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title: "Annihilation: A Novel (Southern Reach Trilogy, 1)"
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---

# Annihilation: A Novel (Southern Reach Trilogy, 1)

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Buy Annihilation: A Novel (Southern Reach Trilogy, 1) by Vandermeer, Jeff from desertcart's Fiction Books Store. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction.

Review: A Subtle and Eerie Read - Rating: 3.5 Stars Imagine, if you will, that you are lost within an alien landscape. You do not know whether you have left this earth or crossed through an alternative dimension, or whether you yet remain in a strange forgotten corner of the world. The only thing which connects you to the rest of humanity is a journal. A journal of a woman whose name you do not know, whose life is slowly unfolding as you turn the cracked and brittle pages, and whose fate will yet remain a mystery at its close. Annihilation is a strange, disquieting and eerily beautiful novel which takes the reader on an expedition into Area X; where those who enter leave changed, if they leave at all. This is a tale of discovery and quiet observation, a preternatural mystery which should be slowly savoured until you are nothing but lost in the wilds of VanderMeer’s imagination. - Annihilation follows the expedition of an unnamed protagonist, the biologist, as she journeys into Area X, a mysterious and extensive partition of land under an apparent imposed quarantine. Previous expeditions have entered but all have returned altered, if they returned at all. Together with a psychologist, an anthropologist and a surveyor, the twelfth expedition makes its way into this strange and mystifying land only to find that danger is as likely to come from within as without; no one remains the same in Area X. With towers that spiral into the earth, strange cries in the night and creatures straight out of a fever dream, finding a way home might be the least of their problems. - Annihilation is a quiet flight of (science) fantasy across uncharted territory; a novel which slowly draws you into a world of sinister discovery. Area X is a vast and mysterious zone which takes on an almost alien appearance; its utter unfamiliarity creating a heady and foreboding atmosphere which weighs heavily throughout. VanderMeer’s writing is effortlessly engaging, leading the reader one step at a time into this strange, hypnotic and almost hallucinogenic world which, whilst not overtly involved, rides a line of tension from beginning to end. Throughout the novel Area X appears overwhelmingly large, but despite this impression the narrative remains confined to a comparatively small zone which the expedition is reticent to leave. Whilst the necessity for staging the narrative in this relatively small area is somewhat apparent, my own imagination was straining at these invisible borders, desperate to discover more of the land and its utterly strange inhabitants. But if it was a ploy to make me want to read book two, it worked! VanderMeer has set me on a voyage of discovery which I am determined to see through. Our unnamed protagonist is a thoughtful, analytical woman whose perspective of quiet observation and discovery make her an engaging character. Whilst this works in the favour of the biologist, we gain little perspective on the supplementary characters beyond her observations. Her tendency to watch rather than communicate means we never establish any meaningful connection to the other members of the expedition and care little for them when events conspire against them. This does, however, add to the air of mystery and tension; anyone is capable of anything, everyone is disposable and no one is safe. VanderMeer’s first foray into Area X is a beautiful, subtle and incredibly atmospheric read which resonates with a sense of the unknown and the unknowable. His lyrical writing is saturated with the strange, forming a sinister and other-worldly tale which becomes increasingly difficult to put down. Whilst I would have preferred a little more action throughout the narrative and a more climactic, defined conclusion, the story remained absorbing throughout and the beauty of VanderMeer’s writing more than made up for it. This is a tale of quiet enjoyment. Of the strange. Of dreams and of nightmares. - If you like your science fantasy subtle and eerie, and wish to venture into the unknown, then Annihilation might just be the book for you. This is a novel which diverted all of my expectations and still managed to impress. Jeff VandeerMeer may be a new addition to my bookshelves but I imagine he’ll be there to stay.
Review: Extraordinary. A masterpiece of post-modern horror - This is not science fiction, this is on a par with the feelings I get reading Edgar Allen Poe. Wow. This is another extraordinary, brilliant tale from Jeff VanderMeer. What a mind! What a brilliant and strange museum of dystopian artefacts he has there, and this tale assembled via outstanding prose, assured pacing, exquisite timing, all leading you slowly from science-suspense into a horror most profound. I was impressed from page one, and before page 3 I was completely enthralled and helplessly captured. Thereafter, I was possessed. The mere fact that anyone would choose to enter Area-X after so many deaths, so much insanity and horror, speaks to our mindset and culture today. VanderMeer immerses us in this travesty we call modern life and watches as we drown. I recognise about halfway through that what I'm feeling reminds me of how I felt as a teen, reading Edgar Allen Poe. - images from the upcoming (and very different) movie "Annihilation" (2018) trailer here There are so many aspects of how VanderMeer has constructed this tale, from the intentionally unnamed characters, the unreliable history of previous expeditions, the imposition of hypnotic distortions of perception, the almost biblical poetry of The Biologist's progressing insanity, the surreal sounds and images, the tension and mistrust of the team, and the growing realisation that all will go terrifyingly wrong, trapped with no way out. Incredible. The Biologist's past makes her both the perfect narrator, relating her experiences and her past with scientific rigour, yet so personally and intimately entangled in the present and the past that we feel ourselves in a fever-dream along with her. Wow! There is no way to review this book in one, or ten, or a hundred pages. This book must be lived, this book must be absorbed, this book must be allowed to colonise you. Impressions, quotes and notes as I read: 12% - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - “Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives while from the dim-lit halls of other places forms that never could be writhe for the impatience of the few who have never seen or been seen …” 17% - quotations - Looking for hidden meaning in these papers was the same as looking for hidden meaning in the natural world around us. If it existed, it could be activated only by the eye of the beholder. - At the time, I was seeking oblivion, and I sought in those blank, anonymous faces, even the most painfully familiar, a kind of benign escape. A death that would not mean being dead. - There are certain kinds of deaths that one should not be expected to relive, certain kinds of connections so deep that when they are broken you feel the snap of the link inside you. 24% - my note - Seriously brilliant and weird. Through the lines of text on the walls, VanderMeer induces an unfocused foreboding in our minds... - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - ... in the black water with the sun shining at midnight, those fruit shall come ripe and in the darkness of that which is golden shall split open to reveal the revelation of the fatal softness in the earth … 67% - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - ... but whether it decays under the earth or above on green fields, or out to sea or in the very air, all shall come to revelation, and to revel, in the knowledge of the strangling fruit and the hand of the sinner shall rejoice, for there is no sin in shadow or in light that the seeds of the dead cannot forgive … - There shall be a fire that knows your name, and in the presence of the strangling fruit, its dark flame shall acquire every part of you. - There shall be in the planting in the shadows a grace and a mercy that shall bloom dark flowers, and their teeth shall devour and sustain and herald the passing of an age … That which dies shall still know life in death for all that decays is not forgotten and reanimated shall walk the world in a bliss of not-knowing … - Assimilator and assimilated interact through the catalyst of a script of words, which powers the engine of transformation. Definition: Dystopia "imaginary bad place," 1868, apparently coined by J.S. Mill ("Hansard Commons"), from Greek dys- "bad, abnormal, difficult" (see dys- ) + utopia. Related: Dystopian. Reader "Ali" asks this question of VanderMeer - The collapse of the anthropocene is a theme in your works, but they also hold out potential for a transformed human agency. Grotesque shifts still leave behind a residue of the human. Annihilation is on this track with the biologist's contamination. Do these transformations relate to your sense of human (d)evolution? What is gained or lost by leaving behind individual consciousness for something more rhizomatic? Jeff VanderMeer replies Thank you for the truly great question, Ali. To me, this is the essential theme of our time, and it's not about giving in or checking out. It's about adaptation to what's coming. Of course, I'm coming at it from a kind of fantastical point of view. No matter how I deploy science or specific detail about our real world, I'm still somewhere between the real and the metaphorical in these explorations. In part to get the distance to explore modes of thoughts, and in the absence of being able to imagine being truly not-human, to get as close to that as possible without marginalizing that state of being as horrific. I suppose I don't see it as leaving behind individual consciousness as being in greater harmony and collusion with the contamination we already experience but that is invisible to us, and to also thereby better understand that we do not in fact stick out from our landscape, but are part of it. This is something we've forgotten over the last centuries, and the farther we get away from understanding this, the farther we get from long-term solutions to questions like...What do we contribute to our biosphere? Why do we privilege human-style intelligence to the exclusion of all else? Why do we see as strengths those things that are actually now weaknesses in ourselves as a sustainable species on Earth? This doesn't even get to the question of being able to see our environment with a fresh eye--so that we no longer think in terms of being stewards or despoilers but some other philosophy altogether. And this in the context, too, of not bringing with us the old "culture creatures" as Schama puts it in his book Landscape and Memory. That we might see with clear vision but also perhaps with a hint of awe just how thoroughly we live on an alien planet that is full of wonders we're only now beginning to understand. And of which we are at times the most mundane

