Rambling about: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
"Annihilation" is the first book of The Southern Reach series. I should probably write a plot summary, but that sounds like a nightmare when already writing this piece will be very hard.
I am bad at writing and concentrating and got sidetracked three a lot of times since starting this draft in VIM because Wayland broke support for GTK global menu and that SOMEHOW is a dealbreaker for me using my favourite text editor (Mousepad) and QT-based editors are either Too MuchTM for a simple draft (I really like Kate but too much stuff on screen) or REALLY unappealing to me visually (like Notepadqq which is FineTM, but has ugly transparencies Kvantum does not fix, probably a skill issue on my side).
Anyway.
This book lures you in with the promise of sci-fi horror, lovecraftian creatures and misteries, but behind this veneer lies a tale of personal struggle, existential dread and grief.
Mind you, the veneer itself is great. Area X is hauntingly beautiful, the descriptions of the creatures and of the environments hold a morbid charm to them. But, at least for me, the real horror does not come from the unknown origin of the danger, or its monstrous manifestaations.
The real horror lies in the perennial cage of anguish and isolation the Biologist finds herself locked in.
An infancy of isolation with only her defective parents as apparent company forged her into a loner, unable to connect with people. The only one who manages to latch onto her slippery shell is her husband, and even then there's a layer of separation between them, that seems to reduce only after his death.
Her only comfort is studying nature, which naturally becomes her job, depriving her of peace even there. She finds herself in a niche field working alone, which coupled with her inability to interact with people leads her to constantly jump projects when the fundings run out, never allowing for peace of mind and always leaving her without a place she can call her own.
Ironically, it's in the dangers of Area X where she finds some respite. In the battle with the unknown horrors she finds her place, even deepeing her understanding of the only other human she got close to.
The other characters, while being solidly characterized, are not explored very much, but to me this works. The Biologist is unable to connect with humans, and since the book is basically her diary, it makes sense that we only know what she infers about them by interacting as little as possible.
And as little as possible does the author also tell us about Area X. We know nothing. Not about what happened, not about the tower, not about the Crawler, not about the Lighthouse. Zero. Zilch. Nada. And honestly? I wanna know but also kiinda not? The unknown is such an integrating part of the narrative, and is used in such an endearing way that to me it would spoil the fun. Loredumping absolutely can be fun, but the opposite is also true, and this is a prime example.
I found the writing and pacing vey pleasant, to me there's a good balance between narrative and descriptions, and I think the author also did a great job at staying out of the way of the story. The whole book actually feels like a journal.
Another great accompishment of the author is writing a female character whose foundation is not being a combination of HOT & SMART. I mean, she's smart, but this is shown through her actions and not told to us. Her being awkward and a loner is not sold as a charming point, as sometimes is sadly the case. She never boobily breasts down the stairs.
The Biologist feels like a human being. An imperfect, sad, almost unpleasant human being, trying desperatly to move through life, ofter unaware of her shortcomings or aware but unable to fight them properly.
All in all in my opinion "Annihilation" is a great read, with great atmosphere, good premise and a really interesting protagonist. Would strongly recommend.
By the time I'm finishing this review I have started the second book, and up until now it has been great. I REALLY hope this keeps going, because man, I havent't had that much fun reading something in a while.