Based on a recommendation from one of my high school friends, (Thanks, Ladd!) I began reading the first of these books, Annihilation and then got so hooked I had to read all the rest.  There is something a bit sneaky about trilogies-if they are good, once you start you are committed to the end!

The Southern Reach is a small and almost forgotten top secret research facility next to Area X. Area X appeared decades ago on the edge of a small jut of land off the coastline and it is the mandate of the Southern Reach to explore it and to find out what it is and why it appeared.  Through their expeditions the Southern Reach knows that the land enclosed by Area X seems to be stripping itself of all traces of human habitation and pollution. But even as it seems to be growing more pristine there is something malevolent there as well, something unseen, and yet destructive. Although the first expedition returned  intact and  with variety of good information, subsequent expeditions have not fared as well. The second ended in mass suicide, the third expedition ended in a hail of gunfire as they all turned on each other and although the members of eleventh and most recent expedition returned, they were mere shadows of themselves and within weeks of their return they all died of cancer.

The twelfth expedition is now ready and as the expedition begins we join along with the the anthropologist, the biologist. the surveyor, the linguist and the psychologist.  Our narrator is the biologist and we quickly learn that her husband was one of the members of the eleventh expedition giving her added motivation to join this expedition.

Everything seems to proceed according to plan, and with the exception of the linguist who bowed out at the very last minute they all are able to make their way through and into Area X.  Initially, the biologist is dazzled by the amazing variety of plants and animals within Area X.  As she catalogues and makes notes of these plants, she and the rest of the expedition are slowly drawn to an anomaly in the terrain, a hole with a stairway leading further down into the ground. This anomaly does not appear on any of the maps given to the expedition, and there is concern that they might be wasting time on something not significant enough and yet they all seem drawn to this strange hole and once they see the writing on the walls, they all decide that it must be explored.

Vandermeer is quite skillful in creating a dream like space and make it come alive enough to make you believe in its reality while at the same time maintaining vestiges of its dream like state. His descriptions of Area X are compelling and yet seem to be just familiar enough to allay our fears. The characters are introduced just by their functions or roles which allows us to maintain some detachment towards them, but as we progress we soon learn their names, their history and what has brought them to the Southern Reach and to explore Area X and we begin to care about and relate to each character and what they can bring to our understanding of Area X.

This is not your classic sci fi book. There is not a lot of equipment, or new scientific discoveries which change the laws of nature. And yet it does confront us with the possibility that we are not alone in the universe and that there may be things, a consciousness or an intent that we have not encountered before and from whom we may need to learn before it is all too late.

Brenda’s Rating: ***1/2 (3  1/2 Stars out of 5)

Recommend this book to: Marian and Lauren

Book Study Worthy? Yes

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