Annihilation

This book takes place in Area X, a strange ecological area created by a nonspecific catastrophic “event”. The current expedition is the 12th to the area, and the researchers have been well-prepared for the trip. They’ve studied interviews from past travelers and have been quizzed on essential like area maps and expedition guidelines.

The group, including the surveyor, linguist, anthropologist, biologist and psychologist, has been encouraged to not exchange names or build relationships in order to focus on the mission. They are also forbidden to share notes as the organization wants to ensure that their written accounts stay as objective as possible.

The group leader is the psychologist and she utilizes the power of hypnosis to help the group cross the “difficulties” of the border separating Area X from the rest of the world.

After arriving, the linguist turns back almost immediately. The rest of the group continues on and stumbles across this underground structure that was missing completely from the maps that they studied. Immediately, this structure causes unease because it has either appeared without the organization’s knowledge, or has been deliberately concealed from them.

The biologist, the narrator, feels an immediate pull toward the structure and an unshakeable compulsion to refer to it as a tower instead of a tunnel like the others.

The group comes to a general consensus to go down into the tower. Upon descent, the group encounters words on the walls of the tower that appear to be made up of living moss-like material. After being appointed the resident subject matter expert, the biologist was observing the moss up close when she gets a puff of spores in her face. Though nobody else noticed, she was shaken up and advised that they should return with PPE.

Throughout this book, the biologist gives us bits and pieces about her husband’s story line, which ends shortly after his mysterious return from Area X on the previous 11th by expedition. She describes being surprised by the sudden return, and bewildered by the uncharacteristic behavior of this man who after 2 days, was picked up for questioning and observation.

The narrator doesn’t give us many details about her husband or his expedition at first due to her overwhelming desire to be seen as objective. Even as she monitors her body for signs of distress caused by the spores, her journal remains objective, omitting details on how she feels to focus on documentation objective measures.

One morning, the psychologist announces that the anthropologist has decided to head back. Neither the biologist pro surveyor believe this fully, but they move on. Shortly after, the psychologist uses hypnosis to plant specific memories and decisions that seem to aim to deceive the other group members about their reality. However, it’s at this point the biologist realizes that she is no longer affected by the hypnosis at all.

Changed by the word spores, the biologist seems to be receptive to new truths. With a new vision of the tower and the mission in front of her, the biologist seeks more and more answers that simply leave her with more questions.

This book is beautifully written, detailing the narrator’s experiences pre-expedition as well as during it. It is easy to gauge the narrator’s quiet desperation for the truth through her decisions and journaled details.

This book was fantastical, making you trust the narrator for her objective truth while asking yourself whether any of the story was real or not. Loved it.