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.

cold be so much better

The narrator was great. found it easy to get distracted during the story and I am not entirely sure what the point of the book was by the end. without any spoilers let's just say I was not impressed.

Not the same as the movie

I *absolutely love* the film adaptation of this book, so I was excited to read the full text. However, to my disappointment, it seems as though the screenwriter for the movie only took a handful of concepts from the text and weaved their own story. The book itself is still worth a listen, but I felt like it was one of the few times in life where the movie outshines the text.

Mind bending sci fi with a side of Lovecraft

Despite what the other reviews on here espouse, I found the narrative to be outstanding. This story is a rollercoaster that requires your full attention and delivers a creepy, almost psychedelic tale of madness well worth the price of admission. Would recommend to 2001 Space Odyssey fans and Lovecraft fans alike.

Redeemed itself at the end

I was hoping that the beginning would be a little more biological, or jump into the weirdness a little earlier. It only really picked up after the first 2 hours of reading, after which it was fairly gripping.

great book

went to fast. kinda bummed it's over but excited to get into the next book