In Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer’s first book in the SOUTHERN REACH trilogy, the reader got to travel along (via a first-person POV) with the twelfth exploratory expedition into Area X, a region of the U.S. that was mysteriously cut off from the rest of civilization several decades ago via a strange barrier that has only one entry/exit. None of the prior expeditions ended well, and neither does the twelfth, which discovers amidst the pristine wilderness (cleaned completely of any taint of prior human existence—no toxic metals, no pollution) an underground structure they eventually descend into. Have I mentioned the expedition does not end well?
Authority, the second book in the series, picks up soon after the end of Annihilation. Our POV guide in that first book was the biologist (each of the four women were known solely by professional title) and in VanderMeer’s follow-up, she, along with the anthropologist and the surveyor, have somehow made their way unnoticed back into the world from Area X and had been picked up by the organization in charge of investigating the mystery—the Southern Reach. None of the three have any memory of how they got where they were found, or of what happened to the psychologist, laying one mystery atop another. Somebody has to figure out how these three women got out of Area X with nobody seeing them (despite the massive round-the-clock surveillance of the border—with cool lasers even!), what happened to the fourth, and oh yeah, what the hell is going on that a portion of our world is being wholly reshaped.
Enter Control. Known as a “fixer” in the larger agency the Southern Reach sits within, Control (a childhood nickname he has taken to heart) is sent in as the new Director to clean things up and start getting usable information about Area X. He employs several methods to do so. One is a series of interviews with the biologist, finally given a name in this book. Two is going through the reports of the prior Director and of the previous expeditions. And three is getting hands-on in the Southern Reach organization—taking his own trip to the Area X entrance, seeing the lab and samples room, and meeting with the scientists. None of this is made easier by a demoralized staff, a resentful Assistant Director, and an interrogation subject that seems to have had her memory wiped. Or by the pressure of his boss (known only as the Voice) who is a tad bit demanding or his mother, a star agent in the agency who told poor Control this assignment was his “last chance” to prove himself.
I don’t want to say much more about the plot because one, it should just be left for the reader to enjoy without even minor spoilers and two, much of what is revealed in Authority casts a whole new light upon the events of Annihilation, and lest anyone reading this has yet to read the first book, I don’t want to ruin that effect. So here endeth the synopsis.
As for why I loved it—oh, so many reasons. First and foremost is the masterful sense of dread that utterly permeates the novel. At the core of the dread, of course, is Area X, akin to a virulent illness that struck an isolated area but which everyone fears might leak through the containment area. If it hasn’t already. That fear is what lends a taste of menace to every small detail regarding possible vectors. What about that potted plant in the old Director’s office? Why did the author just describe the front lawn—is there something I should see there? What about that smeared mosquito on the windshield, why bother with such a tiny detail? What is that strange smell that keeps cropping up; is it really just a cleaning liquid? Should the border guards really be eating those white rabbits? Why are birds mentioned so often? Should I pay more attention to that ant crawling on that woman’s neck? Why does that dead mosquito now have mold on it? What about the water stains on the ceiling tiles? Time and time again, a mundane detail of setting is lent a patina of horror merely due to context.
Beyond what emanates from Area X’s existence, the secrets within secrets, the agency factions, the pressure exerted on Control by Voice, his mother, his family legacy within the agency, all add to the tension so that if the reader isn’t questioning whether some detail is a sign of Area X’s reach, he/she is worrying if some detail is a sign of active obstruction—why does the old Director’s cell phone keep showing up, who is the Voice really, where does that ladder go, are those stains on the carpet coffee or blood, why is it so hard to find the janitor, who is planting bugs, who is ransacking an office, why is the Assistant Director so actively hostile, why did the old Director hide her notes. And the list of questions goes on and on as the suspicion grows, until one wonders, like Control, if they are adding a weight of importance to inconsequential actions and sights. Is it just paranoia?
And of course, the horror also grows thanks to some old-style actual horror moments—grotesque images, strange words written in strange places, a Blair Witch-like video record, swinging light bulbs, weird noises, flickering fluorescents, nightmares, breathing in the dark. And more.
So creepy. Oh so creepy. Wonderfully, deliciously, constantly creepy.
