The bone-chilling, hair-raising second installment of the Southern Reach Trilogy For thirty years, a secret agency called the Southern Reach has monitored expeditions into Area X--a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization. After the twelfth expedition, the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez (a.k.a. Control) is the team's newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and more than two hundred hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets ...
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The bone-chilling, hair-raising second installment of the Southern Reach Trilogy For thirty years, a secret agency called the Southern Reach has monitored expeditions into Area X--a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization. After the twelfth expedition, the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez (a.k.a. Control) is the team's newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and more than two hundred hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves--and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he's promised to serve.
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After the amazing short little weird fiction/adventure novel that Annihilation was, I was really hoping for more of the same from Authority. If you are too, you will be sorely disappointed. Authority adventure-wise just follows the new director of the Southern Reach in the same circle between his house and the facility for the majority of the book, with a MUCH heavier focus on dialogue and thoughts in his head than anything actually happening. For so much of the book, I just couldn't help but think, "wow, this is kinda like VanderMeer went on a huge tangent and couldn't get back to it." You're left feeling frustrated, like not much is actually happening, being explained, or being resolved. All while watching the new director go slowly mad all the meantime, and sort of understanding how he feels... The climax really is a decent pay-off, but after the enormous drag of the meat of the book, it really feels underwhelming. I still somewhat liked it, and Annihilation was so good that I will without a doubt read Acceptance. However, in my opinion, Jeff could have probably sliced out 100 pages of this book, inserted more insights into Area X, and made it a bit more enjoyable of a read.
david f
Jul 21, 2014
Great Book
I loved both Annihilation, and Authority. I'm waiting, with baited breath,for Acceptance to complete this trilogy. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good, written, science fiction mystery.
