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"In the second volume of the Southern Reach Trilogy, questions are answered, stakes are raised, and mysteries are deepened. In Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer introduced Area X--a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization. This was the first volume of a projected trilogy; well in advance of publication, translation rights had already sold around the world and a major movie deal had been struck. Just months later, Authority, the second volume, is here. For thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X has taken the form of a series of expeditions monitored by a secret agency called the Southern Reach. After the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez, aka "Control," is the team's newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and 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. And the consequences will spread much further than that. The Southern Reach trilogy will conclude in fall 2014 with Acceptance"-- "In the second volume of the Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most troubling questions are answered... but the answers are far from reassuring"--… (more)
User reviews
Compared to Annihilation, this sequel emphasizes the espionage dimension more. It reminds me somewhat of a grimmer Laundry Files--not for the yog-sothothery, but for the Kafkaesque intelligence bureaucracy with degraded resources, hidden factions and compromised leadership. Like Annihilation, it's very character-driven, with some clever ideas and limpid, evocative prose. It also has some startling and horrific surprises.
A physical feature of the book I read was at the start of each of the four major sections, where the text-free facing pages were progressively darkening shades of gray. It suited the theme nicely.
This is a great middle section ramping up the stakes from the first and making me both nervous and excited about the third. I cannot read the phrase, "I am not the biologist," without all the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
A new director arrives at the
Control also has the opportunity to debrief the biologist, protagonist of 'Annihilation'. This process is just as problematical; she is given to announcing that she "is not the biologist", though whether that means that there is a question of identity, a matter of the role that she is expected to fulfil, or indeed of her own self-understanding is open to question.
Control's own role is also not necessarily what it seems. His past comes back to haunt him; is he his own agent in this investigation, or is he a pawn in the hands of others?
We learn some more of the history of Area X; but then events begin to spiral out of Control's control and he has to strike out on his own and disregard his orders.
This is a dense and complex read, though not without some amusement at Vandermeer's wordplay. It is utterly unlike the previous book, and yet follows on so naturally. It is a slow burn of a novel, and certainly will not be to every reader's taste. And although we see more of the world outside Area X, and Control's interaction with it, it still reads as though Area X and the Southern Reach could be anywhere. The story ends on a cliff-hanger; it will be interesting to see where the final volume, 'Acceptance', takes us.
Control didn't ever fully come together for me as a character. I wanted to understand him and care about him, but mostly what propelled me through this second book was my pre-established interest in Area X and the biologist. This book didn't give much up in terms of increased understanding of either, only a little bit of context. It broke my momentum a little, and I decided to take a short break before diving into book three.
In the aftermath of the 12th expedition we follow "Control" the nom de guerre of the new director of the Southern Reach. Some of the questions in the first book are answered but many mysteries remain, are deepened in fact. This is different in tone and style and yet the two books are so
I won't go into the plot - that's a doorway you'll have to cross by yourself. This is less dream-like (although relies, in part, on dreams to build the experience) and less pared down than Annihilation but feels like a layering on of information, themes, character, plot, sense of place, and, to use a term from the book (and the wine world), terroir. It is a deeply sensuous experience that I gorged myself upon. Another reason to re-read once all three have been ravenously consumed will be to take it slower and appreciate the craft. For to be sure there is much craft in these books to admire.
Comparisons are useless, this is idiosyncratic and it is obvious that much thought and care has been put into this as a book, as the second in a trilogy, as a bridge, as a complex exploration of transformation and immersion. Everything becomes significant, it is like being indoctrinated by a conspiracy theorist. It is both a reflection and an intermingling with the first book. Themes are re-explored, re-examined, deepened.
Throughout, as per the word Annihilation in the first book, I was considering – what is authority?, what is control? There is a Russian doll feel to it. Turn over a phrase and find a concept which when considered is but a layer of a greater theme which in turn is reflected in character development, or description, or dialogue. Throughout is a key uncertainty, which in itself is another theme – surface detail is a concealment, an obfuscation of the truth, or is it?
Adding to this is the very form of the story. Presented in a paranoid spy thriller atmosphere as organisational politics meets intelligence meets counter-intelligence. Power struggles, suspicions, revelations, tug-of-war manoeuvres and the use of hypnosis (itself a recurrence of something explored in Annihilation) conspire to keep you immersed and engaged.
VanderMeer has parcelled out information, seemingly generously (in comparison to Annihilation) and yet the mystery remains and is, if anything, deeper following this book. At the end of Annihilation I wanted answers and yet wasn’t sure I’d like what the answers were and was simultaneously eager and afraid of reading the next book. At the end of Authority I wanted the next book to be there to hand, to tear straight into, the level of suspense and anticipation has been built to fever pitch.
Overall – This is a book and a series that deserves all the praise. I expect prizes in the future.
Me at the end of Authority: ??????????????
That's not to say that I didn't enjoy Authority and thoroughly devour it, just that I still have no answers to any questions posited by the first book. In fact, all I'm left with are many, many more questions.
