Book Review
Title: Annihilation (Southern Reach Book 1) by Jeff VanderMeer
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 5 Stars
The opening to Annihilation was brilliant, none of the protagonists are named, they are only referred to by their role within the team. The team is the 12th currently being sent into Area X to document things there by the Southern Reach branch of the Government that has complete control over Area X. The new team consists of four women, an anthropologist, a surveyor, a psychologist who is also the de facto leader and our narrator, a biologist. I immediately found something off about the group having to hypnotized in order to enter Area X and this seems to be weakest on the biologist. After some basic exploring of the area they come across an underground tunnel that the biologist refers to as a tower and begin exploring it since it isn’t on their map. Down there they find writing written in what seems to be fungi but the biologist gets too close and inhales the spores but she keeps this to herself for now as we are already aware that only the surveyor is going to be around in a few days times for one reason or another. However, when the psychologist hypnotizes the others into staying calm and believing certain things about the tunnel the biologist reasons that the spores must have made her immune to the hypnosis but she plays along as she thinks there is more going on that she realises right now. This was a very gripping opening to the novel and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
When the team wakes up the next morning they find that the anthropologist is gone and the psychologist explains this as the anthropologist return to the extraction point as she didn’t want to continue on with the mission. The biologist instantly knows something is wrong as she notes that the psychologists boots have fresh mud on them and she has injured one of her legs but they let this go and continue on with the mission. After getting to the tunnel’s entrance again the psychologist wants to stay on guard rather than coming down with them and after some argument they decide to go without her. The biologist without the hypnosis can now see that the tunnel isn’t made of stone but it seems to be living organism of some kind but the surveyor can’t see or feel what she can. After journeying down farther than the day before they come across more and more writing and some seems to be fresh. As they continue down they find some slime like that from a slug and follow it directly to the anthropologist’s body. She dies a horrible death but they manages to retrieve some of her samples before heading back to the surface where they discover that the psychologist has also disappeared. The surveyor believes that the psychologist might be back at base camp but upon arriving and realising that half of their supplies and weapons have vanished even she has to admit that the biologist is right. They are now in the position where the surveyor wants to go back and extracted from the mission but the biologist doesn’t want to leave Area X yet. We have also been noting physical changes in the biologist since she was exposed to the spores. While they check out the samples they have gathered the surveyor and biologist are torn as the surveyor wants to leave while the biologist now wants to check out the lighthouse that the other teams were also drawn to.
I did find it very interesting to learn that the biologist’s husband was part of the 11th team and even though he returned alive from Area X he didn’t return the same and he did eventually die months later from cancer as all of his team members did which is why she volunteered to be part of the 12th team but there may be more to it than that. In the end the surveyor agrees to stay at base camp for one day while the biologist goes to investigate the lighthouse but she can’t be certain of this. On her way to the lighthouse she thinks about the plant and wildlife that she has been encountering and how it fascinates her on many levels. However, this changes when she arrives at the lighthouse as she is horrified at the evidence of multiple violent acts that took place within the lighthouse and seeks to find out the truth. On the top floor of the lighthouse she finds a trap door leading to a bunker room of sorts where she finds the psychologists equipment, food and weapons along with a lot of journals. She can tell there are far more journals than would have been issues even for 12 different teams and begins going through them to find out what she can. She soon learn that Area X isn’t the first area like it but it is the first to have been inhabited by something else which no one can name or describe, the only advice she gets from them is to ignore the presence she has been feeling for as long as she can otherwise she will be inviting it in which she doesn’t want and this is when she comes across the psychologist, who is clinging to life but it does mean it is just her and the surveyor left and we know from the beginning that the surveyor is the only one that survive but I am questioning whether that means she actually leaves Area X at all.
From the heavily injured and currently dying psychologist, the biologist learns that Area X has been expanding and many teams far more than 12 have been sent in over the years in order to figure out why and how as it seems to be connected to the tunnel and the creature within but hardly any one returned alive from these mission and those that did came back drastically changed and with little memory of their time in Area X like the biologist’s husband. The psychologist knew that something was wrong with the biologist which is why she fled and she refers to her brightness, the glow her skin emits and how Area X has changed her. After the psychologist dies, the biologist makes her way back to the camp but the surveyor has also realised that the biologist has changed during her time in Area X and tries to kill her. The biologist clearly fights back using her enhanced senses to kill the surveyor and in this encounter she knows she can control her brightness by injuring herself but she is low on supplies and might have to return to the lighthouse for more. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from the ending of the novel, I assume that the biologist is going to return home and leave Area X but I also have a feeling that she might stay as it feeds her need for isolation and her love of nature itself to be there but so far VanderMeer has managed to craft a twisty and compelling story and I can’t wait to see how it ends.
The last 40 pages of Annihilation were amazing, I have read so many reviews cursing this book for not making any sense but it made perfect sense to me. The biologist now changed and alone seeks the answers she wants from the Crawler within the tunnel as it isn’t likely to kill her now Area X has changed her and there she finds answers in a metaphorical sense rather than a psychical sense. She also learns the true fate of her husband and rather than returning home she is going to follow in his footsteps deeper into the wild, not in the hope of finding him but in the hope of experiencing the same things he has experienced while in Area X as it seems like Area X was made for people like her. Towards the final pages she explains that the account we have read is fabricated as some things can’t be put into words or documented but she has tried her best even as the 13th team is being sent in Area X and she leaves it as a warning for them to return home unless like her they want to brave the wild, then they will know what to do in that case. Overall, Annihilation seemed to me like Area X was a parasitic entity, completely alive in its own way and slowly mile by mile devouring the Earth which is why the Southern Reach want to stop it but some like the biologist believe this is the natural order of things and do nothing to prevent it from happening. I will definitely be continuing on with the trilogy in the near future to see what happens and whether we can learn the ultimate fate of the biologist. Highly recommended!
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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