Quite possibly the worst book I’ve ever read.

It was so boring compared to book one.

Annihilation was so good, and then there’s this book. Book 2 of the Southern Reach trilogy seemed to be written by someone else. It’s hard to believe books 1 and 2 are by the same author. There’s very little here that’s fascinating, suspenseful, startling or even horrific, except for perhaps the overuse of the word “terroir.” VenderMeer's main character “Control" just rambles on about minutia in his mind and fact-finding blind alleys that never provide insights, and the journeys he takes just always seems to end in an uneventful dead-end. Very little in the story teases us into wanting to turn the page and find out more about what’s going on inside Area X. For the most part, all the characters seem to be devoid of expertise or insights into what’s happening with The Anamoly. This was one of the hardest books I’ve ever had to get through, and it’s only because I plan to read Booke 3 of the trilogy that I felt obligated to hang in there on this one. The last chapter almost redeems it, but I say almost. I really hope Book 3 has more to offer because Authority was simply a bore.

The point of view in the narrative is different, no longer first person. While in the first book we were carefully fed small bits of information leading to exhilarating reveals, this one inundates you with too many mundane details and flashbacks and doesn’t have that sense of “must keep reading, gotta find out what happens next” till its three am. I kept getting confused between “Central” and “Control”. It felt like we didn’t discover anything new or interesting about Area X, or anything interesting at all except for maybe there being a shimmering doorway into the border. Other than that you just learn all the emotional mommy issues of a guy who calls himself Control that really doesn’t make you care about him at all. Chapter titles are deceptive and a bit of a let down. I hope the third book is more like the first one, or at least a better different than the second one was.

There are plethora reviews that say everything I could say; but I am DISTRESSED that this is 4 stars. ALL THE STARS.

I love the main concepts of this series but there's not enough meat and way too much pasta. I'm interested in the main character but not about his nights out and what he drinks and can we please get to the point. This should be a short story rather than a novel - simply subtract the superfluous and boring filler and focus on evolving in the concept.

I really liked the first book in the series, Annihilation. The writing was concise and there was a lot of action. A lot of things were left unanswered, but I assumed they would be in the next two books. Wrong. Best way to describe the second book? He took 100 pages of action and crammed it into 550. Meandering thoughts that broke up the story line, so many SAT words that had to read several passages more than once just to understand what I was reading. If you don't know what flense means, you better have a dictionary close by when you read this book. I love to read. I'm a fairly well educated person. I did not enjoy this book. Don't waste your time.

B bby

This second book of the trilogy is sensational, extremely well written and unnerving. I had no intention of reading the entire trilogy when I started Annihilation but now I can't stop; it's like a new addiction. So it's on to Acceptance...I hope I make it!

Constantly skipping sentences because this was so slow. Zero payoff at the end for all the detective work. Loved the first book but this was a huge drop off. On to the last book, better make up for this!