A review by startjpw23
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Years ago, something that is called "The Event" occurred that caused changes to an area that isolated it from the remainder of the country (the book doesn't specify what country). The area then started to be called Area X. Since "The Event", 11 missions were sent into Area X to try to study it. Most members of the missions never returned. The members of the 11th mission did return. But they were changed. And they all soon died of cancer.  A 12th mission is organized. The members are trained and sent into Area X. The members are a psychologist, a biologist, an anthropologist, and a surveyor (the names of the members are never used). A 5th member, a linguist, dropped out at the last moment. The recording of what occurred in the 12th mission was told in the first person by the biologist. Her husband was a member of the 11th mission. A lot of interesting things happened. I enjoyed the book a lot. It made me think. This book is the 1st of 3. I will definitely be reading the 2nd and 3rd books.
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