Annihilation

Utterly unsettling and eerie.

Before Annihilation I never really understood what it meant to describe a book as atmospheric. Annihilation is atmospheric. The whole book has a reverent tone for the otherwordly flora and fauna of Area X and I loved it. Everything seems like it is of this world, but it’s unnatural enough for you to feel disquieted. A veil of secrecy and uncertainty hangs over every description and event.

Reading this book feels like you’re in a trance, drifting in and out of a feverish dream the whole time. Even when finished, I’m unsure if what I experienced really happened. I think that is the brilliance of VanderMeer’s Annihilation. It leaves you feeling unmoored, much like the unnamed biologist at the center of the novel. The unreliable narrator also intensifies the creeping horror that often begs for an explanation. Blood-soaked floors. A Lovecraftian creature that roams freely. A finding that betrays the nature of the expeditions. Some may find the open-ended nature of Annihilation unsatisfactory, confusing, or too abstract. But I think it all comes together for an experience that you can’t find reading anything else.

Annihilation is a short, unhinged type of read. It left a little too many unanswered questions for my preference and I don’t know if the atmosphere is enough to tempt me to the sequels. I’m torn because the premise is so so good, but I’m not sure if I can handle the next two books being as abstract. This is the type of book I would recommend you experience on your own and make your own judgments because it’s that out there.