Scan barcode
A review by daturas
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I picked up this book on a whim and it's ended up being one of my favorites, aesthetics-wise. I read it cover-to-cover and finished it in a little over four hours. I've already bought the second book and I'm so excited to read it! I would consider Annihilation to be a gothic novel; even though it doesn't have your standard "haunted house" most gothics have it's got just about everything else. Area X is beautiful and fascinating in the same way you watch a time lapse of fungi decomposing a body. It's horrifying and beautiful. That's truly the best way to describe it.
The characters are far more of a plot device than anything else as far as I'm concerned--they're used primarily as avatars for the reader, to help them explore this completely wild world. Our main character is the most fleshed out, but even she felt pretty two-dimensional to me (I still love her though!). Without spoilers, she was given a sort-of flashback B-plot that didn't really add much to the main story. Her motivations and mindsets don't really change much from the beginning to the end--she's just reacting to different stimuli at the end than she was at the beginning. I'm a reader that typically prefers character-driven books, so I was expecting the (imo) weaker characterization to be a lot more bothersome than it actually was. It's also possible that the characterization (or lack thereof) was actually intentional, now that I think about it. All four characters were only referred to by their occupations and not allowed to share any personal details about themselves, which I actually found really interesting--unfortunately we didn't get much of a chance to see how that affected them or their relationships with one another. I think my characterization thoughts will be more set in stone once I read the next book.
Like I said, I still had a blast reading this book cover-to-cover. Don't let my only qualm deter you from picking this up. You will read it, you will enjoy it, you will go to your nearest local bookstore and buy the next book, and you will google "how to become a biologist" as soon as you get home. Have fun. You'll come out changed, if you come out at all. If you even want to come out.
The characters are far more of a plot device than anything else as far as I'm concerned--they're used primarily as avatars for the reader, to help them explore this completely wild world. Our main character is the most fleshed out, but even she felt pretty two-dimensional to me (I still love her though!). Without spoilers, she was given a sort-of flashback B-plot that didn't really add much to the main story. Her motivations and mindsets don't really change much from the beginning to the end--she's just reacting to different stimuli at the end than she was at the beginning. I'm a reader that typically prefers character-driven books, so I was expecting the (imo) weaker characterization to be a lot more bothersome than it actually was. It's also possible that the characterization (or lack thereof) was actually intentional, now that I think about it. All four characters were only referred to by their occupations and not allowed to share any personal details about themselves, which I actually found really interesting--unfortunately we didn't get much of a chance to see how that affected them or their relationships with one another. I think my characterization thoughts will be more set in stone once I read the next book.
Like I said, I still had a blast reading this book cover-to-cover. Don't let my only qualm deter you from picking this up. You will read it, you will enjoy it, you will go to your nearest local bookstore and buy the next book, and you will google "how to become a biologist" as soon as you get home. Have fun. You'll come out changed, if you come out at all. If you even want to come out.