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | 803,632 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 44 in Post-Apocalyptic 81 in Dystopian 384 in Literary Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 3.9 out of 5 stars 26,442 Reviews |

## Images

![Annihilation: A Novel (Southern Reach Trilogy, 1) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81FSip5qwhL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Subtle and Eerie Read
*by B***H on 14 August 2020*

Rating: 3.5 Stars Imagine, if you will, that you are lost within an alien landscape. You do not know whether you have left this earth or crossed through an alternative dimension, or whether you yet remain in a strange forgotten corner of the world. The only thing which connects you to the rest of humanity is a journal. A journal of a woman whose name you do not know, whose life is slowly unfolding as you turn the cracked and brittle pages, and whose fate will yet remain a mystery at its close. Annihilation is a strange, disquieting and eerily beautiful novel which takes the reader on an expedition into Area X; where those who enter leave changed, if they leave at all. This is a tale of discovery and quiet observation, a preternatural mystery which should be slowly savoured until you are nothing but lost in the wilds of VanderMeer’s imagination. - Annihilation follows the expedition of an unnamed protagonist, the biologist, as she journeys into Area X, a mysterious and extensive partition of land under an apparent imposed quarantine. Previous expeditions have entered but all have returned altered, if they returned at all. Together with a psychologist, an anthropologist and a surveyor, the twelfth expedition makes its way into this strange and mystifying land only to find that danger is as likely to come from within as without; no one remains the same in Area X. With towers that spiral into the earth, strange cries in the night and creatures straight out of a fever dream, finding a way home might be the least of their problems. - Annihilation is a quiet flight of (science) fantasy across uncharted territory; a novel which slowly draws you into a world of sinister discovery. Area X is a vast and mysterious zone which takes on an almost alien appearance; its utter unfamiliarity creating a heady and foreboding atmosphere which weighs heavily throughout. VanderMeer’s writing is effortlessly engaging, leading the reader one step at a time into this strange, hypnotic and almost hallucinogenic world which, whilst not overtly involved, rides a line of tension from beginning to end. Throughout the novel Area X appears overwhelmingly large, but despite this impression the narrative remains confined to a comparatively small zone which the expedition is reticent to leave. Whilst the necessity for staging the narrative in this relatively small area is somewhat apparent, my own imagination was straining at these invisible borders, desperate to discover more of the land and its utterly strange inhabitants. But if it was a ploy to make me want to read book two, it worked! VanderMeer has set me on a voyage of discovery which I am determined to see through. Our unnamed protagonist is a thoughtful, analytical woman whose perspective of quiet observation and discovery make her an engaging character. Whilst this works in the favour of the biologist, we gain little perspective on the supplementary characters beyond her observations. Her tendency to watch rather than communicate means we never establish any meaningful connection to the other members of the expedition and care little for them when events conspire against them. This does, however, add to the air of mystery and tension; anyone is capable of anything, everyone is disposable and no one is safe. VanderMeer’s first foray into Area X is a beautiful, subtle and incredibly atmospheric read which resonates with a sense of the unknown and the unknowable. His lyrical writing is saturated with the strange, forming a sinister and other-worldly tale which becomes increasingly difficult to put down. Whilst I would have preferred a little more action throughout the narrative and a more climactic, defined conclusion, the story remained absorbing throughout and the beauty of VanderMeer’s writing more than made up for it. This is a tale of quiet enjoyment. Of the strange. Of dreams and of nightmares. - If you like your science fantasy subtle and eerie, and wish to venture into the unknown, then Annihilation might just be the book for you. This is a novel which diverted all of my expectations and still managed to impress. Jeff VandeerMeer may be a new addition to my bookshelves but I imagine he’ll be there to stay.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extraordinary. A masterpiece of post-modern horror
*by W***N on 18 December 2017*

