Annihilation

Southern Reach Trilogy, Book 1

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Narrated by: Carolyn McCormick

A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ALEX GARLAND, STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC

The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award-winning novel that “reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world” (Kim Stanley Robinson).

If J. J. Abrams, Margaret Atwood, and Alan Weisman collaborated on a novel … it might be this awesome.

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

This is the twelfth expedition.

Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist, a surveyor, a psychologist—the de facto leader—and a biologist, who is our narrator. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life-forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Cover artwork © Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

©2014 Jeff VanderMeer (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Great story, bad narrator

See title. Mispronounced homographs, odd inflection, and no perceivable differentiation where there ought to be (quotations, italics, narration, etc.)

Interesting story, uninteresting reader

I somewhat enjoyed the book. I think I would have liked it better if I'd read the book myself rather than listen to it. The reader didn't add anything to the story with her interpretation of the text but actually took away from it. I feel I missed out on some key parts of the story because the monotone of the reader was extremely forgettable and in interesting. The last 45 minutes have me interested to continue the series since it's about a different character and thus a different reader with the 3rd book supposedly tying everything together. So I'd recommend this book if you can sit down and actually read it. If not maybe look for a different version with a different reader.

The New Weird

I have heard some claim this is an example of the new weird. It has its strange moments, but it is no odder than some older SciFi I have read. The failing it has it that it feels like the story offers no resolution. Some claim later books in the series add interest to this world, but this novel hasn't motivated me in any way to seek them out. I would suggest only getting this if it is really cheap.

A bit of a slog

The narrator perfectly conveys the monotony of the story. The protagonist it’s not very likable, and worse, uninteresting. There’s plenty of atmosphere and intriguing clues to mysteries without solutions, but it probably would’ve worked better as a short story.

Keep shopping

The story is wonderful but available in a group with the next two in the series for a single credit. Look for those