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Thursday, February 9, 2017

Adventure Annotation

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Synopsis 

A psychologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor and a biologist cross the border into the dangerous and mysterious Area X. Their mission is to explore but no one really knows what they're supposed to be looking for. They discover a tunnel (which the biologist calls a tower) and that's when the weirdness starts to occur. The biologist discovers that Area X is not what it seems... and worse, neither are her expedition mates. Not even the organization (Southern Reach) who sent them into Area X can be trusted, which the biologist finds out when she visits the lighthouse in Area X. Woven throughout the story of the biologist is the story of her husband, who was on a previous expedition who came back hollow and died of an aggressive cancer 6 month later. Her husband is partly why the biologist decides to volunteer for the expedition. The fact that tragedy struck nearly all 11 previous expeditions is another -- the mystery was too great for this biologist to turn ignore. There's something in that Tower that will change the biologist in ways that she will never be able to fully understand.

Adventure Characteristics


  • Individual or group overcoming a challenge for some moral purpose - the biologist and her expedition mates are charged with exploring the dangerous and mysterious Area X.
  • Brisk, action packed - The book is suspenseful and fast paced
  • Life and death situations - the biologist faces life or death situations several times and not all of the characters mentioned in the book survive. 
  • Hero with mad skills - all of the expedition members have specialized skills that make them suited for their exploration 
  • Foreboding, danger, dark and brooding - Danger abounds in this novel, from the environment to the expedition mates. There is a hypnosis component that really adds to the darkness and the danger. I don't think that it's a spoiler to say that the title Annihilation comes from the hypnosis suggestion that will make an expedition member commit instant suicide. Pretty sinister! 
  • Physical details of the setting - exotic and mysterious places - Area X is strange and exotic but also familiar. The Tower and it's description is very mysterious and otherworldly. 
  • Colorful conversational language that engages the reader in exploits - The story is told via the biologist's journal. It's very engaging to read of this first hand experience of the expedition.
  • Often characters in a series - This is the first in a trilogy called The Southern Reach trilogy which deals with Area X.


Read-Alikes

Authority by Jeff Vandermeer (Southern Reach Trilogy Book 2)
Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeer (Southern Reach Trilogy Book 3)
The Martian by Andy Weir
Roadside Picnic by Arkadi Strugatskii
Contact by Carl Sagan


**I feel like I should mention that this book was classified as an Adventure story by my local library, so I decided to pick it up because it sounded interesting. The more I read, the more sci-fi it started to get, so I apologize if this isn't the 100% pure Adventure novel you were expecting.**



11 comments:

  1. Wow, this book looks great! I'm okay with it being an adventure/sci-fi book; that makes it even better.

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    1. I agree with you about the sci-fi making it better. I was just a little concerned that maybe I picked the wrong book for the genre. It was really good. I can't wait to read the other two books in the series, but they'll have to wait until I'm done with all my reading for this class.

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  2. I think so many of book titles cross into different genres. Sometimes it is impossible to pick out which genre it actually belongs. It looks like an interesting book. Great annotation!

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    1. Thanks so much Anne! Thanks for making me feel better about this book crossing into the sci-fi genre. :)

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  3. This sounds great! Not often do I read an 'adventure' book review and think I want to read this book but this time was different. When I got to the end and you explained how it also had many elements of sci-fi I thought "Ohhh that is why!" ha! Sci-Fi and adventure seem to be a match made in heaven though.

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    1. I'm with you, I'm not big on adventure novels. That's part of the reason I chose to do this annotation -- I need the experience! Sci-Fi and adventure definitely go hand in hand. This was a quick read and it gave away just enough to make you want to read the sequels. I highly recommend it!

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  4. It sounds like a dark and disturbing kind of story. I like it when authors add a little levity to stories like this to break the tension.

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    1. I agree, I like it when authors add levity to the story too. Even The Walking Dead injects some relief into their tense episodes. Being that this book was a bit on the shorter side, it didn't get too overwhelming.

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  5. Hi Laura,

    I had a difficult time deciding whether I should reply either to your Kirkus post or your Adventure annotation post, so I thought I could do a sort of mixed reply in one posting. First, I just wanted to say I believe you did a great job on the review and the annotation. To me it seems you really captured the essence and structure of a Kirkus Review. You gave just enough information to get a reader of the review quite intrigued; without giving away too much about the plot or characters. It’s funny, it seems as though we have similar reading tastes. My wife has had a copy of Stardust for over a decade now and we just decided to read it together. Your Kirkus made me even more excited! I can actually remember watching the movie with her around five or so years ago. On top of all of this, I thought I’d share that my wife and I are also going to see Neil Gaiman this July!

    As for you Adventure annotation, I believe you did a great job as well. I especially like your description of the “Hero with Made Skills” However, I must admit I only glanced at your annotation out of the corner of my eye because Annihilation is literally my next read and I was trying to go into the read as “unexpected” as possible. Your annotation seals the deal that I’m in for a great read and a read that is right up my alley! As a fellow reader and librarian I am hooked by your annotation. Ironically, I am also about a quarter of the way through one of the Read-alikes, Roadside Picnic. I need to pick that book up again after having taken too long of a break from it. So, thank you!

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    1. Thanks so much for your kind words Jonathan! I love it that you're reading Stardust together with your wife. After almost 6 years together, I've finally convinced by husband to read Neil Gaiman. He's reading American Gods right now, but he's not a big reader so he's still getting through it. So so so jealous that you're going to see Neil this July. I saw him on the American Gods book tour and it was magical. You should keep your blog and write about the experience so I can live vicariously through you.

      So glad Annihilation is on your to-read list. I think you'll enjoy it if you're a Neil Gaiman fan.

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  6. Fantastic annotation! I loved your little disclaimer at the end about it being a crossover sci-fi books. It really happens all the time. Amazing job with the appeals. This book has been on my to read shelf for some time. Full points!

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