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Annihilation

By: Jeff VanderMeer
Narrated by: Carolyn McCormick
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Publisher's Summary

The first volume of the extraordinary Southern Reach trilogy - now a major motion picture written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina) and starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac.

For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border – an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness. The Southern Reach, a secretive government agency, has sent eleven expeditions to investigate Area X. One has ended in mass suicide, another in a hail of gunfire, the eleventh in a fatal cancer epidemic. Now four women embark on the twelfth expedition into the unknown.

©2014 Jeff VanderMeer Creative, Inc. (P)2014 2014 by Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"A tense and chilling psychological thriller about an unravelling expedition and the strangeness within us. A little Kubrick, a lot of Lovecraft, the novel builds with an unbearable tension and claustrophobic dread that lingers long afterwards. I loved it." (Lauren Beukes, award-winning author of Zoo City and The Shining Girls)
"Original and beautiful, maddening and magnificent." (Warren Ellis)
"One of those books where it all comes together - the story and the prose and the ideas, all braided into a triple helix that gives rise to something vibrant and alive. Something that grows, word-by-word, into powerful, tangled vines that creep into your mind and take hold of it. Annihilation is brilliant and atmospheric, a novel that has the force of myth." (Charles Yu, author of How to Live in a Science Fictional Universe)
"A contemporary masterpiece." ( The Guardian)

What listeners say about Annihilation

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A contemporary masterpiece

Opinion is just that, and your mileage may vary, but I loved Annihilation. Not "enjoyed" or "liked"; loved. My response to this book, and inability to articulate it properly is the biggest compliment I could pay the author. It's intelligent, fantastic, tragic, surprising, suspenseful and poignant in a way very few stories are. Even if you're not sure you'll enjoy it, it's worth taking a chance on. I it's just that good.

I read constantly. I've even read a few of the classics. Largely - and pathetically, I realised later - so I could say that, yes, I *had* read Ulysses and, in so doing, earned my citation for bravery in the face of James Joyce. Point is: I read a lot, across many genres, and there have been perhaps 2 or 3 books which captivated me as Annihilation did.

Describing Annihilation is difficult, beyond a fairly banal and generic assertion that it defies categorisation or summary. While it takes elements from sci-fi, horror, thriller, adventure, it is none of those. Annihilation is, however, very much the type of story from which everyone will take a slightly different message. The closest I could come to a genre for it would be philosophical- or existential- horror, but that doesn't begin to properly capture the tone or feel of the narrative.

The subtext and themes throughout are beautifully woven, and never overpower the story; so much so that I'm certain I missed as much as I caught on my first read through. While unique, the author's style has echos of Palahniuk, Easton Ellis, and even Lovecraft. In fact, the protagonist's introspection and internal journey are so well depicted that I wonder how much of themselves the author injected into the narrative.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

honestly thought the movie did it better

not terrible, but I wish I'd read another book instead.
it kept me reading long enough to finish it.
a big "meh" from me
voice acting was excellent.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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brilliantly imaginative, but...

Amazingly imaginative with unique world building and a suspenseful setting. Hence I am at a loss over how it's so boring. I listened because it was highly recommended and lauded by an opinion I trust, and I can see why it was. But, IMO, that powerful context, setting and suspense doesn't lend well to how heavily the story relies on mundane allegory and sentiment to build momentum. For me the result irritatingly ends up failing to suspend disbelief on so many occasions.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Intriguing and suspenseful

Loved the narrator, story was interesting and I loved the way the narrator built suspense. Can't wait for the next two books to come out on Audible!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Weird SciFi at it's best

Great narrator and a wonderfully hallucinatory and intriguing narrative. The author has the great skill of not attempting to over explain the inexplicable...

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Neutral, but curious enough for the next book.

Well written, am curious for the next book as it's a three part series... in hope for some action. Overall, it was interesting and I liked it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a very good and original novel

I really like this novel that I listened in 2 days. The reader job was also excellent and atuned to the storyline

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Must read!

This book was at once totally other and completely familiar. I hung on every word.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Unusual story

Narrator’s handling of punctuation detracts from the story. Listeners may enjoy the story more if read in this case.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

amazing book with an amazing performance

At first as I listened to the book, I thought the narrator sounded a little uninterested. however this does not last long and soon becomes one of the best books I have listened to, which is out of quite a few!

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