This is not science fiction, this is on a par with the feelings I get reading Edgar Allen Poe. Wow. This is another extraordinary, brilliant tale from Jeff VanderMeer. What a mind! What a brilliant and strange museum of dystopian artefacts he has there, and this tale assembled via outstanding prose, assured pacing, exquisite timing, all leading you slowly from science-suspense into a horror most profound. I was impressed from page one, and before page 3 I was completely enthralled and helplessly captured. Thereafter, I was possessed. The mere fact that anyone would choose to enter Area-X after so many deaths, so much insanity and horror, speaks to our mindset and culture today. VanderMeer immerses us in this travesty we call modern life and watches as we drown. I recognise about halfway through that what I'm feeling reminds me of how I felt as a teen, reading Edgar Allen Poe. - images from the upcoming (and very different) movie "Annihilation" (2018) trailer here There are so many aspects of how VanderMeer has constructed this tale, from the intentionally unnamed characters, the unreliable history of previous expeditions, the imposition of hypnotic distortions of perception, the almost biblical poetry of The Biologist's progressing insanity, the surreal sounds and images, the tension and mistrust of the team, and the growing realisation that all will go terrifyingly wrong, trapped with no way out. Incredible. The Biologist's past makes her both the perfect narrator, relating her experiences and her past with scientific rigour, yet so personally and intimately entangled in the present and the past that we feel ourselves in a fever-dream along with her. Wow! There is no way to review this book in one, or ten, or a hundred pages. This book must be lived, this book must be absorbed, this book must be allowed to colonise you. Impressions, quotes and notes as I read: 12% - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - “Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives while from the dim-lit halls of other places forms that never could be writhe for the impatience of the few who have never seen or been seen …” 17% - quotations - Looking for hidden meaning in these papers was the same as looking for hidden meaning in the natural world around us. If it existed, it could be activated only by the eye of the beholder. - At the time, I was seeking oblivion, and I sought in those blank, anonymous faces, even the most painfully familiar, a kind of benign escape. A death that would not mean being dead. - There are certain kinds of deaths that one should not be expected to relive, certain kinds of connections so deep that when they are broken you feel the snap of the link inside you. 24% - my note - Seriously brilliant and weird. Through the lines of text on the walls, VanderMeer induces an unfocused foreboding in our minds... - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - ... in the black water with the sun shining at midnight, those fruit shall come ripe and in the darkness of that which is golden shall split open to reveal the revelation of the fatal softness in the earth … 67% - from the living words on the walls of the "tower" - ... but whether it decays under the earth or above on green fields, or out to sea or in the very air, all shall come to revelation, and to revel, in the knowledge of the strangling fruit and the hand of the sinner shall rejoice, for there is no sin in shadow or in light that the seeds of the dead cannot forgive … - There shall be a fire that knows your name, and in the presence of the strangling fruit, its dark flame shall acquire every part of you. - There shall be in the planting in the shadows a grace and a mercy that shall bloom dark flowers, and their teeth shall devour and sustain and herald the passing of an age … That which dies shall still know life in death for all that decays is not forgotten and reanimated shall walk the world in a bliss of not-knowing … - Assimilator and assimilated interact through the catalyst of a script of words, which powers the engine of transformation. Definition: Dystopia "imaginary bad place," 1868, apparently coined by J.S. Mill ("Hansard Commons"), from Greek dys- "bad, abnormal, difficult" (see dys- ) + utopia. Related: Dystopian. Reader "Ali" asks this question of VanderMeer - The collapse of the anthropocene is a theme in your works, but they also hold out potential for a transformed human agency. Grotesque shifts still leave behind a residue of the human. Annihilation is on this track with the biologist's contamination. Do these transformations relate to your sense of human (d)evolution? What is gained or lost by leaving behind individual consciousness for something more rhizomatic? Jeff VanderMeer replies Thank you for the truly great question, Ali. To me, this is the essential theme of our time, and it's not about giving in or checking out. It's about adaptation to what's coming. Of course, I'm coming at it from a kind of fantastical point of view. No matter how I deploy science or specific detail about our real world, I'm still somewhere between the real and the metaphorical in these explorations. In part to get the distance to explore modes of thoughts, and in the absence of being able to imagine being truly not-human, to get as close to that as possible without marginalizing that state of being as horrific. I suppose I don't see it as leaving behind individual consciousness as being in greater harmony and collusion with the contamination we already experience but that is invisible to us, and to also thereby better understand that we do not in fact stick out from our landscape, but are part of it. This is something we've forgotten over the last centuries, and the farther we get away from understanding this, the farther we get from long-term solutions to questions like...What do we contribute to our biosphere? Why do we privilege human-style intelligence to the exclusion of all else? Why do we see as strengths those things that are actually now weaknesses in ourselves as a sustainable species on Earth? This doesn't even get to the question of being able to see our environment with a fresh eye--so that we no longer think in terms of being stewards or despoilers but some other philosophy altogether. And this in the context, too, of not bringing with us the old "culture creatures" as Schama puts it in his book Landscape and Memory. That we might see with clear vision but also perhaps with a hint of awe just how thoroughly we live on an alien planet that is full of wonders we're only now beginning to understand. And of which we are at times the most mundane

