What do you think?
Rate this book
Southern Reach #4
Absolution
Ten years after the publication of Annihilation, the surprise fourth volume in Jeff VanderMeer’s blockbuster Southern Reach Trilogy.
When the Southern Reach Trilogy was first published a decade ago, it was an instant sensation, celebrated in a front-page New York Times story before publication, hailed by Stephen King and many others. Each volume climbed the bestsellers list; awards were won; the books made the rare transition from paperback original to hardcover; the movie adaptation became a cult classic. All told, the trilogy has sold more than a million copies and has secured its place in the pantheon of twenty-first-century literature.
And yet for all this, for Jeff VanderMeer there was never full closure to the story of Area X. There were a few mysteries that had gone unsolved, some key points of view never aired. There were stories left to tell. There remained questions about who had been complicit in creating the conditions for Area X to take hold; the story of the first mission into the Forgotten Coast—before Area X was called Area X—had never been fully told; and what if someone had foreseen the world after Acceptance? How crazy would they seem?
Structured in three parts, each recounting a new expedition, there are some long-awaited answers here, to be sure, but also more questions, and profound new surprises. Absolution is a brilliant, beautiful, and ever-terrifying plunge into unique and fertile literary territory. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.
When the Southern Reach Trilogy was first published a decade ago, it was an instant sensation, celebrated in a front-page New York Times story before publication, hailed by Stephen King and many others. Each volume climbed the bestsellers list; awards were won; the books made the rare transition from paperback original to hardcover; the movie adaptation became a cult classic. All told, the trilogy has sold more than a million copies and has secured its place in the pantheon of twenty-first-century literature.
And yet for all this, for Jeff VanderMeer there was never full closure to the story of Area X. There were a few mysteries that had gone unsolved, some key points of view never aired. There were stories left to tell. There remained questions about who had been complicit in creating the conditions for Area X to take hold; the story of the first mission into the Forgotten Coast—before Area X was called Area X—had never been fully told; and what if someone had foreseen the world after Acceptance? How crazy would they seem?
Structured in three parts, each recounting a new expedition, there are some long-awaited answers here, to be sure, but also more questions, and profound new surprises. Absolution is a brilliant, beautiful, and ever-terrifying plunge into unique and fertile literary territory. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 22, 2024
About the author
Jeff VanderMeer
242 books14.9k followersNYT bestselling writer Jeff VanderMeer has been called “the weird Thoreau” by the New Yorker for his engagement with ecological issues. His most recent novel, the national bestseller Borne, received wide-spread critical acclaim and his prior novels include the Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance). Annihilation won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, has been translated into 35 languages, and was made into a film from Paramount Pictures directed by Alex Garland. His nonfiction has appeared in New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Slate, Salon, and the Washington Post. He has coedited several iconic anthologies with his wife, the Hugo Award winning editor. Other titles include Wonderbook, the world’s first fully illustrated creative writing guide. VanderMeer served as the 2016-2017 Trias Writer in Residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He has spoken at the Guggenheim, the Library of Congress, and the Arthur C. Clarke Center for the Human Imagination.
VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. This experience, and the resulting trip back to the United States through Asia, Africa, and Europe, deeply influenced him.
Jeff is married to Ann VanderMeer, who is currently an acquiring editor at Tor.com and has won the Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award for her editing of magazines and anthologies. They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with two cats and thousands of books.
VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. This experience, and the resulting trip back to the United States through Asia, Africa, and Europe, deeply influenced him.
Jeff is married to Ann VanderMeer, who is currently an acquiring editor at Tor.com and has won the Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award for her editing of magazines and anthologies. They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with two cats and thousands of books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
Want to read
August 16, 2024For those wondering where this book came from, it's in this tweet from Vandermeer
Update: Originally known from the Feb 2020 tweet above, it's now officially announced and coming out Oct 22, 2024
Update: Originally known from the Feb 2020 tweet above, it's now officially announced and coming out Oct 22, 2024
Want to read
August 28, 2024Received an E-ARC 28 Augustus, wow! 🤩
----
There is going to be a sequel (AND HOPEFULLY ANSWERS!) and look at this gorgeous cover!
King of weirdness Jeff VanderMeer better delivers with this fourth part!
----
There is going to be a sequel (AND HOPEFULLY ANSWERS!) and look at this gorgeous cover!
King of weirdness Jeff VanderMeer better delivers with this fourth part!
Want to read
July 18, 2023Gie me it, a want it.
June 23, 2024
In Absolution, Jeff Vandermeer returns to the world of the Southern Reach trilogy after more than a decade. The Southern Reach trilogy, especially the first volume Annihilation, is one of my all-time favourites and so I approached this new volume with a mix of enthusiasm and slight trepidation. And it was a very interesting read.
The main allure of Area X and the Southern Reach trilogy to me has been the sense of mystery - the fact that the more we try to find out, the more questions we end up with, much like our relationship with nature in its many manifestations. This powerful theme is carried by Jeff Vandermeer's beautiful, evocative and atmospheric writing.
Absolution is once again an extremely well-written book, Vandermeerian in every way. Timeline wise, it is a prequel to the events of the Southern Reach trilogy and consists of three novellas, vignettes if you will, of how Area X evolved. However, it does not give away any definite answers, consistent with the theming of unknowability.
The first section "Dead Town" discusses the field experiments of a group of biologists pre-Area X (or is it? Read to find out and decide for yourself!) and the eerie happenings that defy scientific explanation. It is very different from Annihilation where the central protagonist, a biologist, remains an excellent character for me, but also has some descriptions which rekindled memories of that exceptional book.
The second section "The False Daughter" is about Old Jim (remember him from Acceptance?) working on a covert mission while simultaneously dealing with personal challenges. Until inevitably, things start to go awry, the professional and the personal coalesce as does reality and illusion (or is it?) in an indistinguishable whole. This was the most fascinating of the three sections for me and had an excellent conclusion.
The third section "The First and the Last" is about the first expedition to study Area X. In the Southern Reach trilogy, we had some hints about the fates of previous expeditions and here we get to see the team members venturing into this unknown frontier, without the benefit of previous data. The excessive profanity from one member of the expedition, while possibly consistent with character, was very jarring to me but otherwise I liked reading about their investigations and drawing parallels to the later expeditions, such as the one in Annihilation.
Absolution, much like the Southern Reach trilogy, is greater than the sum of its three parts for me. It serves as an intriguing prequel which gives insight into how Area X might have come to be while leaving plenty of room for theories and mystery. Area X remains fundamentally unknown to me and this I accept, as I did at the end of the aptly titled third volume of the Southern Reach trilogy.
A very good Vandermeerian title, recommended, but perhaps not as the best entry point to his work or the world of Area X. I recommend reading the Southern Reach trilogy first to get the most out of Absolution. That being said, if one is curious about Southern Reach, this could be an interesting book to sample Vandermeer's writing, worldcrafting and theming and then go back to the Southern Reach trilogy and read all the books.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
The main allure of Area X and the Southern Reach trilogy to me has been the sense of mystery - the fact that the more we try to find out, the more questions we end up with, much like our relationship with nature in its many manifestations. This powerful theme is carried by Jeff Vandermeer's beautiful, evocative and atmospheric writing.
Absolution is once again an extremely well-written book, Vandermeerian in every way. Timeline wise, it is a prequel to the events of the Southern Reach trilogy and consists of three novellas, vignettes if you will, of how Area X evolved. However, it does not give away any definite answers, consistent with the theming of unknowability.
The first section "Dead Town" discusses the field experiments of a group of biologists pre-Area X (or is it? Read to find out and decide for yourself!) and the eerie happenings that defy scientific explanation. It is very different from Annihilation where the central protagonist, a biologist, remains an excellent character for me, but also has some descriptions which rekindled memories of that exceptional book.
The second section "The False Daughter" is about Old Jim (remember him from Acceptance?) working on a covert mission while simultaneously dealing with personal challenges. Until inevitably, things start to go awry, the professional and the personal coalesce as does reality and illusion (or is it?) in an indistinguishable whole. This was the most fascinating of the three sections for me and had an excellent conclusion.
The third section "The First and the Last" is about the first expedition to study Area X. In the Southern Reach trilogy, we had some hints about the fates of previous expeditions and here we get to see the team members venturing into this unknown frontier, without the benefit of previous data. The excessive profanity from one member of the expedition, while possibly consistent with character, was very jarring to me but otherwise I liked reading about their investigations and drawing parallels to the later expeditions, such as the one in Annihilation.
Absolution, much like the Southern Reach trilogy, is greater than the sum of its three parts for me. It serves as an intriguing prequel which gives insight into how Area X might have come to be while leaving plenty of room for theories and mystery. Area X remains fundamentally unknown to me and this I accept, as I did at the end of the aptly titled third volume of the Southern Reach trilogy.
A very good Vandermeerian title, recommended, but perhaps not as the best entry point to his work or the world of Area X. I recommend reading the Southern Reach trilogy first to get the most out of Absolution. That being said, if one is curious about Southern Reach, this could be an interesting book to sample Vandermeer's writing, worldcrafting and theming and then go back to the Southern Reach trilogy and read all the books.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Want to read
June 28, 2021A FOURTH BOOK IN THE SERIES??? WHEN WAS THIS ANNOUNCED?
July 1, 2024
“You did not want to be there. You didn’t want to be anywhere, ever again.” (*Quote from early copy of the book.)
"Annihilation" is tied with "American Psycho" as my current favorite book, except that "Annihilation" is the one that I feel comfortable recommending to people that I barely know. The Southern Reach Trilogy is a masterpiece of environmental fiction infused with cosmic horror, and Jeff VanderMeer is a brilliant author. He makes it look effortless even though we all know it isn't. When I found out there was going to be a fourth installment in this series I was SO excited, and almost immediately I saw it pop up on Netgalley and requested it. I couldn't believe I managed to get the approval. (Maybe it was just the luck of the timing.) And look at that cover! I was so eager to return to Area X and all of its horrors. I'm not going to spoil anything big for you because that's not my style, but I will say that for the most part I was very happy with this book. It wasn't quite the satisfying conclusion I was hoping for, but the experience was thrilling.
