The Southern Reach Trilogy

I just finished book 2 in this series. My sister got the first one after seeing previews for the movie coming out next month Annihilation, by the same title as the first book. She urged me to read it, saying it had an Alien feel (which she knows I enjoy).

I’m not a big sci-fi reader, but these books sucked me in. I’m trying to avoid any spoilers, but book 2 would appeal to many here, in more ways than one.

Jeff VanderMeer is the author. This is the only work of his that I have read. He’s a decent writer, but it’s obvious that his favorite word is “banal”.... he also has a few others that pop up repeatedly. In all honesty, even though book 1 was a page turner and I didn’t put it down, I was not impressed with it until the last 5-10 pages. Then I was all on board and knew I would read the rest of the series.

Anyone else read this series? I’m trying to pawn it off on whoever I can, to elicit conversation. My dad has read the first and I will be passing the 2nd along to him as well.

Here is the preview, for anyone interested. Though, like most movies, looks much different than the book.

A book is always better than the movie.....the minds eye is the best director in the universe. I give you the Dark Tower Stephen King fiasco.........The lead character Roland...was not a black man in the book. The movie tanked. The book is STILL great.

a reply to: openyourmind1262

Yea.. dark tower was hilarious..

They condensed a , what? Maybe 6 book series by using the first book and the last scene from the last book lol..

(I only read the first one and half the second, so I’m guessing that is the basic scheme at the end)

a reply to: openyourmind1262

I’m still hopeful that The Dark Tower will get the Game of Thrones type R-rated series it deserves. I was so geeked when I found out they were making a movie just to have my dreams crushed.

a reply to: openyourmind1262

I wouldn’t call the Dark Tower movie a fiasco, I’d call it an ABOMINATION. I really had no qualms with Roland as a black man. While I know his race plays into the Detta/Odetta line, that animosity could be conjured up in different forms.

I am SO very glad that I read the books long before that shame was created. Initially I was excited at the casting of the Man in black, but he was the worst actor. And I like him. There was so much wrong in that movie- it made me angry and sad and I want to burn every copy so that no one has that story stained in their mind by that crap. I took my husband to see it..... he hasn’t read them. So I’m guilty of tainting how he will ever see the tale of Roland Deschain.

I think King praising it was what really got me. How could he be pleased with it?! Why, when the writers had a phenomenal story already in front of them, why did they butcher it and make it a bastardized hint of the original story? They had gold in their hands and traded it for tin.

a reply to: chelsdh

Thank you for sharing this with us. I haven't read any of the books but the movie I'll put on my list of must-watch films. It reminds me of the upside down world of Stranger Things.

a reply to: LookingForABetterLife

The series definitely has that same vibe as Stranger Things- I’m thinking it’ll be lost some in the movie. I would strongly recommend reading it prior to watching it. The images we create in our minds while reading almost always outstrips what we see on screen.

As a note, the movie is being released theatrically in the US and China, but will be released via Netflix for other countries.

I read the three books and I hated them (even while reading them).

the author goes on and on with lyrical aversions without telling us exactly what is going on. has a fever-dream quality that gets old.
I'm ex-military so maybe it's just my desire for the concrete and specific that makes me feel this way.


(spoiler: finally, late in book 3, are two or three paragraphs that explain what's happening)

a reply to: ElGoobero

Thanks for your insight! I’m afraid I didn’t read the last 2 sentences after “late in the 3rd book”. I will come back after I have finished.

But I agree with a lot of what you said. Especially “fever dream quality”. However, I still have enjoyed them so far.

I have been a fan of VanderMeers short fiction work, ever since I read City of Saints and Madmen. He is an author that is not afraid to push and challenge his readers(which I love). He and his wife were two of the main people fueling the New Weird movement of the early 2000's. Some great books came out of that sub genre/movement.

Having said that, I just could not get into the Southern Reach Trilogy. I forced my way through the first two books when they came out, but never got around to reading the third. I felt like I was being strung along, and that the payoff was not going to be worth it, sort of like the TV show Lost. Great moments along the journey, crappy payoff.

Maybe I am wrong, and the third book nicely wraps everything up and ties the whole thing together. But to my mind and tastes, its kind of like when Stephen King describes a chair for 8 pages(Hyperbole!). I get it, but its a chair.

The Southern Reach Trilogy. I get it, but its The Thing(1982).

a reply to: karmicecstasy

He does seem to get off course when describing stuff sometimes. And I got so sick of the word “banal”- I believe a decent drinking game could be made based on the books!

Maybe I’ll check out his other stuff.

Thanks for your thought!

I really liked the Southern Reach Trilogy and I'm going to quote my own experience with the book. "While reading the first in the series, "Annihilation", I started getting a feeling like this was a biological large hadron collider. During the second,"Authority", I felt like I was within the accelerator...smashing against particles. Finally, in the third of the series, "Acceptance", I felt like I was watching positive and negative particles do their dance on different quantum planes...the cosmic dance between the microcosm and macrocosm." So, for me the experience was more than just a book, so to speak. I really liked his book "Borne". Really, Really, Really, Really. It was like an adorable post apocalyptic my little pony world for adults. (without the ponies)

a reply to: ElGoobero

Is it the part where Saul and Gloria are sitting, watching the tide pool. Gloria said that the fish would shake her hand and be pleased to meet her because she is so nice. Saul responds saying “you could hurt it in countless ways, even if it were unintentional.” (Not verbatim.)

There’s other stuff that stood out too- but that seemed to say a whole lot about the whole story.

a reply to: Vivyinsect

I finally read your whole post, since I’m done and didn’t want to have any spoilers (though I see now that you didn’t have any).

I enjoyed the series very much. I did feel moved by it. It has me thinking a lot more about the world around me.

But.... I knew that he could not create so much and successfully wrap it all up in the end. I felt very little closure. And I’m sure that’s intentional..... I was a little let down.

I'm really curious to see how the heck they are going to pull this off in a movie without it losing the point. I'm curious and frightened. I didn't feel closure either. a reply to: chelsdh