A review by emmad861
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a masterful piece of science fiction. Completely gripping from the first word until the last. I can’t help but think that this book was somehow written just for me, which only adds to the mysterious and uncanny themes in it. I am delighted to realize that there are more books in this series but I also loved this so much as a stand alone novel that, at the very least, I’m gonna let this one sit for a while before I pick up the sequel. 
There are so many questions left at the end of the novel but the speculation is half the fun- and I am saying this as someone who can often be very frustrated by vagueness and mysteries left at the end of stories. I felt satisfied while also enjoying still having elements to speculate upon bouncing around in my head.
The sci-fi and the horror is just spectacular. Brilliant and chilling concepts are thrown at you every few pages. I was worried that such a vast and intriguing premise was being set up at the start that the story wouldn’t be able to properly explore it, but I think it very much did it’s concept justice. The writing style was also very enjoyable.
All in all an amazing experience. Would greatly recommend, not only to sci-fi fans, but to anybody. Wow. Just wow.