Annihilation By: Jeff Vandermere REVIEW
Finally I have a book that I have finished that is ready to be shared with the Empire!
Plot: "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 our narrator, a biologist. 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."(Goodreads).
Characters:
This is more of a 3 1/2 star book, just for the reasons explained above. This is an extremely fun book t read very fast, however it is lacking that spark of a 4-5 star book for me.
Recommendation:
Plot: "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 our narrator, a biologist. 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."(Goodreads).
Characters:
- This is a novel where no one has names we can put a face to, just titles such as the Biologist, anthropologist ect...
- With no real names to associate with any character, I am going to sum up the character growth of all the characters instead of individually. These characters are written in an odd manner, they are written in order to move the plot along, and not to give you someone to love and latch on to. The way each is written shows how expendable these people are towards the entire operation, which by the end we learn to be true. In conclusion these characters are by no means the driving force of this novel, however as a Biology Major in college I found this perspective of the Biologist to be most intriguing.
- This writing is written to move along the over arching story, at a break neck speed unless we get to see a new break through in Area X which is written in stunning detail and beauty.
- Something to read for fun, and not for a mind breaking novel with everything that a reader can want.
- This novel was fun and fast!
- I will be continuing on into the rest of the series, as they are addictive almost candy like books with some simple messages through out.
- Its messages while simple are important for the world to hear, the environment is a huge source of fuel for this books messages.
- I liked it for the messages it approached, which most even political adversaries skirt around solving instead each is placed with a band aid for the immediate fix.
This is more of a 3 1/2 star book, just for the reasons explained above. This is an extremely fun book t read very fast, however it is lacking that spark of a 4-5 star book for me.
Recommendation:
- Pick this book up if you are a mystery fan or an environmental activist type person, its a new form of psychological thriller that entwines serious topics into its richly detailed account, making this all the more scary.
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