Annihilation: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy)
by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have decided that I am not giving any of my books a .25/.5/.75 rating on Goodreads.
This is a very short 200 page sci-fi, which I can’t really see this book being any longer. It might actually be a little bit too long. This is only because I feel like one section of the story was exaggerated in comparison to the minimal detail given for the the rest of the events of the book.
I imagine that this series is going to be one continuous book broken up into three sections. With that being said, I look at this book as the intro to the story and there were a few problems with it in my opinion. However, I did enjoy the story so much that I very much look forward to continuing the trilogy and find that I need to know what the hell happens next. And there is something to be said for that. Which is why I feel confident in giving this book 3 stars and not 2.
The synopsis of the story you find on Goodreads is a good enough indicator of what you will be getting into when you read this book. So I do not feel like I need to give you an overview of what this story is about. Also, this book has been made into a movie and you have most likely seen the trailer for that and know what it is vaguely about by that too.
My critiques
I will say that the narrative of the story is written as a female voice, but it is very much apparent that it was written by a man. I do not normally comment on anything like that, but in this book the main character’s emotions, who are a female’s, are so obviously written by a man, that parts of the story I thought were a little funny because… it was clearly a man’s idea of how he would react insinctively instead of a woman. But, it didn’t bother me. It was just a reality of the author’s tone in the book.
Remember this is my opinion, don’t hassle me about it. Write your own review if you disagree.
I think the author built the world very loosely, and I am going to assume that is on purpose. I think we are going to see much, much more of what this world contains and has in the following books and I am looking forward to that. Although I did enjoy the mystery, I did find it a little confusing because it was so ambiguous.
This is a very quick read, would probably be a great audiobook and I am looking forward to continuing on as soon as I can get my hand on book 2. After finishing the series I will do a comprehensive trilogy review and we shall see if any of my opinions change when all is said and read 🙂