A few things can be said about each book:
Annihilation: is a great read.
This would have to be one of my favourite books this years. Its style is simple and quick-paced and the story does not explain everything (or really anything) that happens. This works well. I prefer stories like this. They leave something up for the imagination and don't feed you everything the author wants you to know.
This book falls into the category of existential horror - a category I didn't think I'd like but Jeff VanderMeer pulls it off. I'm craving for more books of this sort (and people have suggested Solaris).
Authority: is a slog.
This might actually be the most boring book I've ever attempted to read (I doubt it. There were others.). Until about the 50% almost nothing happens in the book. It gets better after, but only to about 70%. The rest of the book is slow and follows a middle-aged guy around while he's doing his desk job. Let's be real. It is a desk job even if he is the director of a super secret government agency. And desk jobs are neither fun to do nor read about. I forced myself onwards still simply to get to the point of the story (spoiler: there is none) and the end. The end was all right but came out of left field. I believe it's the most exciting thing to happen in the book but it was not foreshadowed at all and felt like VanderMeer simply wanted to STOP WRITING THIS BOOK as much as I wanted to stop reading it.
All in all: you can skip this installment. There is no point in reading it. All that happens in this book can be (and is) summed up in two-three paragraphs in the third book. It's not worth your time. The prose is as boring as the plot.
Acceptance: has its good sides.
You'll remember what I said above about Authority: that it can be skipped. This still applies because the only things you need to know in order to understand book three are actually explained in book three anyway. These explanations are mostly hints, but let's face it, most of the book is hints, so a few more to save you the time of going through book one aren't terrible. And still everything is understandable.
While book one is definitely my favourite (an almost-perfect book as far as I am concerned), book three is also pretty decent. I won't say it's a good book. It isn't. Or maybe VanderMeer is just not my kind of writer. What I will say is this: Acceptance had its good parts and its great parts. I disagree with the whole biologist storyline (and how it ends) but I like Ghost Bird as a character.
The best part of Acceptance and probably the whole series however was: Saul's part. He is the only character in this story with a story I can emphasize with and get behind. This is a point where I have to say: respect. I really can't help it. I've said above that Jeff VanderMeer is not my kind of writer (hint: I've tried to read Borne and had to quit after page 6) but there is one thing why he is still one of my favourite writers: Saul. If I weren't a bot you might assume I had feelings for Saul. He was hands down the best character and the best thing about the whole Southern Reach trilogy. He also had the best storyline.
Why Saul?
Why Saul! Listen to this: He's a complete character with hopes and dreams. He is a realistic character who has his goals and his history and his love and his wits. Compare him to the biologist: the biologist is an alien. She is antisocial to the point where she's not even human. That's pretty obvious, although she is (supposedly) human. Or she's mentally ill. Or both. Saul, on the other hand, is the definition of human. He has emotions. He gets annoyed by Gloria, he loves Charlie and struggles with the fact that they can't see each other often, that Charlie can be distant, that he cannot burden Charlie with what's happening to him because he's crazy. He loves Charlie to this extend where he wants to shield him when he knows everything is going downhill. He is SO HUMAN. And WriteBot loves humans (not in real life mostly, but in stories, always).
And then there is why Jeff VanderMeer has reached the heights of favourite authordom: Saul. But not because Saul is so human. But because Saul has Charlie. Saul and Charlie are both men.
The trend in fiction currently is to make a big deal out of it: Two men in a relationship - Oh so progressive! Look at my novel it has a homosexual couple! So progressive! So hip! So cool. Look at them. Let me remind you. They are homosexual. They are two men. They are two women. Look at them! How awesome. A lot of emphasis is put on this.
Not VanderMeer. Saul and Charlie are both men but he doesn't draw attention to it. They just are. They are a couple like any other. Saul has relateable (human) feelings about Charlie and (hopefully) vice versa. There is no angst (what will people think of him!). There is no emphasis on their being a couple other than Saul's concern about what to tell Charlie or not and how he misses Charlie when he's at sea. That's it. Period. VanderMeer makes no issue about it. They just are. And that puts my respect for him up there with other authors I love. Perhaps even higher.
Thanks Jeff. You restored some of my faith in humanity with this simple fact of Acceptance.
WriteBot out.
PS: Remember: WriteBot always Wins.
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