Book Review: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer: A Haunting and Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Novel

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer is the first book in the Southern Reach Trilogy. It is a science fiction, horror, weird fiction novel.

While you read, you will be curious and at the same time feel some horror. And the protagonist also feels the same way. She is a member of an expedition for Area X and will feel some fear and the same time drive to learn, and explore. Scientific curiosity will also keep her going. There is also a movie adaptation of the novel, released in 2018. The trailer for the movie really got my interest so I decided to the book first. Now that I read the book, it is also time to watch the movie.

Book Review: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Southern Reach Trilogy - Book 1)

The novel tells us about a very strange area. It is called Area X. It is near the sea and the forest. Strange things happen here and governments want to know what happens here. So they keep sending expeditions.

The narrator is also a member of one of these groups. We learn everything from her dairy. She is a member of the twelfth expedition and all of them are women: a biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor. And until the end of the book, we will never know their names. The biologist tells us the story and she will always mention them by their professions. As the place where they came also called Area X, we can also call them X Women. It’s like they are already part of the area where they came to explore, study, and look for answers.

Weird things happen in Area X, so governments want to solve this mystery and keep sending expeditions. The protagonist tells us what strange things are going on in this place:

“We knew that members of the second expedition to Area X had committed suicide by gunshot and members of the third had shot each other. Not until several subsequent expeditions had suffered zero casualties had our superiors issued firearms again. We were the twelfth expedition.” 

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A tower going into the ground

The twelfth expedition came to this place almost blindfolded. What we learn from the first pages is that governments share with expedition teams less than what they really know. And they come to this place without knowing much.

All that they know is that there is a village in Area X and that there is a lighthouse. But the first day they came here, they discovered a stair going into the ground near their base where the previous expeditions also set their camps. But the biologist, who is also the narrator, calls these stairs a “tower”. With one difference, this tower doesn’t take you up, conversely, it goes deep into the ground.

The expedition team in a very short time notices the strange things happening in this place. The biggest problem is that, soon after they arrive at their camp in Area X, the team members start not trusting each other. Maybe they never had that team bonding. Even at the beginning, the people who are in charge of the research, let the expedition enter the area under strong hypnoses. And many things were hidden from them.

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The biologist protagonist will slowly try to understand what is going on in Area X. Her husband was also a member of previous expeditions who came here, disappeared, and suddenly returned home. Her husband was never the same person after he came back. After a short while, he died from cancer.

The biologist will see and understand as much as she can by herself. The book is just the first book in the trilogy, so it opens many questions for you than giving answers. So we still don’t have a full explanation of strange things going on there. What we read and learn are all from the biologist’s dairy that she left in Area X.

Now that I read the book, I can also watch the movie adaptation: Annihilation (2018). I will also share my review of the movie here very soon.

Annihilation
by Jeff VanderMeer
Southern Reach Trilogy - Book 1
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
First published in 2014
208 pages.

Science fiction, horror, a weird fiction novel