Beyond the atmosphere, I also loved the many resonances that echo throughout the novel. The white rabbits for instance, used in an experiment years ago and still popping up. Besides the way they add to the pervading dread, what a perfect animal choice. You can’t think “white rabbit” without thinking of Alice’s introduction to Wonderland—a world of the strange and macabre. Or (though I suppose this might be age-dependent) of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”, with its pills and chessboard and mother and fungus and mouse, all of which make an appearance in Authority (and maybe too a white knight and red queen?). Or the aforementioned birds: the several bird sightings, the biologist calling herself “ghost bird”, Control thinking he’d “fly free above the Southern Reach, swooping down from some remote perch to manage things,” an albatross.
Or as well, all the many, many references to failed communications: attempts that are incomplete or only half-understood, missed phone calls, scattered words overheard, files that are missing or incomplete, videos with gaps in them. The reader is faced with the same, not just through the character’s third person narrative but by the structure of the narrative as well, which moves back and forth in time, introduces the beginnings of conversations but skips over the ensuing dialogue. The reader again begins to feel like control: “That kind of self-control had made him look not just at the words but at the pauses between them . . . The ghost was right there, in the transcripts . . . moving through the text. Things that showed themselves in the empty spaces . . . the undercurrents and hidden references.” Soon one begins to wonder if Area X is not merely an environmental event but a linguistic/mental one, or perhaps this is a self-imposed plague: “he used the internet solely for research and admin. He believed a kind of fragmentation had crept into people’s minds in the modern era.” Language—its limits, its biases—played a large role in Annihilation and it does here as well. What does it mean, for instance, beyond those references, that characters in book one are known by their jobs, and here one is known as “Control”? Does it matter that it was a name he was given? Or that he now chooses to use it? Does it say something about him or only seem to (there are lots of references to masks as well—are names merely one kind?). What does it mean that the biologist gives herself a new name? Or that the Assistant Director says Control should call her “Patience” rather than her real name, Grace.
I could go on; there are many such examples. But I won’t. Suffice to say an attentive reader will be greatly reward with this richly layered book.
VanderMeer shows a nice insight into regular ole mortal issues as well, whether it be office politics, humanity’s tendency when faced with something inexplicable to try and “blast it to hell,” the inertia of organizations and the way they break down as the people within them seek their own agendas and/or fail to communicate, people’s contrary desires with regard to true wilderness: [they] want to be close to but not part of. They didn’t want the fearful unknown of a ‘pristine wilderness.’ They didn’t want a soulless artificial life, either.” How the trappings of science, with its white coats and sparkling glassware and “cathedral” of a lab and bespectacled actors, often presents an exclusively rational and perpetually moving forward image that hides the truth that it can be as much a superstition or faith fumbling in the darkness toward some sort of answers. And then of course, there is the age-old insight into family, the way family molds us into who we are, whether we run toward or away from them.
The basic building blocks of the novel, as with the first book, are near-perfect: pace, characterization, structure, style, language (listen to the sound quality, for instance, of “the havoc of their passage). Plot-wise, those readers of book one desiring some answers will find many here. And most, if not all, the new mysteries set in place in Authority are resolved by the end, though of course leaving room for book three. Just as with Authority, I think this book could easily end as it does (though granted, many people might be ticked off it had).
I loved Annihilation, as I said in our earlier review of it, but I love-loved Authority (at this rate, I may have to marry the third book in the trilogy), and with that final book coming in the fall, VanderMeer very well may end up with three titles on my Best of the Year list. A must-read.
(first appeared on fantasyliterature.com)
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Authority by Jeff Vandermeer is the second book in The Southern Reach Trilogy. In this book, we get a look at the system that sends people into Area X.I really enjoyed that we followed a fresh face at the government agency who was learning more about Area X and the team, which allowed the reader to learn more as well. It was really interesting to see things through Control’s eyes. He started out curious, but things slowly started to spiral out of control.There was one scene that really creeped me out! That scene alone added another star to my overall review!However, just like the first book, this one was still a bit confusing.There were many instances where I had to stop, turn back a page, a reread. This one also seemed to ramble a bit to me. I think if things had been tightened up a bit, I would have enjoyed it more.While I didn’t really love this one, I’m still really glad I read it. I definitely want to continue on to the third book, and I still want to re-read to see if this is one of those cases where I enjoy it more the second time around.
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loved Annihilation love-loved Authority (at this rate, I may have to marry the third book in the trilogy),
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 26, 2014Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 25, 2017
Top reviews from other countries
sashaknits
Sadly I was rather disappointed. We did learn a few choice nuggets of ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 15, 2018Gary King
A missed oppertunity?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 6, 2021
SullDaBull
Skewed View From This Side of the Border
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 12, 2021winewine
An intensely unsettling experience that builds to a fantastic finale
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 25, 2018
