book after setting it down in 2023, feeling deflated by the transition from a psychedelic science-horror setting to one of bureaucracy, passive aggression, and the micro-wars of institutional structures. Checking up on Goodreads reviews claiming that this book was misunderstood piqued my re-interest, though, so I came back for another shot. This time around, I'm finding much more to appreciate about the second installment of the Southern Reach Trilogy. Control is an interesting and somewhat tragically clueless character in ways that are only clear if you've had the book's driving twist spoiled by the movie adaptation. The order in which the movie and books are experienced matters- Authority is a much different story when you know what Control doesn't know. If I hadn't seen the movie adaptation, I would probably also find Authority to be slow- most of this story's intrigue actually rests on how little Control understands, how little *control* he truly has, and without the benefit of an insider scoop this can go largely missed. I might be forgetting things from Annihilation that would have changed my perspective, but for now this is my impression.
Authority by Jeff Vandermeer is good, actually.
2/19/2024
50% complete
I came back to this book after setting it down in 2023, feeling deflated by the transition from a psychedelic science-horror setting to one of bureaucracy, passive aggression, and the micro-wars of institutional structures. Checking up on Goodreads reviews claiming that this book was misunderstood piqued my re-interest, though, so I came back for another shot. This time around, I'm finding much more to appreciate about the second installment of the Southern Reach Trilogy. Control is an interesting and somewhat tragically clueless character in ways that are only clear if you've had the book's driving twist spoiled by the movie adaptation. The order in which the movie and books are experienced matters- Authority is a much different story when you know what Control doesn't know. If I hadn't seen the movie adaptation, I would probably also find Authority to be slow- most of this story's intrigue actually rests on how little Control understands, how little *control* he truly has, and without the benefit of an insider scoop this can go largely missed. I might be forgetting things from Annihilation that would have changed my perspective, but for now this is my impression.