Here’s the thing. The novel is divided into three sections and here's how I rate each of those individually:
Book 1: 5 stars. Everything I wanted, absolutely incredible.
Book 2: 4 stars. A bit confusing, but still pretty damn good.
Book 3: 2.5 stars rounded up to 3. Tough to understand in places, but with a couple of wild moments that made up for that.
20 years before Area X, we finally get to find out what happened to the first group of Biologists that studied the land. The different sections of this book jump around in time a bit, but without question Book 1 was my favorite. It had horrifying natural anomalies that were so satisfying. (How does VanderMeer come up with this stuff?!) He can make you feel fright in ways you had never considered before. You'll be afraid of nature, afraid of your own body. Strange combinations of both at once. There was a scene in Book 2 involving Centipedes that absolutely made my blood run cold. (But it didn't just involve Centipedes, it was also psychological. I can't wait for more people to experience it and be messed up like I was.) VanderMeer is so good at writing from the perspective of a person losing their mind in real time.
This book alternates between satisfying horror and beautiful prose. You'll be admiring the scenery one second and then completely unnerved the next. And I love the themes. The cruelty of nature, the cruelty of humanity, the fragile beauty of both. It’s sad, it’s disturbing, it’s beautiful. This is a great addition to the series. Haunting and disturbing imagery, gorgeous language. Characters that feel like you know them off the page. A sense of deja vu that you can’t put your finger on. (And perhaps you don't want to.)
I liked the main characters in this one. "Old Jim," while a bit standoffish from the reader, had a sort of sentimental quality to him that made him intriguing and both the visual and auditory imagery of the piano was really cool to think about. Cass was very likable as well and I would read an entire book that was just about her. Dare I say, though, that I was personally more invested in the environmental setpieces overall than the people populating them. (I've been a big fan of that lighthouse since the beginning.)
I highly recommend reading at LEAST “Annihilation” before reading this one, though it would probably be best to read the full trilogy first. VanderMeer calls back to previous installments without shining a spotlight directly on the references. Sidenote: I recently played the game “Control” and Central in this book series reminds me a lot of the Federal Bureau of Control. It's always fun for me when one thing I love makes me think about another thing that I love, and then the two sort of blend together.
At around the halfway point things began to get extra complicated and he lost me just a little bit. I really had to focus on what was going on. Then eventually I got to a point where I had no idea what I was reading, honestly, and I couldn’t follow it at all for several chapters. (Definitely a "Me" problem.) The prose was still lovely, though!
But then came the last 70% or so, told from the perspective of a character that’s supposed to be kind of obnoxious and also on very strong drugs. So every other word is “fuck,” (literally) which doesn’t bother me in real life but it’s a pain in the ass when I’m trying to read and follow a character’s thoughts. After the smooth and poetic language of the novel up to this point I felt like I was following up a high quality meal with a bag of licorice. It was SO confusing. (Luckily this narrative style didn't finish out the ending.) Honestly, I got some answers to my question by reading other people's reviews. Sometimes I can rely on other readers to explain things much better than I can! (And I appreciate that.)
VanderMeer remains one of my favorite authors. Even when I hit a few snags near the end, he still brought me back and amazed me with his ability to horrify and craft a gorgeous image. I plan to revisit the first three books soon. There were so many vivid and beautiful (and horrifying) moments throughout this novel and I will remember parts of this book forever. (They are burned into my brain, like the glowing words on the wall of the sunken staircase.)
Thank you so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own. I feel honored to be among the first readers for this one.
TW: Animal harm (graphic), Cannibalism
"Annihilation" is tied with "American Psycho" as my current favorite book, except that "Annihilation" is the one that I feel comfortable recommending to people that I barely know. The Southern Reach Trilogy is a masterpiece of environmental fiction infused with cosmic horror, and Jeff VanderMeer is a brilliant author. He makes it look effortless even though we all know it isn't. When I found out there was going to be a fourth installment in this series I was SO excited, and almost immediately I saw it pop up on Netgalley and requested it. I couldn't believe I managed to get the approval. (Maybe it was just the luck of the timing.) And look at that cover! I was so eager to return to Area X and all of its horrors. I'm not going to spoil anything big for you because that's not my style, but I will say that for the most part I was very happy with this book. It wasn't quite the satisfying conclusion I was hoping for, but the experience was thrilling.
Here’s the thing. The novel is divided into three sections and here's how I rate each of those individually:
Book 1: 5 stars. Everything I wanted, absolutely incredible.
Book 2: 4 stars. A bit confusing, but still pretty damn good.
Book 3: 2.5 stars rounded up to 3. Tough to understand in places, but with a couple of wild moments that made up for that.
20 years before Area X, we finally get to find out what happened to the first group of Biologists that studied the land. The different sections of this book jump around in time a bit, but without question Book 1 was my favorite. It had horrifying natural anomalies that were so satisfying. (How does VanderMeer come up with this stuff?!) He can make you feel fright in ways you had never considered before. You'll be afraid of nature, afraid of your own body. Strange combinations of both at once. There was a scene in Book 2 involving Centipedes that absolutely made my blood run cold. (But it didn't just involve Centipedes, it was also psychological. I can't wait for more people to experience it and be messed up like I was.) VanderMeer is so good at writing from the perspective of a person losing their mind in real time.
This book alternates between satisfying horror and beautiful prose. You'll be admiring the scenery one second and then completely unnerved the next. And I love the themes. The cruelty of nature, the cruelty of humanity, the fragile beauty of both. It’s sad, it’s disturbing, it’s beautiful. This is a great addition to the series. Haunting and disturbing imagery, gorgeous language. Characters that feel like you know them off the page. A sense of deja vu that you can’t put your finger on. (And perhaps you don't want to.)
I liked the main characters in this one. "Old Jim," while a bit standoffish from the reader, had a sort of sentimental quality to him that made him intriguing and both the visual and auditory imagery of the piano was really cool to think about. Cass was very likable as well and I would read an entire book that was just about her. Dare I say, though, that I was personally more invested in the environmental setpieces overall than the people populating them. (I've been a big fan of that lighthouse since the beginning.)
I highly recommend reading at LEAST “Annihilation” before reading this one, though it would probably be best to read the full trilogy first. VanderMeer calls back to previous installments without shining a spotlight directly on the references. Sidenote: I recently played the game “Control” and Central in this book series reminds me a lot of the Federal Bureau of Control. It's always fun for me when one thing I love makes me think about another thing that I love, and then the two sort of blend together.
At around the halfway point things began to get extra complicated and he lost me just a little bit. I really had to focus on what was going on. Then eventually I got to a point where I had no idea what I was reading, honestly, and I couldn’t follow it at all for several chapters. (Definitely a "Me" problem.) The prose was still lovely, though!
But then came the last 70% or so, told from the perspective of a character that’s supposed to be kind of obnoxious and also on very strong drugs. So every other word is “fuck,” (literally) which doesn’t bother me in real life but it’s a pain in the ass when I’m trying to read and follow a character’s thoughts. After the smooth and poetic language of the novel up to this point I felt like I was following up a high quality meal with a bag of licorice. It was SO confusing. (Luckily this narrative style didn't finish out the ending.) Honestly, I got some answers to my question by reading other people's reviews. Sometimes I can rely on other readers to explain things much better than I can! (And I appreciate that.)
VanderMeer remains one of my favorite authors. Even when I hit a few snags near the end, he still brought me back and amazed me with his ability to horrify and craft a gorgeous image. I plan to revisit the first three books soon. There were so many vivid and beautiful (and horrifying) moments throughout this novel and I will remember parts of this book forever. (They are burned into my brain, like the glowing words on the wall of the sunken staircase.)
Thank you so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own. I feel honored to be among the first readers for this one.
TW: Animal harm (graphic), Cannibalism
Shelved as 'anticipating'
June 7, 2024OH MY GOD IT´S HAPPENING. EVERYBODY STAY CALM, IT´S HAPPENING!!
I just received an ARC of possibly my most anticipated novel ever!
Thank you so, so, so much Farrar, Straus and Giroux!
I just received an ARC of possibly my most anticipated novel ever!
Thank you so, so, so much Farrar, Straus and Giroux!
August 9, 2024
Dead Town
Twenty years before Area X
“Yet once they halted in their relentless cataloguing, recording, reporting…wasn't there so much to give them pause…. ‘the null effect— to create a something from the nothing in the darkness, the mind betraying you every time.’”
The biologists sent by Central arrives at the Forgotten Coast. As the scientific team continues their cataloging and collecting, strange things begin to happen. Four alligators, referred to as the Calvary, are seen. Rabbits are spotted, some with cameras and some eating crabs. Then a mysterious figure appears. The stranger…was it Rogue? He brings destruction, a shower of words, blood, and flames. Finally the heavy rains subsides and the sounds of a distant battle was heard. And all along Old Jim reviews the maps, the transcripts, and the surveillance tapes.
“…the Rogue ran forward and kept running forward, knives emanating from his mouth and blood and light spreading out from him on all sides.”
“His eyes were as a flame of fire…and he had a name written, that no man knew….And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood….And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations….”
-Revelations
The False Daughter
Eighteen Months Before Area X
“The world was filled with forgotten places that had been something else once, had contained something else once, renamed by whatever you did there now.”
Old Jim’s daughter, Cass, has disappeared and then his boss, Jack Severance, signs him up for a new mission, find and kill Rouge. Rouge, the one seen leading an alligator? He heads back to the Forgotten Coast with a fake daughter as his assistant. He reviews the files and interviews members from the old scientific team. Old Jim begins to suspect that Central has decided to terminate not merely his contract but his life.
