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A review by fipah
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
5.0
5 stars = absolutely loved it except for the ending
(was originally 4 stars) Apart from the disappointing ending, this was amazing. The whole story was utterly gripping, scary, the mystery pulled me to turn page after page. The atmosphere is enticing, the reader's mind will most likely be full of question marks that are introduced in the beginning and throughout the story. The environment is blooming with varied ecosystems full of flowers and teeming with life - this is contradicted by the imminent sense of danger, bloodshed and brutality. What a breath of fresh air amidst the typical post-apocalyptic grey and dusty setting of most sci-fi today! I think there is no need to extol this book further in its strengths, it is an absolutely refreshing and gripping read, there is no doubt about that.
Where I feel the book fails, however, is in answering questions. I feel that mystery and open endings are fine when executed well, yet it is simply not cool when the author tempts us with mind-bending questions and leaves them utterly unanswered - that smells of being just a bait to lure us in with no real thought-through answers. The unanswered questions both pertain to the mysterious environment (What is this Area X?) and to the characters themselves that too had a lot of mystery surrounding them and behaved with hidden motives. All unanswered. What about the outside world that the author has drawn a malignant veil upon? Who sent the characters there and why?
In case these questions are answered in the rest of the trilogy then I take my words back, yet still I feel the book could have at least somehow alluded to the answers to assure the reader that answers will be provided.
Last but not least, I felt the way the characters spoke to each other simply was not how real conversations go, it felt stilted. I believe they would ask each other different questions, they would simply communicate in a way that would not feed the drama. I forgave this because the story was just so gripping, and maybe there was no other way to tell it after all. This is just a feeling of mine I wanted to express.
Despite my problems with the unanswered questions, an absolutely recommended read that is a breath of fresh air in the today's sci-fi genre.
UPDATED REVIEW, 2nd read
5 stars, okay, I absolutely am enthralled by the story and can accept the unanswered questions more, yet still I wish books 2 and 3 did not exist (or were different) and we would have SOME answers in this book. With some questions left unanswered because those do add that alluring mystery when they are left alone. It indeed is a masterful balancing act answering everything and kind of killing the uncanny mystery and our desire to know vs. keeping some things open and purspoefully vague in order to maintain the eerie, the suspensful, the think that keeps us coming back.
(was originally 4 stars) Apart from the disappointing ending, this was amazing. The whole story was utterly gripping, scary, the mystery pulled me to turn page after page. The atmosphere is enticing, the reader's mind will most likely be full of question marks that are introduced in the beginning and throughout the story. The environment is blooming with varied ecosystems full of flowers and teeming with life - this is contradicted by the imminent sense of danger, bloodshed and brutality. What a breath of fresh air amidst the typical post-apocalyptic grey and dusty setting of most sci-fi today! I think there is no need to extol this book further in its strengths, it is an absolutely refreshing and gripping read, there is no doubt about that.
Where I feel the book fails, however, is in answering questions. I feel that mystery and open endings are fine when executed well, yet it is simply not cool when the author tempts us with mind-bending questions and leaves them utterly unanswered - that smells of being just a bait to lure us in with no real thought-through answers. The unanswered questions both pertain to the mysterious environment (What is this Area X?) and to the characters themselves that too had a lot of mystery surrounding them and behaved with hidden motives. All unanswered. What about the outside world that the author has drawn a malignant veil upon? Who sent the characters there and why?
In case these questions are answered in the rest of the trilogy then I take my words back, yet still I feel the book could have at least somehow alluded to the answers to assure the reader that answers will be provided.
Last but not least, I felt the way the characters spoke to each other simply was not how real conversations go, it felt stilted. I believe they would ask each other different questions, they would simply communicate in a way that would not feed the drama. I forgave this because the story was just so gripping, and maybe there was no other way to tell it after all. This is just a feeling of mine I wanted to express.
Despite my problems with the unanswered questions, an absolutely recommended read that is a breath of fresh air in the today's sci-fi genre.
UPDATED REVIEW, 2nd read
5 stars, okay, I absolutely am enthralled by the story and can accept the unanswered questions more, yet still I wish books 2 and 3 did not exist (or were different) and we would have SOME answers in this book. With some questions left unanswered because those do add that alluring mystery when they are left alone. It indeed is a masterful balancing act answering everything and kind of killing the uncanny mystery and our desire to know vs. keeping some things open and purspoefully vague in order to maintain the eerie, the suspensful, the think that keeps us coming back.