The
The nature of the narrative allows VanderMeer to give a little bit more this time around; for example, most characters featured in Authority have names, backgrounds, motivations. Something that could not quite be said of the previous Annihilation, where you never learn the name of a single character. You don't learn the name of the protagonist of Annihilation in this book either, though she features quite heavily.
It's hard to explain why I liked a novel as oddly inexplicable as this one, except to say that I found it intriguing. The style of Authority is quite different from Annihilation but I liked that, the evolving style worked within the context of the larger story and left me intrigued and eager to start the final book of the trilogy.
I tore through Annihilation just a month ago, and the sequel did not disappoint me. It’s very different in terms of character and style of book, but just as disquieting, atmospheric and weird. Also, there’s this one part… Well, let’s just say I yelped when I read it. Already
Read as part of a series (2015).
Authority is the second book of VanderMeer's The Southern Reach Trilogy. While not exactly essential to follow the story in Authority, it's recommended that readers begin with Annihilation, published in February. And, although I hate to have to say it: Spoiler alert. Whoop, whoop, sirens go off.
Authority picks up less with where Annihilation lets off than it does more with a different thread. Here the story remains firmly outside of the mysterious "Area X," into which readers ventured in Annihilation. The setting is Florida, in a containment zone that comprises and cushions Area X from its surrounding environs. The Southern Reach, an obscure government department attached to Homeland Security, presides over Area X, investigating in a desultory fashion. The Southern Reach has learned very little about Area X over the previous two decades, and is still smarting from the loss of its most recent expedition. The organization is rudderless, its director having joined the expedition as the team psychologist. It's this situation that disgraced agent John Rodriguez, AKA "Control," inherits as the new director of the Southern Reach, perhaps due to the influence of his mother. (Control has serious mommy issues.)
Control immediately begins investigating the latest expedition, his efforts focused on (surprise!) the biologist, who returned from Area X just before his arrival. Between interrogating the defiant biologist, who insists that she is not herself, despite having memories of her life before her time in Area X, the director engages in office politics with the Assistant Director, Grace, and encounters some of the oddities that Area X generates, for instance, a plant in his desk drawer, placed there by the previous director, that just won't die. And, of course, there are the words scrawled in his closet: "Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner..." Bad juju.
Ultimately, then, if Annihilation is something of a "journey into mystery," Authority is more of a spy novel, albeit one that is a comedy of errors. Rodriguez's choice of "Control" to serve as his handle is ironic; it's clear that he's out of his depth. The superior to whom Control reports, "the Voice," ineptly screams obscenities at him. Control visits the gateway to Area X, but the guards inform him that the commanding officer has stepped out. Control vomits into a toilet after a confrontation with Grace. My guess is that, for all the surreal goings-on, this is a more accurate portrayal of the life of spies than readers have otherwise encountered.
Of course, it isn't spycraft that interests VanderMeer, it's "the Weird." As with Annihilation, VanderMeer masterfully establishes an unsettling atmosphere. Nature itself seems to conspire against Control and his subordinates: The air is always muggy, and rains come and go every day. Then, too, there is the catalog of strangeness that builds up around any bureaucracy and in any office: The infighting, the awkward attempts at conviviality, the depressing tones of the carpets and trim, the smell of the wrong disinfectant. Area X is just miles away, and, after the scene in which Control watches footage of an experiment in which scientists forced rabbits across its border, the presence of that strange land looms like a threat.
Comparisons between Authority and Annihilation are inevitable. On the whole, Authority has been very well received, moreso than its predecessor. Still, individual taste being idiosyncratic, I have to admit that I liked Authority less than Annihilation. Part of it is temperament, of course; I liked being "on the ground" in Area X in Annihilation, and, as an office drone, some of the setting of Authority struck too close to home. In my opinion, though, Annihilation was the stronger of the two books because it was so compressed; VanderMeer distilled the Weird down to its very essence. Where Annihilation was tightly coiled, Authority meanders. It is a longer book, and, at times, seems to be unspooling: Scenes go on too long, or VanderMeer is more verbose than this reader would prefer. Because Control knows so little about Area X and even the Southern Reach, the narrative is told from his point of view, which involves a great deal of speculation. VanderMeer devotes considerable space to Control wondering along the lines of, "What is this? Could it be this? But then, it could also be this." The sense of uncertainty is palpable, but it becomes a thicket through which the reader must force his or her way, and, at times, it becomes exhausting.
This is not to in any way suggest that Authority is not worth the reader's time. Indeed, the second half of the book is briskly paced, and events unfold much faster than in previous chapters, to this reader's delight. As with Annihilation, VanderMeer, with Authority, remains at the top of his game. If Annihilation is one of the best books of 2014--we're halfway through, and I still maintain that it is--then Authority is a worthy successor. Highly recommended.
I'm looking forward to the third book now!
"Authority" continues the story soon after "Annihilation" ends and
This entry in the trilogy was fairly frustrating because of the roadblocks the director faces, but the end makes it worthwhile and will leave readers wishing the publication of the third volume (Sept 2014) would be moved up.