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
-Revelations
The First and the Last
One Year After the Border Came Down
A team of twenty-three enters Area X. One was charged with finding and extracting Old Jim. Get him, or whatever he has become.
“‘The light?’
‘The opening at the other end. And because they'd put a small, primitive camera on the chicken and the chicken went through the hole- they knew it was possible for a person to go through.’…
‘And what happened to the chicken?’
He didn't know why, but he felt very invested….He could imagine the chicken drawn by the light….head for the light, chicken. You can do it….
‘But…the chicken’….
‘Oh, unrecognizable. That's the really great, interesting part— it didn't resemble a chicken at all any more, but at least the camera was intact….’
That's when Lowry did leave the table….no way had the chicken been the first expedition….
What had the chicken…looked like in the end?”
Twenty years before Area X
“Yet once they halted in their relentless cataloguing, recording, reporting…wasn't there so much to give them pause…. ‘the null effect— to create a something from the nothing in the darkness, the mind betraying you every time.’”
The biologists sent by Central arrives at the Forgotten Coast. As the scientific team continues their cataloging and collecting, strange things begin to happen. Four alligators, referred to as the Calvary, are seen. Rabbits are spotted, some with cameras and some eating crabs. Then a mysterious figure appears. The stranger…was it Rogue? He brings destruction, a shower of words, blood, and flames. Finally the heavy rains subsides and the sounds of a distant battle was heard. And all along Old Jim reviews the maps, the transcripts, and the surveillance tapes.
“…the Rogue ran forward and kept running forward, knives emanating from his mouth and blood and light spreading out from him on all sides.”
“His eyes were as a flame of fire…and he had a name written, that no man knew….And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood….And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations….”
-Revelations
The False Daughter
Eighteen Months Before Area X
“The world was filled with forgotten places that had been something else once, had contained something else once, renamed by whatever you did there now.”
Old Jim’s daughter, Cass, has disappeared and then his boss, Jack Severance, signs him up for a new mission, find and kill Rouge. Rouge, the one seen leading an alligator? He heads back to the Forgotten Coast with a fake daughter as his assistant. He reviews the files and interviews members from the old scientific team. Old Jim begins to suspect that Central has decided to terminate not merely his contract but his life.
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
-Revelations
The First and the Last
One Year After the Border Came Down
A team of twenty-three enters Area X. One was charged with finding and extracting Old Jim. Get him, or whatever he has become.
“‘The light?’
‘The opening at the other end. And because they'd put a small, primitive camera on the chicken and the chicken went through the hole- they knew it was possible for a person to go through.’…
‘And what happened to the chicken?’
He didn't know why, but he felt very invested….He could imagine the chicken drawn by the light….head for the light, chicken. You can do it….
‘But…the chicken’….
‘Oh, unrecognizable. That's the really great, interesting part— it didn't resemble a chicken at all any more, but at least the camera was intact….’
That's when Lowry did leave the table….no way had the chicken been the first expedition….
What had the chicken…looked like in the end?”
Want to read
August 31, 2024I want this book.
I want it terribly.
I want it terribly.
June 12, 2024
Area X returns! Jeff VanderMeer’s thrilling and mind bogglingly obtuse Southern Reach trilogy gets a surprise fourth edition, a prequel collection of three novellas which each chronicle an “expedition” of their own. Absolution offers some answers and many new questions for fans, and continues the series’ Lovecraftian horror vibes in a very satisfying manner.
The collection begins with “Dead Town”, the shortest of the three. Taking place twenty years before the Border came down, this chronicles the visit of a group of biologists to the Forgotten Coast, where their field research is interrupted by a series of bizarre events and a mysterious figure they call “the Rogue”. “Dead Town” is written in a fairly detached manner, maintaining the wonderful and maddening prose VanderMeer is known for in this series while opening up some startling new avenues into the setting of the “conditions” for the origin of Area X.
The meat of the collection comes with the large middle section “The False Daughter.” This follows the character of Old Jim (who readers will remember from a particularly horrific piano scene in Acceptance) on a secret mission on the Forgotten Coast to gather more information on “the Rogue” by infiltrating the infamous Seance & Science Brigade. This story has more of a direct prose to it as we experience the thoughts of Old Jim as he tries to deal with the disappearance of his daughter while experiencing bizarre occurrences, dreams, and visitations throughout his mission for Central. Old Jim’s voice and character grow throughout this story with the reader and the melancholic tone of dread ramps up slowly before the inevitable climax. Old Jim will surely become a new fan favorite character to theorize about!
The final story, “The First and the Last”, is probably also the most anticipated by fans: the story of the first expedition after the Border came down from the point of view of Lowry. This story ramps up the horror and weirdness as Area X is in full bloom and Lowry’s profanity laden, whimsical descriptions of the events happening to him and his team turn the narrative to the batshit insane. This is probably the strongest story, mostly because it’s so off kilter and should be everything fans would have imagined from the fabled first expedition.
Taken on its own, fans won’t find too many obvious answers from Absolution, but when considered as a whole volume of four novels, there’s enough context here to use the new information to formulate many new theories for fans, which is the genius of VanderMeer and this series. Lovecraft often wrote around much of the explicit details in his horror by having his characters witness it and immediately lose their minds; VanderMeer prefers a slower burn with his descents into madness. Not a single character in this series may be considered a reliable narrator, but we are continually given new avenues into oblivion through his characters as they experience the unknowable place out of time that is Area X.
Now, get ready to read all four books again to piece all those threads together. Thanks, Jeff!
**I was provided with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley.**
The collection begins with “Dead Town”, the shortest of the three. Taking place twenty years before the Border came down, this chronicles the visit of a group of biologists to the Forgotten Coast, where their field research is interrupted by a series of bizarre events and a mysterious figure they call “the Rogue”. “Dead Town” is written in a fairly detached manner, maintaining the wonderful and maddening prose VanderMeer is known for in this series while opening up some startling new avenues into the setting of the “conditions” for the origin of Area X.
The meat of the collection comes with the large middle section “The False Daughter.” This follows the character of Old Jim (who readers will remember from a particularly horrific piano scene in Acceptance) on a secret mission on the Forgotten Coast to gather more information on “the Rogue” by infiltrating the infamous Seance & Science Brigade. This story has more of a direct prose to it as we experience the thoughts of Old Jim as he tries to deal with the disappearance of his daughter while experiencing bizarre occurrences, dreams, and visitations throughout his mission for Central. Old Jim’s voice and character grow throughout this story with the reader and the melancholic tone of dread ramps up slowly before the inevitable climax. Old Jim will surely become a new fan favorite character to theorize about!
The final story, “The First and the Last”, is probably also the most anticipated by fans: the story of the first expedition after the Border came down from the point of view of Lowry. This story ramps up the horror and weirdness as Area X is in full bloom and Lowry’s profanity laden, whimsical descriptions of the events happening to him and his team turn the narrative to the batshit insane. This is probably the strongest story, mostly because it’s so off kilter and should be everything fans would have imagined from the fabled first expedition.
Taken on its own, fans won’t find too many obvious answers from Absolution, but when considered as a whole volume of four novels, there’s enough context here to use the new information to formulate many new theories for fans, which is the genius of VanderMeer and this series. Lovecraft often wrote around much of the explicit details in his horror by having his characters witness it and immediately lose their minds; VanderMeer prefers a slower burn with his descents into madness. Not a single character in this series may be considered a reliable narrator, but we are continually given new avenues into oblivion through his characters as they experience the unknowable place out of time that is Area X.
Now, get ready to read all four books again to piece all those threads together. Thanks, Jeff!
**I was provided with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley.**
Want to read
March 25, 2024*manifesting séance & science brigade centered fourth book*
July 27, 2024
What am I supposed to do with my life now that this is over? Is there a fifth novel in the future? What about all the new questions that desperately need answers? How can I go back to an Area X-less life, spending my time thinking and thinking of the Forgotten Coast?
This book is outstanding, in league with Acceptance and yet also a league of its own. Lowry's part was my favourite, the ending absolutely flawless, and all the little nods at things from Acceptance were like dopamine explosions.
And yet. And. Yet. *Where* was the tower? I wanted some mention of the tower so badly and we got none. The tower within the earth. The Crawler—Saul—eternal.
Who is safe at Bleakersville?
PLEASE let there be a fifth book. Can you tell I'm unhinged right how?
This book is outstanding, in league with Acceptance and yet also a league of its own. Lowry's part was my favourite, the ending absolutely flawless, and all the little nods at things from Acceptance were like dopamine explosions.
And yet. And. Yet. *Where* was the tower? I wanted some mention of the tower so badly and we got none. The tower within the earth. The Crawler—Saul—eternal.
Who is safe at Bleakersville?
PLEASE let there be a fifth book. Can you tell I'm unhinged right how?
June 21, 2024
ARC for review. To be published October 22, 2024.
Surprise! Welcome to the fourth book in the Southern Reach trilogy. Yes, the one that no one asked for, I guess. But maybe everyone wanted to know how Area X began and this book….will not really tell you that. Sorry.
I read the three Southern Reach books years ago, when they first came out, and one after the other. I didn’t reread now, and maybe I would have enjoyed this more if I had, but that was way more time and effort than I was willing to put in…I liked the books, especially the first one, but they are not all time favorites, and I never saw the movie adaptation (and didn’t really want to.)
So, here in ABSOLUTION, there are three different stories. The first two involve an operative from Central called Old Jim. In the first he is reviewing information and documents from a mission that took place twenty years before Area X “went active,” if that’s a good way of putting it. In the second, it’s eighteen months before, and Old Jim is actually there.