### ⭐⭐⭐ Dream-like!
*by L***D on 10 March 2018*

Like many reviewers on here, I was drawn to Annihilation because of the captivating movie trailer. Impatient for the movie, I decided to give Annihilation a read, feeling rather excited that it was part of a three-book trilogy. The first third of the book really did grab me. I was impressed by the concept of the book. I was beguiled by the mystery, and I felt compelled to keep reading so that I could gain answers and discover the secrets of Area X. The book is also nicely written. Very vivid, too. I read this book quickly. (Let’s be fair, it is pretty short!) Unfortunately by the halfway point, I felt my interest in the book waning. There was just something missing. Instead of progressing, the story became rather stagnant. I even felt like I was also trapped in Area X, feeling very clueless about it all. Perhaps that’s the author’s purpose? I don’t know. I also felt a lack of empathy for any of the characters to the point where the biologist (narrator) was the only necessary character. For me, the book had no resolution. It provided me with none of the answers I sought and that was extremely unsatisfactory. With that said, the book wasn’t all bad. The science and the world of Area X is breathtakingly beautiful. I am hoping that the film deviates from the book and provides the audience with a much clearer plot, and also, those all-important answers. I’m really not sure whether or not to read the next instalment in this trilogy. Part of me wants to, because I actually still yearn for answers. But the other part of me thinks that the next two books might be as disappointing and confusing as this one.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Annihilation: A Novel
- Authority: Book 2 (The Southern Reach Trilogy)
- Acceptance: Book 3 (The Southern Reach Trilogy)

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