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A review by savvy_rain
Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer
5.0
This was it, y'all!
While the first two books had their minor drawbacks for me, this one was just excellent. Does Vandermeer give readers the answers they are looking for the first two books? Absolutely not. Are those answers needed? Absolutely not. In fact, I think had he ended this series differently, it would be have been underwhelming. Having an answer is comfortable, even if the answer itself isn't. But this is not a comfortable trilogy in that it raises so many questions about what we know, what we don't know, and what we can't know.
The last book of the trilogy, Acceptance brings the characters closer to figuring out what Area X is and where it came from. Closer, but not quite there. Broken into chapters from the perspective of multiple characters, some known, some new, we are given multiple accounts of Area X, both before and after its transformation. We also learn more about the characters and their dis/connections to the area, which to me is the actual point of the novel. How do we connect to the world around us? How far would we go to protect our environments? Our memories?
This trilogy does not provide answers, it provides questions. And isn't that what fiction should do?
While the first two books had their minor drawbacks for me, this one was just excellent. Does Vandermeer give readers the answers they are looking for the first two books? Absolutely not. Are those answers needed? Absolutely not. In fact, I think had he ended this series differently, it would be have been underwhelming. Having an answer is comfortable, even if the answer itself isn't. But this is not a comfortable trilogy in that it raises so many questions about what we know, what we don't know, and what we can't know.
The last book of the trilogy, Acceptance brings the characters closer to figuring out what Area X is and where it came from. Closer, but not quite there. Broken into chapters from the perspective of multiple characters, some known, some new, we are given multiple accounts of Area X, both before and after its transformation. We also learn more about the characters and their dis/connections to the area, which to me is the actual point of the novel. How do we connect to the world around us? How far would we go to protect our environments? Our memories?
This trilogy does not provide answers, it provides questions. And isn't that what fiction should do?