In the third section, the action shifts to a military man named Lowry, and it is now one year since the border came down (I have no recollection of the time frame in the three earlier books.) Old Jim definitely comes up, in passing.
I enjoyed the first two sections, less so section three, but, again, I think I’m so far separated from the original three volumes I can’t really be a fair judge as to what this book adds, if anything, to the narrative as it existed before this was published. It’s all prequel, so I guess it’s just backstory. Perfect for fans, but not a good jumping off point. So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish?
Surprise! Welcome to the fourth book in the Southern Reach trilogy. Yes, the one that no one asked for, I guess. But maybe everyone wanted to know how Area X began and this book….will not really tell you that. Sorry.
I read the three Southern Reach books years ago, when they first came out, and one after the other. I didn’t reread now, and maybe I would have enjoyed this more if I had, but that was way more time and effort than I was willing to put in…I liked the books, especially the first one, but they are not all time favorites, and I never saw the movie adaptation (and didn’t really want to.)
So, here in ABSOLUTION, there are three different stories. The first two involve an operative from Central called Old Jim. In the first he is reviewing information and documents from a mission that took place twenty years before Area X “went active,” if that’s a good way of putting it. In the second, it’s eighteen months before, and Old Jim is actually there.
In the third section, the action shifts to a military man named Lowry, and it is now one year since the border came down (I have no recollection of the time frame in the three earlier books.) Old Jim definitely comes up, in passing.
I enjoyed the first two sections, less so section three, but, again, I think I’m so far separated from the original three volumes I can’t really be a fair judge as to what this book adds, if anything, to the narrative as it existed before this was published. It’s all prequel, so I guess it’s just backstory. Perfect for fans, but not a good jumping off point. So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish?
August 23, 2024
Oof, okay, I have a lot to say about this book.
If you are a fan of the Southern Reach trilogy reading this review to get a better understanding of what's in this fourth book, don't worry, the first part of my review will contain no spoilers, then the second part will contain light spoilers (themes, characters mentioned, nothing Vandermeer himself hasn't said on Twitter already).
Review of the book as a whole :
Up until 65% of this book I thought it would be a 5 stars, and then, the novel ended and the novella began and I unfortunately disliked the novella's writing style so much I couldn't even read it (I had to skim through to get the main ideas).
The first part, the novel, is a perfect addition to the Southern Reach story and universe. Just like the other three books, it has this surreal, sometimes confusing sometimes incredibly brilliant feel and as you read you keep finding answers (?) to your questions but then just having way more questions. I cannot wait to read it again to see what I grasp even better on the second read, and also to reread it along with the original trilogy to fully get all the references. I loved it, and would absolutely recommend it to everyone who read and enjoyed the other books.
Do I think you need to have read the trilogy to read this one? Yes, but I would be very curious to read someone's thoughts if they started the series with this book because I think they would have a completely different perspective on the events described and that would be really cool.
Review of the story (including light spoilers) :
The first part of the book (novel) is set before most of the events of the original trilogy (it's set at the same time as when we follow the lighthouse keeper and Gloria as a child and most of the intrigue/questioning is linked to events that happened 20 years before that) and I was so so excited to learn more about what happened to the people who lived in the area before the border came down. We also get more info on how Central works and how people end up working for the Southern Reach, loved it. It is much more similar in style and content to the second and third books of the trilogy, I would say if you only liked Annihilation and didn't vibe with the other two you probably won't like this one as much.
The novella that follows is about the first expedition once the border is down, which is the main reason I was so excited to pick up this book as that's what Vandermeer talked about on Twitter, but it turned out to be unreadable to me because it's all told in Lowry's point of view and every third word is fuck or fucking or shit and he's just so not likeable and his way of describing things I don't know, not for me, and it annoyed me so much because I want to know what happened on that expedition so I just skimmed through and read the paragraphs that were directly linked to the characters of the novel (as the first expedition happens shortly after the novel's events end).
All that said, I am so so thankful to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada | McClelland & Stewart for the opportunity to read this ARC and I will be picking up a physical copy on the day it comes out to reread it.
If you are a fan of the Southern Reach trilogy reading this review to get a better understanding of what's in this fourth book, don't worry, the first part of my review will contain no spoilers, then the second part will contain light spoilers (themes, characters mentioned, nothing Vandermeer himself hasn't said on Twitter already).
Review of the book as a whole :
Up until 65% of this book I thought it would be a 5 stars, and then, the novel ended and the novella began and I unfortunately disliked the novella's writing style so much I couldn't even read it (I had to skim through to get the main ideas).
The first part, the novel, is a perfect addition to the Southern Reach story and universe. Just like the other three books, it has this surreal, sometimes confusing sometimes incredibly brilliant feel and as you read you keep finding answers (?) to your questions but then just having way more questions. I cannot wait to read it again to see what I grasp even better on the second read, and also to reread it along with the original trilogy to fully get all the references. I loved it, and would absolutely recommend it to everyone who read and enjoyed the other books.
Do I think you need to have read the trilogy to read this one? Yes, but I would be very curious to read someone's thoughts if they started the series with this book because I think they would have a completely different perspective on the events described and that would be really cool.
Review of the story (including light spoilers) :
The first part of the book (novel) is set before most of the events of the original trilogy (it's set at the same time as when we follow the lighthouse keeper and Gloria as a child and most of the intrigue/questioning is linked to events that happened 20 years before that) and I was so so excited to learn more about what happened to the people who lived in the area before the border came down. We also get more info on how Central works and how people end up working for the Southern Reach, loved it. It is much more similar in style and content to the second and third books of the trilogy, I would say if you only liked Annihilation and didn't vibe with the other two you probably won't like this one as much.
The novella that follows is about the first expedition once the border is down, which is the main reason I was so excited to pick up this book as that's what Vandermeer talked about on Twitter, but it turned out to be unreadable to me because it's all told in Lowry's point of view and every third word is fuck or fucking or shit and he's just so not likeable and his way of describing things I don't know, not for me, and it annoyed me so much because I want to know what happened on that expedition so I just skimmed through and read the paragraphs that were directly linked to the characters of the novel (as the first expedition happens shortly after the novel's events end).
All that said, I am so so thankful to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada | McClelland & Stewart for the opportunity to read this ARC and I will be picking up a physical copy on the day it comes out to reread it.
September 4, 2024
I am thrilled to be reviewing an early release of this book, Jeff VanderMeer’s follow-up to the Southern Reach Trilogy which captivated me 10 years ago (!). Absolution is pitch perfect…the creepiest of the bunch in my opinion. It is a descent into madness on several levels that readers won’t be able to get out of their heads.
Even if it still leaves some questions unanswered, Absolution provides a satisfying look at Area X just before and after the dropping of the “Border”. In the first section, a group of Biologists explores Area X 20 years before its “formation”. This was my favorite of the book’s three sections, recalling the eerie world of Annihilation and featuring those wacky biologists. Old Jim, from Acceptance, was the focus of the second section. We see Old Jim pursuiing a secret mission and dealing with a fake daughter issue (it makes sense in the book…kinda). The last section profiles Expedition One, which was particularly interesting to me, as they were the unfiltered first visitors to Area X. In the only way in which VanderMeer lost me, one member of the “authors” from Expedition One curses like he has out-of-control Tourette’s (more so that usual, I mean), saying some form of the would “fuck” every other word. It was a little hard to read, but I think I get what VanderMeer was going for.
While I can’t say I understood everything I read in Absolution (I’d love to see what a quiz would look like), it provides an informative and fitting end to the Southern Reach series. It is apt that the book is referenced as #4 in the series, rather than #0.5. Even though it is technically a prequel, it reads best as a look back, after Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance have been tackled. The only “miss” here is that all four books to this series have been issued/re-issued with a new cover style. I own the first three in the previous style and it doesn’t look like I can get Absolution in that style. We book lovers like our series to match, so mark me a little disappointed.
Even if it still leaves some questions unanswered, Absolution provides a satisfying look at Area X just before and after the dropping of the “Border”. In the first section, a group of Biologists explores Area X 20 years before its “formation”. This was my favorite of the book’s three sections, recalling the eerie world of Annihilation and featuring those wacky biologists. Old Jim, from Acceptance, was the focus of the second section. We see Old Jim pursuiing a secret mission and dealing with a fake daughter issue (it makes sense in the book…kinda). The last section profiles Expedition One, which was particularly interesting to me, as they were the unfiltered first visitors to Area X. In the only way in which VanderMeer lost me, one member of the “authors” from Expedition One curses like he has out-of-control Tourette’s (more so that usual, I mean), saying some form of the would “fuck” every other word. It was a little hard to read, but I think I get what VanderMeer was going for.
While I can’t say I understood everything I read in Absolution (I’d love to see what a quiz would look like), it provides an informative and fitting end to the Southern Reach series. It is apt that the book is referenced as #4 in the series, rather than #0.5. Even though it is technically a prequel, it reads best as a look back, after Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance have been tackled. The only “miss” here is that all four books to this series have been issued/re-issued with a new cover style. I own the first three in the previous style and it doesn’t look like I can get Absolution in that style. We book lovers like our series to match, so mark me a little disappointed.
Want to read
August 9, 2024this is without a doubt the worst cover i have ever seen in my life, but i just know this book is going to fuck me up so bad. will i get answers to all of my questions? probably not. am i still going to read it? absolutely
July 28, 2024
THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THE E-ARC
I’ve been trying to think of how to best write this review without sounding totally unhinged, and I don’t think I can manage it because no series has gotten me quite so unhinged so well as the Southern Reach does. I loved Absolution. I wish I was still reading it. I wish I knew more about Cass and the barrier coming down and what was up with the rabbits and the cameras and the Tyrant and a thousand other things. Every time I started the next part of the book I thought I couldn’t enjoy it as much as the last, and each time I was wrong. I’m gonna be thinking about all the questions I still have and all the things I want to know more about for days. What about the tower? What about Saul the Creeper! What the heck is going on in Area X?!
God I wish we could get the stories of all the expeditions because I’m sure VanderMeer could continue to creep us out and make us ask what the fuck for aaaages. This was fantastic. Don’t mind me, I’m off to reread the Southern Reach trilogy and then read the hard copy of Absolution again when it’s released in October ✌🏻
I’ve been trying to think of how to best write this review without sounding totally unhinged, and I don’t think I can manage it because no series has gotten me quite so unhinged so well as the Southern Reach does. I loved Absolution. I wish I was still reading it. I wish I knew more about Cass and the barrier coming down and what was up with the rabbits and the cameras and the Tyrant and a thousand other things. Every time I started the next part of the book I thought I couldn’t enjoy it as much as the last, and each time I was wrong. I’m gonna be thinking about all the questions I still have and all the things I want to know more about for days. What about the tower? What about Saul the Creeper! What the heck is going on in Area X?!
God I wish we could get the stories of all the expeditions because I’m sure VanderMeer could continue to creep us out and make us ask what the fuck for aaaages. This was fantastic. Don’t mind me, I’m off to reread the Southern Reach trilogy and then read the hard copy of Absolution again when it’s released in October ✌🏻
September 6, 2024
DNF @ 19%
I have been looking forward to this book for quite literally years, since it was announced on Twitter in early 2020. And now, after being lucky enough to get an ARC, I'm DNFing it. Almost unbelievable.
For context, Annihilation is one of my all-time favorite novels; I really disliked Authority (a failed, unsubtle, often boring attempt at corporate espionage noir horror); and found Acceptance to be a muddled, disjointed mess with some nice nature writing and atmosphere (occasionally) but not much else going for it.
And now there's Absolution, three short stories in a trench coat masquerading as book 4 (that sounds sarcastic but it actually doesn't bother me). It has the ugliest cover I've ever seen, and that should have been a hint because it does indeed seem to convey the tone/style of the novel quite well.
I read the entirety of the first story, "Dead Town." It is needlessly disturbing and nonsensical and has no literary value. VanderMeer strips the characters of their names, identities, and personalities: they serve no purpose except to be investigated and move the "plot" along, and most (at least, those who are biologists) are generally discussed in the collective as "the biologists." It's the kind of speculative fiction that dwells too long on the speculative and completely overlooks the fiction. Readers who are drawn to the Southern Reach series because they like the acid trip and trying to figure out "what happened" may find this interesting, but anyone looking for theme, emotion, or meaning will be disappointed.
I read the first chapter of the second (and longest) story, "The False Daughter." The tone is the same as Authority except the main character is falling apart because his adult daughter has unexpectedly gone no contact. While this sounds more promising and character-driven, the execution in the part I read (and I don't know why it would change) is cliched, clumsy, and bloated. No thank you.
Finally—to see if maybe I should jump ahead or even push through the remaining ~400 pages instead of completely DNFing—I read the first paragraph of the final story, "The First and the Last." That paragraph reads:
It's difficult to believe that this is the same author who wrote Annihilation, one of the most subtle, introspective works of science fiction I've ever read. Unfortunately after reading/trying many of his other novels, I've come to the conclusion that the brilliance there was simply a happy accident and can't be expected in any of VanderMeer's other work. I will not be reading more from him.
I have been looking forward to this book for quite literally years, since it was announced on Twitter in early 2020. And now, after being lucky enough to get an ARC, I'm DNFing it. Almost unbelievable.
For context, Annihilation is one of my all-time favorite novels; I really disliked Authority (a failed, unsubtle, often boring attempt at corporate espionage noir horror); and found Acceptance to be a muddled, disjointed mess with some nice nature writing and atmosphere (occasionally) but not much else going for it.
And now there's Absolution, three short stories in a trench coat masquerading as book 4 (that sounds sarcastic but it actually doesn't bother me). It has the ugliest cover I've ever seen, and that should have been a hint because it does indeed seem to convey the tone/style of the novel quite well.
I read the entirety of the first story, "Dead Town." It is needlessly disturbing and nonsensical and has no literary value. VanderMeer strips the characters of their names, identities, and personalities: they serve no purpose except to be investigated and move the "plot" along, and most (at least, those who are biologists) are generally discussed in the collective as "the biologists." It's the kind of speculative fiction that dwells too long on the speculative and completely overlooks the fiction. Readers who are drawn to the Southern Reach series because they like the acid trip and trying to figure out "what happened" may find this interesting, but anyone looking for theme, emotion, or meaning will be disappointed.
I read the first chapter of the second (and longest) story, "The False Daughter." The tone is the same as Authority except the main character is falling apart because his adult daughter has unexpectedly gone no contact. While this sounds more promising and character-driven, the execution in the part I read (and I don't know why it would change) is cliched, clumsy, and bloated. No thank you.
Finally—to see if maybe I should jump ahead or even push through the remaining ~400 pages instead of completely DNFing—I read the first paragraph of the final story, "The First and the Last." That paragraph reads:
Just twenty-four fucking hours until they crossed the fucking Border and nothing Lowry didn't know, for fuck's sake, that Jack hadn't told him, and he didn't know anything, fuck. Not for fucking real. The world felt like it was in shackles and the only fucking way to deal with that shit was to become so abso-fucking-lutely free he could claim his existence as an act of fucking defiance.And just....no. That's repulsive. It's amateur-writer-writes-an-angry-character-for-the-first-time bad. I'm not doing it.
It's difficult to believe that this is the same author who wrote Annihilation, one of the most subtle, introspective works of science fiction I've ever read. Unfortunately after reading/trying many of his other novels, I've come to the conclusion that the brilliance there was simply a happy accident and can't be expected in any of VanderMeer's other work. I will not be reading more from him.
Want to read
April 8, 2024Oh I Am Going Crazy
July 6, 2024
Don’t read this one alone in a strange place. Like “House of Leaves” this gets into your head and rewires your thinking, making you question what reality you are actually in. And damn if those noises don’t sound right, and damn if I can’t find their source.
July 17, 2024
Holy shit.
July 11, 2024
4 stars.
Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer is a prequel to his Southern Reach or Area X trilogy. I guess the first question is whether it is readable without having read those first and I have to say, I don't actually know. I read the entire trilogy once a few years ago and loved it, and have read the first book, Annihilation, multiple times otherwise. But I have forgotten enough of the trilogy that I was kind of scrambling to connect the pieces of this book to that trilogy. I can't say if this was a detriment to my reading experience or not. It's entirely possible that having no information on the trilogy or full memory of the trilogy would be almost equally as beneficial as each other. I guess… I do not recommend reading it with half knowledge. It's still amazing to me! But I was slightly distracted the whole time trying to figure things out that I probably should not have been trying to figure out.
The book itself is essentially 3 novellas. And from what I do remember of the trilogy, they kind of align with the trilogy in vibes and style and focus.
The first novella is Dead Town, and in this we have Old Jim going through a bunch of records about an incident that happened on the Forgotten Coast (where Area X happens) several years before Area X actually happens. He is an agent for Central and he's been given access to many files about this incident. The incident is about a bunch of biologists who arrive on the forgotten coast and what they get up to, as well as some of the things that happen in the local bar of the nearby village. The things that happen with the biologists are… crazy. It's all just creepy and crazy and wild. And in that it is a lot like the first book, Annihilation. It has that same creepy discovery feeling to it, the research and unknowable, the weirdness. I found it extremely enjoyable, which makes sense as Annihilation is my favourite of the trilogy as well. Oh, and it has the bunnies.
The second novella is The False Daughter, and here we follow Old Jim several years later, about a year before Area X happens. He is sent to the Forgotten Coast and becomes the owner of the bar that is mentioned multiple times in the first novella. He acts like he used to live there and so it's not so odd that he knows things about the patrons. He is there to find out the truth about the incident from years ago, well, some of it anyway. This one has a much more noir feel to it, and reminded me a fair bit of the second book, Authority. We're following a member of Central, investigation rather than scientific research antics, and a touch of bureaucracy. Authority was not my favourite of the trilogy, but I actually really enjoyed this one for the most part and possibly will enjoy Authority more on reread. Things do not go as Old Jim plans or hopes, and things get crazy. Like, craaaazy. It's great.
And in the third novella, The First and the Last, we follow a member of the very first expedition sent from Southern Reach, down that corridor, and into Area X. Lowry. And man, I swear a fair bit, I'm low class Aussie, so yeah, I swear like sailor. But the fucks in this story sent me over the edge. Seriously, almost every sentence had at least one "fuck" in it, usually multiple. It got easier and less as the story unfolded, but they were annoying and distracting nonetheless. This one felt a lot, to me, like Acceptance, and like Acceptance it's like the first book but with way more introspective insanity. We are stuck in Lowry's head and it's hard to tell most of the time what is actual Area X weirdness and what is just him being an absolute psycho fuckwit. And so this was my least favourite of the three novellas, but it also had a pretty good number of reveals, so it's still a good entry despite the awfulness that is Lowry.
My main issue as someone who barely remembers the trilogy, is that I know that names like "Lowry" and "Old Jim" should mean something to me. I know it. But I cannot remember why. And it's infuriating. So, the only recourse is to go reread the trilogy. What a pity.
If you haven't read the trilogy, you can possibly read Authority and be fine. But I do recommend doing the trilogy first. If you have read the trilogy and remember it well, go right ahead and enjoy the connections in this book. If you're like me and can barely remember the trilogy - please, do your sanity a favour, and reread the trilogy before reading this.
Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer is a prequel to his Southern Reach or Area X trilogy. I guess the first question is whether it is readable without having read those first and I have to say, I don't actually know. I read the entire trilogy once a few years ago and loved it, and have read the first book, Annihilation, multiple times otherwise. But I have forgotten enough of the trilogy that I was kind of scrambling to connect the pieces of this book to that trilogy. I can't say if this was a detriment to my reading experience or not. It's entirely possible that having no information on the trilogy or full memory of the trilogy would be almost equally as beneficial as each other. I guess… I do not recommend reading it with half knowledge. It's still amazing to me! But I was slightly distracted the whole time trying to figure things out that I probably should not have been trying to figure out.
The book itself is essentially 3 novellas. And from what I do remember of the trilogy, they kind of align with the trilogy in vibes and style and focus.
The first novella is Dead Town, and in this we have Old Jim going through a bunch of records about an incident that happened on the Forgotten Coast (where Area X happens) several years before Area X actually happens. He is an agent for Central and he's been given access to many files about this incident. The incident is about a bunch of biologists who arrive on the forgotten coast and what they get up to, as well as some of the things that happen in the local bar of the nearby village. The things that happen with the biologists are… crazy. It's all just creepy and crazy and wild. And in that it is a lot like the first book, Annihilation. It has that same creepy discovery feeling to it, the research and unknowable, the weirdness. I found it extremely enjoyable, which makes sense as Annihilation is my favourite of the trilogy as well. Oh, and it has the bunnies.
The second novella is The False Daughter, and here we follow Old Jim several years later, about a year before Area X happens. He is sent to the Forgotten Coast and becomes the owner of the bar that is mentioned multiple times in the first novella. He acts like he used to live there and so it's not so odd that he knows things about the patrons. He is there to find out the truth about the incident from years ago, well, some of it anyway. This one has a much more noir feel to it, and reminded me a fair bit of the second book, Authority. We're following a member of Central, investigation rather than scientific research antics, and a touch of bureaucracy. Authority was not my favourite of the trilogy, but I actually really enjoyed this one for the most part and possibly will enjoy Authority more on reread. Things do not go as Old Jim plans or hopes, and things get crazy. Like, craaaazy. It's great.
And in the third novella, The First and the Last, we follow a member of the very first expedition sent from Southern Reach, down that corridor, and into Area X. Lowry. And man, I swear a fair bit, I'm low class Aussie, so yeah, I swear like sailor. But the fucks in this story sent me over the edge. Seriously, almost every sentence had at least one "fuck" in it, usually multiple. It got easier and less as the story unfolded, but they were annoying and distracting nonetheless. This one felt a lot, to me, like Acceptance, and like Acceptance it's like the first book but with way more introspective insanity. We are stuck in Lowry's head and it's hard to tell most of the time what is actual Area X weirdness and what is just him being an absolute psycho fuckwit. And so this was my least favourite of the three novellas, but it also had a pretty good number of reveals, so it's still a good entry despite the awfulness that is Lowry.
My main issue as someone who barely remembers the trilogy, is that I know that names like "Lowry" and "Old Jim" should mean something to me. I know it. But I cannot remember why. And it's infuriating. So, the only recourse is to go reread the trilogy. What a pity.
If you haven't read the trilogy, you can possibly read Authority and be fine. But I do recommend doing the trilogy first. If you have read the trilogy and remember it well, go right ahead and enjoy the connections in this book. If you're like me and can barely remember the trilogy - please, do your sanity a favour, and reread the trilogy before reading this.
September 14, 2024
This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.
Absolution is really a prequel to the original Southern Reach trilogy, telling three stories of different time periods before Area X. The first 70% of the book is mainly centered around Old Jim, a member of the mysterious black ops agency known only as Central. In the first section, it tells of him reading the recovered logs and data from a research expedition in the Forgotten Coast nearly 20 years before the Border arrived, Their experiments with alligators and other biological research encountering strange phenomena and a mysterious stranger called the Rogue. How the expedition steadily began to break down before a massive storm and altered local fauna brought about their untimely end. In the next section Old Jim is sent back into the field in a town in the Forgotten Coast not far from where the expedition was, and a psychic research group, who don't fully know they're there at the behest of Central, has set up in a facility not far from the eventually famous lighthouse. The Rogue too may still be living in the area. The final section takes place some years later after Area X has begun its takeover, and follows the first scientific/military expedition into the infected region.
The opening section was arguably the most intriguing and most like the original trilogy, as the slow erosion of the scientific team and increasingly bizarre experiences they had from the early infections of region was the most exciting and engaging story in the book. Old Jim's deploymet into the region expanded on growth of Area X and a deeper look at the Central agency. However, at times it felt repetitive and unnecessarily drawn out, an just when it seemed like it was going to give some much desired answers, it ended in a dull and unsatisfactory manner. The final part SHOULD have been the best, as it detailed the first foray into the full-blown Area X. Unfortunately, it was told around the point of view of Lowry, the most unlikable, detestable, bullshit alpha male goon ever put to paper, and the prose was ridiculously peppered with the word "fuck" every four or five words, making it nigh unreadable. I am astonished that none of VanderMeer's beta readers or editors told him how godawful and unreadable it was, and publisher actually allowed the story to be written that way. I'm generously calling this 3.5*, though the first 70% is a 3.5-4* read, while the last section is 0 stars.
Absolution is really a prequel to the original Southern Reach trilogy, telling three stories of different time periods before Area X. The first 70% of the book is mainly centered around Old Jim, a member of the mysterious black ops agency known only as Central. In the first section, it tells of him reading the recovered logs and data from a research expedition in the Forgotten Coast nearly 20 years before the Border arrived, Their experiments with alligators and other biological research encountering strange phenomena and a mysterious stranger called the Rogue. How the expedition steadily began to break down before a massive storm and altered local fauna brought about their untimely end. In the next section Old Jim is sent back into the field in a town in the Forgotten Coast not far from where the expedition was, and a psychic research group, who don't fully know they're there at the behest of Central, has set up in a facility not far from the eventually famous lighthouse. The Rogue too may still be living in the area. The final section takes place some years later after Area X has begun its takeover, and follows the first scientific/military expedition into the infected region.
The opening section was arguably the most intriguing and most like the original trilogy, as the slow erosion of the scientific team and increasingly bizarre experiences they had from the early infections of region was the most exciting and engaging story in the book. Old Jim's deploymet into the region expanded on growth of Area X and a deeper look at the Central agency. However, at times it felt repetitive and unnecessarily drawn out, an just when it seemed like it was going to give some much desired answers, it ended in a dull and unsatisfactory manner. The final part SHOULD have been the best, as it detailed the first foray into the full-blown Area X. Unfortunately, it was told around the point of view of Lowry, the most unlikable, detestable, bullshit alpha male goon ever put to paper, and the prose was ridiculously peppered with the word "fuck" every four or five words, making it nigh unreadable. I am astonished that none of VanderMeer's beta readers or editors told him how godawful and unreadable it was, and publisher actually allowed the story to be written that way. I'm generously calling this 3.5*, though the first 70% is a 3.5-4* read, while the last section is 0 stars.
September 1, 2024
What (and I cannot stress this enough) the fuck?
I am at a loss for words with this one. Ten years after the original trilogy was published, we have been blessed with a fourth entry into this nightmarish series, and I am incredibly grateful for it.
Thank you to Netgalley and MCD Books for providing me with this copy.
Vandermeer has done the impossible, he’s revisited a world and a series whose central theme is making peace with the unknown, providing more context and clarity to a world while still obfuscating “the truth” in an incredibly satisfying way.
Presented in three distinct parts, each separate, yet connected in a way that tells one complete story.
First up is Dead Town, which chronicles an expedition of biologists sent by central into the forgotten coast 20 years before the Area X border came down. Terrifying and tense, it feels like you’re reading the literary equivalent of a found footage horror movie.
Next we have The False Daughter, here we follow Old Jim (the piano man from Acceptance!), sent by Central in the months before Area X to investigate some of the… consequences and loose ends of the events of Dead Town. I found the characterisation in this section to be extremely strong, and all the more devastating as the payoffs for all the character threads roll in towards the novels conclusion.
Finally The First and The Last. I won’t spoil any of this other than if you’ve read anything about this book, then you’ve heard that this is Lowrys first hand account of his expedition. Which it is. I adored this section of the novel. I agree with Lowry - fuck that chicken indeed.
I had a blast with this one, at many points I laughed, gasped, shouted, and swore. It crept into my brain and infected my nervous system as I read it. I have so many thoughts about this novel, but for now I’ll have to keep them to myself, I can’t wait until it’s released and the discussion and theorising can commence. For every question that gets answered three more popped up, like a scaly many eyed hydra.
I am at a loss for words with this one. Ten years after the original trilogy was published, we have been blessed with a fourth entry into this nightmarish series, and I am incredibly grateful for it.
Thank you to Netgalley and MCD Books for providing me with this copy.
Vandermeer has done the impossible, he’s revisited a world and a series whose central theme is making peace with the unknown, providing more context and clarity to a world while still obfuscating “the truth” in an incredibly satisfying way.
Presented in three distinct parts, each separate, yet connected in a way that tells one complete story.
First up is Dead Town, which chronicles an expedition of biologists sent by central into the forgotten coast 20 years before the Area X border came down. Terrifying and tense, it feels like you’re reading the literary equivalent of a found footage horror movie.
Next we have The False Daughter, here we follow Old Jim (the piano man from Acceptance!), sent by Central in the months before Area X to investigate some of the… consequences and loose ends of the events of Dead Town. I found the characterisation in this section to be extremely strong, and all the more devastating as the payoffs for all the character threads roll in towards the novels conclusion.
Finally The First and The Last. I won’t spoil any of this other than if you’ve read anything about this book, then you’ve heard that this is Lowrys first hand account of his expedition. Which it is. I adored this section of the novel. I agree with Lowry - fuck that chicken indeed.
