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amaliachimera 's review for:
Absolution
by Jeff VanderMeer
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I –
…I loved Annihilation. To borrow another reviewer’s words, throughout Vandermeer’s books in this series, “I was always chasing the high he gave me in Annihilation,” and I fully agree with that sentiment, feeling a bit let down with each subsequent book.
Absolution was confusing and hard to read in many spots, almost like the writing style was designed to make my eyes cross and/or my brain scramble. My realization while typing my last sentence: that was probably the idea to mirror what Area X does to people! But I’d like just a little more plot and clarity to balance out the confusion, at least in the first two parts of the book. The third section’s confusion, while EXTREMELY frustrating to read, did make more sense narratively — the narrator was on lots of drugs and was also experiencing the effects of modern Area X (whereas the first sections of the book were about its early years, when things were just uncanny versus reality warping).
I feel like I have to read this 3 more times in quick succession to fully understand everything and maybe catch other references… but I won’t, or at least not yet until I re-read the rest of the Southern Reach. My brain needs a break and wants to read something where the sentences makes sense 😅
…I loved Annihilation. To borrow another reviewer’s words, throughout Vandermeer’s books in this series, “I was always chasing the high he gave me in Annihilation,” and I fully agree with that sentiment, feeling a bit let down with each subsequent book.
Absolution was confusing and hard to read in many spots, almost like the writing style was designed to make my eyes cross and/or my brain scramble. My realization while typing my last sentence: that was probably the idea to mirror what Area X does to people! But I’d like just a little more plot and clarity to balance out the confusion, at least in the first two parts of the book. The third section’s confusion, while EXTREMELY frustrating to read, did make more sense narratively — the narrator was on lots of drugs and was also experiencing the effects of modern Area X (whereas the first sections of the book were about its early years, when things were just uncanny versus reality warping).
I feel like I have to read this 3 more times in quick succession to fully understand everything and maybe catch other references… but I won’t, or at least not yet until I re-read the rest of the Southern Reach. My brain needs a break and wants to read something where the sentences makes sense 😅
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail