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  • Acceptance: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy Book 3)
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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
2,059 global ratings
5 star
55%
4 star
22%
3 star
15%
2 star
5%
1 star
4%
Acceptance: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy Book 3)

Acceptance: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy Book 3)

byJeff VanderMeer
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Top positive review

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SephSpirit84
5.0 out of 5 starsSatisfying end to a fantastic Trilogy!
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2019
This being the final installment to the Southern Reach Trilogy, I enjoyed it immensely!

First I enjoyed the first book Annihilation and the sequel Authority, after enjoying the film version 'Annihilation' which I didn't enjoy as much as 'The Southern Reach Trilogy' books.

'Acceptance' was such a satisfying ending to me and kind of shocked by the negative reviews but then I felt these stories hit me on a more personal level than I was originally prepared for when I read them. The biologist was my favorite character throughout and I loved getting insight on her along with more characters I thought were forgotten after 'Authority' .

While there isn't a huge reveal of anything at the end, I felt you got to know more than I felt was even necessary for the characters and even Area X, which became a character it'self which I really thought was a nice touch. The author gives great depth to what it would be like to encounter Area X and how it started and not necessarily where it came from through his characters.

Like I said though I loved this more from a personal battle I've been having with depression and a bad life situation. It was a nice escape into a like mind(biologist) while giving me room to identify myself into something wondrous and weird. Unlike others I wasn't expecting a huge grand reveal on what Area X is/was since even the characters never really could and probably would not. I did not find the end as a huh? moment though like others it made me realize our journeys are as organic as Area X, very much alive and at times different, terrifying but very real. You do get an idea of Area X though, it's all there if you want it to be. Great stories are the ones that don't need to be explained thoroughly but they need to give you the information to figure the ending out for yourself.

Seriously I loved this trilogy and I do plan on reading it through again someday! Worth your time if you have a open mind and love Horror-SciFi that requires thought.
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One person found this helpful

Top critical review

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Alexander Tardif
2.0 out of 5 starsIncoherent disaster - total letdown. Ruined the trilogy.
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2017
Total letdown. None, and I mean NONE, of the important questions have been answered. The storyline is so incoherent it made it not only difficult to follow the timeline or the character progression but made the reading a frustrating experience. The author was trying so hard to build up the climax with every chapter and succeeded with the suspense part, but I already felt by the 2nd half of the book that he will ultimately disappoint and will leave way too much for reader's interpretation and imagination. Many parts of the story simply led absolutely nowhere and left you wondering why so much time was invested into numerous characters and pointless trivial details. The author simply failed with tying it all together. This final book takes the cake for leaving you feeling robbed of your time.
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47 people found this helpful

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From the United States

SephSpirit84
5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying end to a fantastic Trilogy!
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2019
Verified Purchase
This being the final installment to the Southern Reach Trilogy, I enjoyed it immensely!

First I enjoyed the first book Annihilation and the sequel Authority, after enjoying the film version 'Annihilation' which I didn't enjoy as much as 'The Southern Reach Trilogy' books.

'Acceptance' was such a satisfying ending to me and kind of shocked by the negative reviews but then I felt these stories hit me on a more personal level than I was originally prepared for when I read them. The biologist was my favorite character throughout and I loved getting insight on her along with more characters I thought were forgotten after 'Authority' .

While there isn't a huge reveal of anything at the end, I felt you got to know more than I felt was even necessary for the characters and even Area X, which became a character it'self which I really thought was a nice touch. The author gives great depth to what it would be like to encounter Area X and how it started and not necessarily where it came from through his characters.

Like I said though I loved this more from a personal battle I've been having with depression and a bad life situation. It was a nice escape into a like mind(biologist) while giving me room to identify myself into something wondrous and weird. Unlike others I wasn't expecting a huge grand reveal on what Area X is/was since even the characters never really could and probably would not. I did not find the end as a huh? moment though like others it made me realize our journeys are as organic as Area X, very much alive and at times different, terrifying but very real. You do get an idea of Area X though, it's all there if you want it to be. Great stories are the ones that don't need to be explained thoroughly but they need to give you the information to figure the ending out for yourself.

Seriously I loved this trilogy and I do plan on reading it through again someday! Worth your time if you have a open mind and love Horror-SciFi that requires thought.
One person found this helpful
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Jorge Carrillo
5.0 out of 5 stars It was not what I expected but a great read never the less
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2015
Verified Purchase
Finally slogged through the trilogy. It was not what I expected but a great read never the less. If you are expecting a wiz bang sci fi techno trilogy this is not it. This is dark and kind of creepy with great character development. The plot involves some kind of catastrophe that occurred in the deep south. The government in this alternate history reminds you a little of 1984 but not as well organized. It's kind of like an evil cross between the post office and time warner cable. In this backdrop the main protagonists struggle against this weird bureaucracy and each other to try to solve the mystery of area-x, as the disaster has become known. We're 30 years into the disaster and nobody really knows what area-x is about or what caused it. In the end this will leave you thinking.
11 people found this helpful
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Alexander Tardif
2.0 out of 5 stars Incoherent disaster - total letdown. Ruined the trilogy.
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2017
Verified Purchase
Total letdown. None, and I mean NONE, of the important questions have been answered. The storyline is so incoherent it made it not only difficult to follow the timeline or the character progression but made the reading a frustrating experience. The author was trying so hard to build up the climax with every chapter and succeeded with the suspense part, but I already felt by the 2nd half of the book that he will ultimately disappoint and will leave way too much for reader's interpretation and imagination. Many parts of the story simply led absolutely nowhere and left you wondering why so much time was invested into numerous characters and pointless trivial details. The author simply failed with tying it all together. This final book takes the cake for leaving you feeling robbed of your time.
47 people found this helpful
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Elizabeth Rodriguez
5.0 out of 5 stars Plenty of closure if you're willing to do the mental gymnastics
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2018
Verified Purchase
I disagree with the reviews that say this book doesn't provide sufficient closure. It doesn't spell everything out for you, but you are certainly presented with enough evidence to finally "understand" what Area X is, what it is doing, why, and what the possible outcomes for humanity might be (and even, depending on your perspective, which outcome is most likely).
I think what people are reacting to is that it is a description of the indescribable, which is what makes the book so great. The way in which the description is rendered (through so many differing perspectives) and with a variety of evocative language, is what makes it such a clever work. It also proposes a few different perspectives/reactions, some of which, aren't comfortable. So if you like interesting reads which stretch your mind and challenge your assumptions, I think you will like this ending to the trilogy, and recommend it. If you don't particularly like having to "work" for your conclusions, or make the mental leap to completely different frames of reference (especially multiple times in one book), then you won't enjoy it and it'll come off as disparate ramblings with a weak common thread. I leave it to the potential reader to decide where they fall within those categories.
8 people found this helpful
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Damir
5.0 out of 5 stars VanderMeer Does Not Disappoint: The Southern Reach Trilogy
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2019
Verified Purchase
I discovered Jeff VanderMeer through his odd, baroque stories and novels set in the city of Ambergris ("City of Saints and Madmen", "Finch", "Shriek: and Afterword"). I was slightly skeptical regarding his foray into science fiction (of sorts), but all my doubts were dispersed after the first few pages of "Annihilation". Despite a notable lack of time-traveling sentient mushrooms and Godzilla-sized bears, VanderMeer delivers, and then some.

If you like your fiction carefully spelled out, with an ending neatly wrapped in a bow and all the loose ends tied up, VanderMeer's work is probably not for you. If you are after a surreal, gripping thrill ride that manages to raise more questions than it answers, I heartily recommend the Southern Reach trilogy.
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Austin
2.0 out of 5 stars A long, painful, fruitless journey
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
If you are anything like me, you loved the mystery and suspense of the first book, Annihilation. You found the second book to be an unexpected and frustrating experience, where the mystical Area X is abandoned in favor of a a boring, tedious political drama. You are here now, considering buying the third book, seeking answers and closure. You will not find them.

Bewilderingly, 60+% of the book is dedicated to the mind-numbingly boring day-to-day routines of two characters whose stories are almost completely unrelated to anything you actually care about. You will spend page after page reading about random townies drinking cheap beer in a bowling alley. An old man befriends a young girl and watches wildlife. Control spends countless hours daydreaming about his mother and grandfather, again.

The little action you do see is interesting, but doesn't come close to answering any of your burning questions, nor does it take the story in any remotely interesting direction. It's all just more random wandering, random bizarre encounters, random mumbo-jumbo lines like, "he listened, but did he really hear?"

The best thing I can think to say about this book is that your journey through it will parallel the characters surprisingly well. Everyone sets out in search of answers, in search of meaning. They are beset immediately by frustrating, pointless problems and personal disputes. Eventually the weight of it all just becomes too much, and they each give up in some way. The best possible outcome is to come to a sense of Acceptance—there are no answers to be had, to meaning to any of it, no morals or heroes or memorable stories. It's all pointless and futile, it's been that way since the beginning, and you're just glad it's over.
33 people found this helpful
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Jester Goldman
5.0 out of 5 stars Postcards from DreamTime
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2015
Verified Purchase
If you've ever woken from a dream and known it was important, but can't quite hold the details together enough to find clarity, then you already know what it's like to read Jeff VanderMeer's writing. Except that the little bit of your dream you can remember ultimately seems kind of lame and VanderMeer's fiction delivers on that sense of importance. Evocatively creepy details that seem almost gratuitous will usually click together later to fall into their fateful places.

The Southern Reach Trilogy has radical shifts in perspective and narrative style, but it's a great read that promises even more the next time you read it.
4 people found this helpful
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BridgitO
5.0 out of 5 stars What a beautiful ending
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2021
Verified Purchase
My gosh am I in bittersweet love with all that has happened in this book--and really all it has come to represent to me. A love story of different kinds, an allegory of grief and disaster, and the power of madness turned true-- a great weight remains with me after reading this--a bit of brightness of my own.
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Byudzai
5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying explanation of the whole story arc
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2018
Verified Purchase
I disagree with the reviews that say questions were left unanswered. I mean.... was there a concrete, tell-all explanation? I guess not. But the author states that, even for those involved, understanding what was going on was a stretch for human imagination. He gives the reader way more than I expected. He lays out exactly what caused Area X and why. He explains most of the mysteries of Annihilation. Elements that remain vague feel appropriate to the understanding of the characters at the end.

I loved this series. I may read it again.
20 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Weird
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2021
Verified Purchase
But strangely optimistic. I would have liked it better if it included more speculation on what caused the phenomena. Keep in touch!
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