I had a blast with this one, at many points I laughed, gasped, shouted, and swore. It crept into my brain and infected my nervous system as I read it. I have so many thoughts about this novel, but for now I’ll have to keep them to myself, I can’t wait until it’s released and the discussion and theorising can commence. For every question that gets answered three more popped up, like a scaly many eyed hydra.
September 4, 2024
Video review: https://youtu.be/Tsk5YBymeYE
(available 9/4/24)
I received an eARC via NetGalley.
When an author revisits a series years later with an additional book it tends to either be really great, or really bad, and while this one mostly lands on the really great side, there's definitely a bit of both.
Let me start by saying that this is very much a must read for fans of the series. With a new POV we get a new viewpoint into the history or Area X and Central's involvement as well as seeing some characters from previous books from a new angle. Absolution manages to recapture some of the magic of Annihilation with that particular feel to Area X, but also builds off of what's been set up with Central and its history (and does it better than Authority by a mile). Even for those disappointed with Authority and Acceptance, I think this book really ends up giving you the book you were looking for there. For me it started a bit slow due to the initial storytelling device, but ended up very much pulling me in with a very compelling character, story, and plenty of background on mysteries as well as plenty more questions.
Unfortunately this book doesn't just contain one POV. After 70% of the book being excellent, we get a new POV for the last 30%. With this POV VanderMeer decides to use the schtick of the character CONSTANTLY using the 'F word' a well as lots of other colorful language. To put it into perspective, there are 1011 uses of some variation of the 'F word' in Absolution, which is already an astonishing in a book under 500 pages, but 962 of them take place in the last 139 pages. Much of it was quite literally unreadable in my opinion, and I ended up finding myself skimming over whole paragraphs repeatedly when it was just full of nonsense with no substance (including the word used as an interruptor in almost every sentence for a while). I found this to be exceedingly obnoxious and this is what brought my score so low for an otherwise excellent book.
Despite this, Absolution (especially the first 70%) was a great read and I think will give fans exactly what they want as a follow up. This isn't going to tie up everything in a bow, that wouldn't fit the series at all, but it does give some fascinating answers and background, as well as ending in an extremely fitting way for the first POV. You'll have more questions for sure, but also I think this will leave fans of the series very satisfied overall.
(available 9/4/24)
I received an eARC via NetGalley.
When an author revisits a series years later with an additional book it tends to either be really great, or really bad, and while this one mostly lands on the really great side, there's definitely a bit of both.
Let me start by saying that this is very much a must read for fans of the series. With a new POV we get a new viewpoint into the history or Area X and Central's involvement as well as seeing some characters from previous books from a new angle. Absolution manages to recapture some of the magic of Annihilation with that particular feel to Area X, but also builds off of what's been set up with Central and its history (and does it better than Authority by a mile). Even for those disappointed with Authority and Acceptance, I think this book really ends up giving you the book you were looking for there. For me it started a bit slow due to the initial storytelling device, but ended up very much pulling me in with a very compelling character, story, and plenty of background on mysteries as well as plenty more questions.
Unfortunately this book doesn't just contain one POV. After 70% of the book being excellent, we get a new POV for the last 30%. With this POV VanderMeer decides to use the schtick of the character CONSTANTLY using the 'F word' a well as lots of other colorful language. To put it into perspective, there are 1011 uses of some variation of the 'F word' in Absolution, which is already an astonishing in a book under 500 pages, but 962 of them take place in the last 139 pages. Much of it was quite literally unreadable in my opinion, and I ended up finding myself skimming over whole paragraphs repeatedly when it was just full of nonsense with no substance (including the word used as an interruptor in almost every sentence for a while). I found this to be exceedingly obnoxious and this is what brought my score so low for an otherwise excellent book.
Despite this, Absolution (especially the first 70%) was a great read and I think will give fans exactly what they want as a follow up. This isn't going to tie up everything in a bow, that wouldn't fit the series at all, but it does give some fascinating answers and background, as well as ending in an extremely fitting way for the first POV. You'll have more questions for sure, but also I think this will leave fans of the series very satisfied overall.
Want to read
April 4, 2024cover reveal!
August 9, 2024
I love this series. The middle section was the strongest for me, but an all around winner still.
September 5, 2024
A surreal return to Area X that provides some new answers but leans heavily into the abstract.
Annihilation is one of my favorite books of all time. I still can’t look at a lighthouse without feeling existential dread and unease, and so many aspects of the series - especially the first book of the Southern Reach trilogy - have stuck with me. So I was thrilled to hear that a new prequel was coming out, and even more thrilled to be chosen for an ARC. And while I really wanted to rate Absolution highly, I left feeling mostly frustrated and more confused than I was before. Probably a 3.5 star if you're the target audience I talk about later, and a 2 for my own subjective enjoyment score. More on this below.
- This review is spoiler-free except for very minimal quotes or minor story context, with a handful of spoiler tags. However, there are callouts to the initial trilogy, so if you haven’t read the trilogy, don’t read past the “do you need to read…?” section in this review.
- There’s profanity farther down because it’s literal quotes from the book as examples of what you’re in for. This is actual book content.
First up, an important question that I think other ARC reviewers are answering incorrectly: do you need to read, or re-read, the initial trilogy before Absolution? My answer is yes.
- If you’re new to the series, there’s basically no backstory about Area X and you won’t know who any of the referenced characters are. Unless you’re here to read an abstract mind F with no context, you should start with Annihilation.
- If you read the trilogy forever ago, unless you have a photographic memory, you probably won’t remember the minimal events that overlap with the first two stories, nor the fleeting details about Lowry’s expedition that are expanded on in the last third of Absolution. All of the meaty, memorable details from the trilogy (the tower, the crawler, Saul, the Biologist) aren’t in Absolution nor expanded on at all, but you’ll be missing the details that tie this to the trilogy.
I personally re-read the entire Southern Reach trilogy just before reading Absolution. The “plot” made more sense to me the second time around, so I was excited that Absolution would in theory delve more into the details I cared about. For example:
1) When and exactly how did Area X truly start? Since this was meant to be a prequel, I expected to see more of a bridge between the creators and Saul’s timeline.
2) More about the tower’s origin and anything to do with the crawler, outside of what we learned in the trilogy.
Instead, outside of Lowry’s section at the end of the book, the focus is on:
1) A character called Old Jim who was barely mentioned in the original trilogy (outside of “that famous piano scene” in Acceptance). None of the other characters you knew or cared about in the trilogy are here, just other manipulative people working behind the scenes that you’ll hate equally as the book continues.
2) An incident that happens inside of what would become Area X. There’s some creature stuff that’s legitimately creepy, but most of it focuses on weird occurrences and a character called the Rogue. There’s a conflict that is extremely abstract and confusing to follow, and in general I had a hard time following this plotline… especially since none of it seems to relate to the original trilogy.
3) Mind control and how heavily this was used by the powers that be in charge. We knew conditioning was involved in the trilogy, but Absolution heavily focuses on just how much it was. And frankly, this wasn’t compelling for me. I wanted to know more about Area X, not how much worse the people in control were.
4) The Seance and Science Brigade. Arguably the least interesting part of the trilogy and yet their origins and motives were a driving force in this book. Why? In addition to again not really giving answers about Area X, one of the duo from Acceptance was turned into a sadistic cartoon villain, even though he seemed fine and borderline nice to Saul in Acceptance.
And in general, that sort of cartoon villainery happens more than once in the book - there’s plot points that come out of nowhere such as that felt forced and ridiculous instead of shocking, because the villainery suddenly jumped from 5 to 11.
The above is the first ~2/3 of the book which most similarly reads like Control’s POV in Authority combined with the internal monologues and abstract elements of Acceptance, rather than the eerie setting of Annihilation. Again, the insights about Area X are few and far between, and instead the story focuses on how bad the bad guys behind the scenes truly are.
Then you get to the last third. I was the most excited about this section as the video tapes of Lowry’s expedition in Authority were arguably the best part of that book, and were unsettling and mostly unexplained. The problem is this section is told from Lowry’s perspective, a character that:
- Is the most unlikeable character of the entire series.
- Is written like a teenage edgelord combined with Beavis and Butthead that thinks about dick jokes and glory holes every 1 second, even though he’s an adult man.
I progressively got more and more angry as I kept reading because it’s nearly impossible to tell what is going on. It’s like being in an acid trip with an unreliable narrator that spews out sexual phrases and the word “fuck” every other word, and maybe one out of 10-50 pages there’s a new tiny nugget about Area X that gets dropped in his word vomit, but you either miss it or have no idea if it’s legitimate or not. I get that’s what Vandermeer was probably going for, but it’s frustrating as a reader who wanted more.
The explanation we’re given about Lowry’s antics is that he’s on an intense drug cocktail that’s given him a verbal tic, and there’s a very minor note about having sisters that bullied him, but unless I missed something, neither of those explains why he’s written like such an edgelord. It’s over the top and I’d argue only the most dedicated Southern Reach fans will be willing to slog through it in the hopes of getting answers.
When I saw other reviewers talking about the profanity amount I figured there’s no way it would be that bad, so here are some of my “favorite” examples - in spoiler tags due to the profanity only:
#1
#2
And the best example:
It felt like Chat GPT was asked to insert the work "fuck" or phrases involving dick jokes, glory holes, or reacharounds and other sexual references every other word, often covering ~70% of each paragraph. I’ve seen other reviewers talk about how eventually they’re able to overlook or ignore this at some point but I’m not sure how that’s possible - it wasn’t for me. And because very rarely there’s a fleeting insight about Area X dropped in there (which may or may not be legitimate due to his unreliable nature), you can’t just skim over it.
Thankfully this dies down barely later on, and I do mean barely, which makes the dialogue more tolerable. But it’s still an incomprehensible acid trip and is deeply unpleasant to read. Vandermeer said something on Twitter iirc about how this was the most vile perspective he’s written, and I can’t help but wonder why this choice was made given how much it gets in the way of enjoying the story.
