I said that about the last book, but it’s even more true here. This is literary Versed. I barely remember anything from this book. The first was engaging and I really enjoyed the set up, even if the tone was somewhat distant. The second was more of what I disliked and less of what I liked. But this book was all questions and no answers, and hard as hell to follow. We don’t just have Control and Ghost Bird here, we have Saul the lighthouse keeper whose foreboding prose is all over Area X, we have the Seance and Science brigade who …. I don’t know what the hell they’re there for, honestly, we have the original director of the Southern Reach, and it’s A LOT to keep track of when everyone is speaking enigmatically and hiding their motivations.
I tried to give myself space between the books so that I could better keep track of what happened in each, but after the second I was so frustrated that I was just ready to be done with this series, so I may have started it too soon to keep the plots separate, but I don’t think that’s wholly the case. I was losing plot threads and just plowing ahead with this so I could be done with it sooner, but even the reviewers who loved the first book seemed to be frustrated with this one. I’m curious to see the film version of Annihilation, if only to see if there’s more clarity to the narrative.
These are going to the used bookstore as soon as lockdown’s over.