Rating: ★★★★★
Well, after my last review, I’m very surprised to be back here so soon. I read this book in two or three days, which is remarkable. I couldn’t put it down. I read 50 pages one day, and finished it the next time I picked it up. I won’t lie. This may have to do with the fact that I saw and loved the movie some time ago. The book is different, but the essence is there. It just pulled me in.
This book is pure science fiction, but in a natural world type of way, not a space and aliens type of way. Essentially, there’s a strange area of the world – Area X – that is cordoned off by the military. They send in expeditions to investigate. The book opens with the twelfth expedition going in. According to Goodreads: “The 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, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.”
Much of this book and what it’s trying to say is intangible and ethereal. I don’t really know what’s going in. There’s a lot of mystery. And that can be a bit frustrating, having no answers. But for some reason it doesn’t bother me. The environment, the characters, the prose… All of it is enthralling. Annihilation is now one of my most favorite books.
I would like to continue the series, but I’m almost nervous the sequel won’t be as good, and it would taint the experience. I think I’ll put some time between now and picking it up.
Tiny Leaf Books 