Pt 1 Anniliation good
Pt3 Acceptance due Sept 2014
Mysterous Area X where something has happened that creates a barrier with rest of world. Teams sent in to investigate but if they return they are changed or die. In Anniliation, we follow a team in to Area X, in Authority
Dont know what is happening most of the time but it is spooky and moves at a good pace. Characters are well defined and interesting.
As for the story itself, Authority starts with John Rodriguez taking charge of the Southern Reach Station. He doesn't know much about the place - just that some sort of disaster happened that required this portion of the world to be quarantined. This is important - as a reader, you learn about some of the mysteries when John does. John has to deal with staff that is against him, the mystery left by the former director, and a mysterious voice telling giving him instructions.
This is a scary book - it sits on the border of being too weird and unfathomable - a little bit more of the unknown (or strange for the sake of strange), and the book would be over the top. As it reads - there is an underlying reason that cannot be comprehended. This is not an easy thing to do as an author and Jeff Vandemeer should be commended for his tightly written story that is almost incomprehensible.
Control is beset by trouble from the beginning: he has an "enemy" in Grace, the assistant director who is devoted to the missing director and is waiting for her return - and who is doing everything she can to undermine Control's efforts; Ghost Bird, who seems in every way to be the Biologist from book one, but who insists that she is not - Control is convinced that Ghost Bird holds the key to what is happening in Area X; and Control's own past - he is the son of a powerful agent in the organization that runs Southern Reach and the grandson of a former head of that organization, yet Control has been a fairly spectacular failure, and Southern Reach may be his last chance to prove his worth.
As with Annihilation, Authority is well written, insightful, and engaging. It does become clear that something is missing so far in the trilogy: an idea of just what is Area X, and what is going on there. This does become a hindrance to the overall story arc, as very little can be adequately dealt with unless we have a fuller idea of what is actually going on.
Good reading, but there is a lot of work for book three to accomplish.
The Publisher Says: After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X--a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization--has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret
John Rodrigues (aka "Control") is the Southern Reach's newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he's pledged to serve.
In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.
My Review: We're not in Area X anymore, Toto, and therein the problem. Control, our PoV character, is hastily tossed together to provide a camera platform for the bureaucratic machinations and clandestine-agency wars.
It's so frustrating to read a good book that's encased in a less-good book. Like those canned hams from the 1960s, the meat is tasty but who put this weird spoodge all over it?
After much hither-and-thithering, not to mention an amazingly large amount of dithering for an executive, Control runs away from (almost) everything...and the ending makes up for most of the beginning. But really, editor, couldn't a few of those go-nowhere side trips have been pruned? (eg, Whitby's art project, Cheney's existence)
With Annihilation the creepiness was lurking close, frequently spilling over into frank terror. In Authority it's less immediate, more abstracted. The mood - this creepiness - it seeps past defenses (which are understandably still on high alert
Moody. Slow. Great.
Instead of returning to the scene of the crime from Annihilation, a Twilight Zone-like place called Area X, VanderMeer puts us with Control (his code name), the son of a family of spies who is being given a second chance to save his career in espionage by
Control is almost as clueless about his job as the reader, and he seems to stumble through the steps of his examination. His first job is to interrogate the Biologist, who also happens to be the only person to survive the most recent expedition into Area X (seen in the events of Annihilation). Her answers don't sit right with Control and the building smells of rotting honey and the drawer has a dead bird and the employees act strangely....and it all adds to the air of surreal mystery around The Southern Reach Facility, to say nothing of the story.
But I'll just be honest: I had no way to predict where VanderMeer was going with the story or what I would find when I got there. My biggest fear was that I would be lost (because for most of the book I felt lost, but tantalized) and that no answers would be provided, that the gimmick would overplay and leave an unsatisfying conclusion.
And yet, VanderMeer avoided leaving me unsatisfied, if just barely. In fact, if I hadn't been so emotionally vested by Authority, I might have picked up Acceptance, the third and last book in the trilogy, immediately. I couldn't stop thinking about the book for several days after reading, and even now thinking about it makes me wonder if I got what really happened or if I need to reread and make another effort at plumbing the reality, or lack thereof, that VanderMeer created.
In any case, I look forward to finishing the trilogy, if just to close the door on a strange, but intriguing piece of speculative fiction.
If the first book was hard to describe, the second is even more so. It's a continuation, but introduces a whole new perspective and set of characters; it gives more tantalizing clues and leaves me with more questions. I can't wait to read the third book and see if it puts a whole new spin on the rest.
The story started out with the same unsettled feeling as the first one only this time focused on The Southern Reach and its staff, in particular
Annihilation was always going to be a very hard book to follow up, it set the right tone, was the right length, hinted at just enough to hook you and while the core of Authority matched it, the author needed to cut about half of it out. I still want to know what Area X is, I still want to know what happens and how it ends but this was a harder book to get through and I definitely need a break before moving on to the last book.