authors

Jeff VanderMeer

• Jun 28, 2024 Annihilation By Jeff VanderMeer
• Dec 15, 2024 Authority By Jeff VanderMeer The second book in the Southern Reach series is I assume considered in general a bit lesser, and I more-or-less agree with that. Annihilation was a powerful story of change and identity, and with powerful imagery and crazy worldbuilding. Authority I think was ultimately a bit more ambitious than that - VanderMeer tried to maintain a sense of deep, hidden meaning while hampering himself with an environment meant to be 2-dimensional at first glance, tropes of blank-faced men in suits doing secretive things. To a certain extent he succeeded, with some more subtle flourishes, but the intentional subversion of tropes I think ultimately weighed down the story a bit too much and in the end you get a novel that is a bit of a pulp and a bit of something else and not fully, breathlessly one or the other.
• Dec 23, 2024 Acceptance By Jeff VanderMeer A solid ending(?) to the Southern Reach trilogy, still less impressive and overwhelming than the first, but a good novel on its own and enough to make you think that it was probably, in the end, worth writing more books.