Reviews talk highly of Absolution’s prose and how it’s a selling point, and I agree - if you’re the type who likes this style. I love Vandermeer’s style and tone in general, but when it veers too heavily into the abstract, it loses me. For example, here’s a typical paragraph from Absolution that illustrates the prose:
I get that it’s poetic and written well, but I personally need more substance and less confusion. Annihilation did have passages like this but felt easier to follow. Acceptance had far more abstract prose like this and it was my least favorite part of that book. So it could be I’m just the wrong target audience for Absolution, but if you love the above paragraph, you’ll likely enjoy it a lot more.
So what do you learn about Area X and the original trilogy? Imo very little, but I’ll be delving into Reddit threads once the book is more available as it could be I missed things. We do learn about:
- What the physical Southern Reach building was before Area X happened
- A one liner easter egg about someone Saul cares about
- The origin of the bones in the lighthouse and (most likely) why there were so many journals
- How the initial corridor into Area X was tested
To be clear, these are blips in the overall story and sometimes one liners.
Beyond that, Lowry’s expedition led to even more questions than answers for me, and for me it ended completely ambiguously. Probably what Vandermeer wanted, but I still left feeling frustrated and unfulfilled. Spoiler section below for musings and questions for what I think happened but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In summary, if you liked the abstract prose of Acceptance and don’t need more answers about Area X, you’ll probably enjoy Absolution more than I did. I hope that Vandermeer eventually makes a sequel instead, or a prequel involving the tower and Saul, which I think is more likely what fans were wanting from this book.
Annihilation is one of my favorite books of all time. I still can’t look at a lighthouse without feeling existential dread and unease, and so many aspects of the series - especially the first book of the Southern Reach trilogy - have stuck with me. So I was thrilled to hear that a new prequel was coming out, and even more thrilled to be chosen for an ARC. And while I really wanted to rate Absolution highly, I left feeling mostly frustrated and more confused than I was before. Probably a 3.5 star if you're the target audience I talk about later, and a 2 for my own subjective enjoyment score. More on this below.
- This review is spoiler-free except for very minimal quotes or minor story context, with a handful of spoiler tags. However, there are callouts to the initial trilogy, so if you haven’t read the trilogy, don’t read past the “do you need to read…?” section in this review.
- There’s profanity farther down because it’s literal quotes from the book as examples of what you’re in for. This is actual book content.
First up, an important question that I think other ARC reviewers are answering incorrectly: do you need to read, or re-read, the initial trilogy before Absolution? My answer is yes.
- If you’re new to the series, there’s basically no backstory about Area X and you won’t know who any of the referenced characters are. Unless you’re here to read an abstract mind F with no context, you should start with Annihilation.
- If you read the trilogy forever ago, unless you have a photographic memory, you probably won’t remember the minimal events that overlap with the first two stories, nor the fleeting details about Lowry’s expedition that are expanded on in the last third of Absolution. All of the meaty, memorable details from the trilogy (the tower, the crawler, Saul, the Biologist) aren’t in Absolution nor expanded on at all, but you’ll be missing the details that tie this to the trilogy.
I personally re-read the entire Southern Reach trilogy just before reading Absolution. The “plot” made more sense to me the second time around, so I was excited that Absolution would in theory delve more into the details I cared about. For example:
1) When and exactly how did Area X truly start? Since this was meant to be a prequel, I expected to see more of a bridge between the creators and Saul’s timeline.
2) More about the tower’s origin and anything to do with the crawler, outside of what we learned in the trilogy.
Instead, outside of Lowry’s section at the end of the book, the focus is on:
1) A character called Old Jim who was barely mentioned in the original trilogy (outside of “that famous piano scene” in Acceptance). None of the other characters you knew or cared about in the trilogy are here, just other manipulative people working behind the scenes that you’ll hate equally as the book continues.
2) An incident that happens inside of what would become Area X. There’s some creature stuff that’s legitimately creepy, but most of it focuses on weird occurrences and a character called the Rogue. There’s a conflict that is extremely abstract and confusing to follow, and in general I had a hard time following this plotline… especially since none of it seems to relate to the original trilogy.
3) Mind control and how heavily this was used by the powers that be in charge. We knew conditioning was involved in the trilogy, but Absolution heavily focuses on just how much it was. And frankly, this wasn’t compelling for me. I wanted to know more about Area X, not how much worse the people in control were.
4) The Seance and Science Brigade. Arguably the least interesting part of the trilogy and yet their origins and motives were a driving force in this book. Why? In addition to again not really giving answers about Area X, one of the duo from Acceptance was turned into a sadistic cartoon villain, even though he seemed fine and borderline nice to Saul in Acceptance.
And in general, that sort of cartoon villainery happens more than once in the book - there’s plot points that come out of nowhere such as that felt forced and ridiculous instead of shocking, because the villainery suddenly jumped from 5 to 11.
The above is the first ~2/3 of the book which most similarly reads like Control’s POV in Authority combined with the internal monologues and abstract elements of Acceptance, rather than the eerie setting of Annihilation. Again, the insights about Area X are few and far between, and instead the story focuses on how bad the bad guys behind the scenes truly are.
Then you get to the last third. I was the most excited about this section as the video tapes of Lowry’s expedition in Authority were arguably the best part of that book, and were unsettling and mostly unexplained. The problem is this section is told from Lowry’s perspective, a character that:
- Is the most unlikeable character of the entire series.
- Is written like a teenage edgelord combined with Beavis and Butthead that thinks about dick jokes and glory holes every 1 second, even though he’s an adult man.
I progressively got more and more angry as I kept reading because it’s nearly impossible to tell what is going on. It’s like being in an acid trip with an unreliable narrator that spews out sexual phrases and the word “fuck” every other word, and maybe one out of 10-50 pages there’s a new tiny nugget about Area X that gets dropped in his word vomit, but you either miss it or have no idea if it’s legitimate or not. I get that’s what Vandermeer was probably going for, but it’s frustrating as a reader who wanted more.
The explanation we’re given about Lowry’s antics is that he’s on an intense drug cocktail that’s given him a verbal tic, and there’s a very minor note about having sisters that bullied him, but unless I missed something, neither of those explains why he’s written like such an edgelord. It’s over the top and I’d argue only the most dedicated Southern Reach fans will be willing to slog through it in the hopes of getting answers.
When I saw other reviewers talking about the profanity amount I figured there’s no way it would be that bad, so here are some of my “favorite” examples - in spoiler tags due to the profanity only:
#1
#2
And the best example:
It felt like Chat GPT was asked to insert the work "fuck" or phrases involving dick jokes, glory holes, or reacharounds and other sexual references every other word, often covering ~70% of each paragraph. I’ve seen other reviewers talk about how eventually they’re able to overlook or ignore this at some point but I’m not sure how that’s possible - it wasn’t for me. And because very rarely there’s a fleeting insight about Area X dropped in there (which may or may not be legitimate due to his unreliable nature), you can’t just skim over it.
Thankfully this dies down barely later on, and I do mean barely, which makes the dialogue more tolerable. But it’s still an incomprehensible acid trip and is deeply unpleasant to read. Vandermeer said something on Twitter iirc about how this was the most vile perspective he’s written, and I can’t help but wonder why this choice was made given how much it gets in the way of enjoying the story.
Reviews talk highly of Absolution’s prose and how it’s a selling point, and I agree - if you’re the type who likes this style. I love Vandermeer’s style and tone in general, but when it veers too heavily into the abstract, it loses me. For example, here’s a typical paragraph from Absolution that illustrates the prose:
"The wave became “like blood”, became “physical” and broke over them, became them, choked and bathed them, “smelling like open wounds and too lost to escape it, but to have it linger in the body, to bind us and even to froth out of our mouths like the sea, to be drowning while on land.” Ahhhhhhh there came the sounds of groveling madness and a texture like mangled dead baby birds, neither skin nor feathers, and also “something smooth and shiny that infiltrated the pores, metallic and sour, and left no trace behind but remained nonetheless, unable to get out."
I get that it’s poetic and written well, but I personally need more substance and less confusion. Annihilation did have passages like this but felt easier to follow. Acceptance had far more abstract prose like this and it was my least favorite part of that book. So it could be I’m just the wrong target audience for Absolution, but if you love the above paragraph, you’ll likely enjoy it a lot more.
So what do you learn about Area X and the original trilogy? Imo very little, but I’ll be delving into Reddit threads once the book is more available as it could be I missed things. We do learn about:
- What the physical Southern Reach building was before Area X happened
- A one liner easter egg about someone Saul cares about
- The origin of the bones in the lighthouse and (most likely) why there were so many journals
- How the initial corridor into Area X was tested
To be clear, these are blips in the overall story and sometimes one liners.
Beyond that, Lowry’s expedition led to even more questions than answers for me, and for me it ended completely ambiguously. Probably what Vandermeer wanted, but I still left feeling frustrated and unfulfilled. Spoiler section below for musings and questions for what I think happened but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In summary, if you liked the abstract prose of Acceptance and don’t need more answers about Area X, you’ll probably enjoy Absolution more than I did. I hope that Vandermeer eventually makes a sequel instead, or a prequel involving the tower and Saul, which I think is more likely what fans were wanting from this book.
August 30, 2024
ARC from NetGalley
An intriguing return to the world of Southern Reach, and ultimately a book whose reach exceeds its grasp. The building dread does not have a satisfying payout.
An intriguing return to the world of Southern Reach, and ultimately a book whose reach exceeds its grasp. The building dread does not have a satisfying payout.
Currently reading
September 10, 2024I am reading an Advance Review Copy of Absolution in an ebook format, which I received from Farrar Straus and Giroux through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 22 October 2024.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews