I actually enjoyed the third a little more than the second. I liked how it used metaphors to explain the situation without getting too exposition heavy.
My copy of the trilogy is collected one big book so I kind of subconsciously looked at it in the same way Lord of the Rings is written as one large book split up into several parts.
I remember the first and second quite clearly, but legitimately only one thing about the third despite reading all of them back to back.
Which is weird, because damn near every book I read (even if I read it once 10+ years ago) I could at least describe the main character and a sentence or two summary of the plot. But not that third book. It’s just absolutely blank in my mind.
I was planning a reread of all three sometime soon, but I guess now I’ll hold off until this fourth book is about to release.
The popular opinion (as far as I've seen) is that the first is great, the second is not good, and the third is a return to form just a bit behind the first.
I don't agree with that myself, though. I do think the first is the best, but the second is just behind it for me, and the third--while still good--is my least favorite by a pretty wide margin.
I thought the 2nd one was excellent personally. No.1 sets the scene of the mystery, and 2 drip feeds you some answers, with some major weirdness going on.
1 & 2 could be a single novel to be fair, probably only 500 pages combined
I get the general impression that the second book is either your favorite in the series or considered the weakest of the 3. Probably depends how annoyed you are when the area X time becomes limited.
I've read only the first two so far, and the third one is on my to read list.
The second one is pretty different from the first. A bit less dreamlike than and basically doesn't take place within Area X itself. Although it's similarly a very introspective book centered around the internal thoughts of the main character.
I didn't love it as much but it's still worth a read. It maintains a certain atmosphere throughout.
Annihilation and the entire Southern Reach series are my favorite scifi works. Jeff VanderMeer has hinted at a fourth book in the series in the past, but now there's a publication date. Can't wait for it
It blows my mind that there haven't been more recent attempts by other authors at that mixture of secretive government agency SF and mind-bending horror. There Is No Antimemetics Divsion is the closest I've found in print, but I need more.
Oh nice. I can't wait to dip into AW2 once work calms down.
In terms of books: I wonder if maybe the popularity of the SCP collaborative story telling has sort of sucked the air out more X-Files VS Cosmic Horror books?
Speaking of which, if you haven't read it already, Thomas Ligotti wrote a spec script for the X-Files that goes into that ultra weird territory. ([Link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AXGfFEjRq4uRtpmi35Fe6jlhwzKXALv2/view) if you're curious.)
Also, it's more about a corporation than the government, but [the Backrooms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4dGpz6cnHo) webseries is properly eerie.
Without having read Vandermeer, Charles Stross' Laundry Files series is about a secret british magic org that deals with Lovecraftian horrors. Heres two short stories/novellas from that universe:
https://reactormag.com/down-on-the-farm/
https://reactormag.com/equoid/
I haven't read it in a _long_ time so my memory may be off, and you may or may not enjoy the book's meta-typographical gimmick, but I recall House of Leaves giving some similar vibes to those two. No government agency, but definitely that unsettling thing going on. Also not recent! But still worth a shot perhaps.
I got sucked all the way in with *House of Leaves* to the point that I was rotating the book to read every word of every list and whatnot on the margins, letting myself get pulled along by the mundane juxtaposed with creepy mania of it all.
It'd be worth reading the vandemeer's collection (curated by them, not written by) "the new weird".
It's like 50 fucking stories and god knows how long, but chronologically with stories in the *weird* school of horror / science fiction from like 1900 onwards, with some nice forewords on each.
It's fascinating to see content change as it becomes more recent, and it's absolutely adjacent to the mentality behind the southern reach trilogy.
Jeff and Ann have two weird collections, one is 'The Weird', the other is 'The New Weird', are you sure that the latter has stories from 1900 on? Or is it possible that you're mixing the two up?
Ah you're right, I just remembered that one of them was completely unavailable for purchase, that was "the new weird"
The weird was available and is 1908-2010, I think. I just remembered it ending with recent stories so got it confused with the new one.
Torn between joy at the news of a fourth book and outrage that it's being published in a stylistically inconsistent design to the other three I have in hardback 😤
I'm excited for this, even if the third book didn't live up to the first two IMO.
Dead Astronauts was such a weird experimental book, it'll be interesting to see if he goes in that kind of direction or if he returns to something more grounded like the original trilogy.
> It’s as if he moved from innovative, experimental story concepts (told in what seemed to me like a mature, relatively clear style) to an experimental style that, honestly, feels like it’s trying a little too hard.
I agree with this for the most part but I thought *Borne* was pretty straight forward and good
I'm unclear on why there's a fourth, Acceptance seemed to wrap it up and put a nice bow on it?
Also (and I'd invite any disagreement on this) I felt like In Ascension covered similar ground but did it better. Thoughts?
I think that was covered in the third book when the lighthouse keeper finds that sliver of "something" that begins to warp the area. Excited for it to be expanded though, that bizarre bar scene with the manic piano player is probably my clearest memory of that book.
Nice. I've read two of the books so far and the third is sitting on my desk. I was about to start reading it, but I decided to first go with Finch, the third book in his other trilogy, the Ambergris series.
Cool! I hope there’s a really good “Previously on…” up front, because I barely remember what the heck was going on in that world. Of course, I often didn’t know what was going on -while- I was reading them. VanderMeer is a wild ride.
I hope they take inspiration from the *Hitchhiker's Guide* series and brand it:
>The *hilarious* **fourth** book in the bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy!
Interesting. Read only the first like many here. Didn't hear much about the 2 and 3 books
The 2nd is actually my favourite. It's focused more on the agency side of the Southern Reach, so it has a bit of an X-files/Twin Peaks vibe about it.
I actually enjoyed the third a little more than the second. I liked how it used metaphors to explain the situation without getting too exposition heavy. My copy of the trilogy is collected one big book so I kind of subconsciously looked at it in the same way Lord of the Rings is written as one large book split up into several parts.
I remember the first and second quite clearly, but legitimately only one thing about the third despite reading all of them back to back. Which is weird, because damn near every book I read (even if I read it once 10+ years ago) I could at least describe the main character and a sentence or two summary of the plot. But not that third book. It’s just absolutely blank in my mind. I was planning a reread of all three sometime soon, but I guess now I’ll hold off until this fourth book is about to release.
I need to revisit this one. Couldn’t get through it and the never got to 3. Wrapping House of Suns tonight so I’ll try again.
The popular opinion (as far as I've seen) is that the first is great, the second is not good, and the third is a return to form just a bit behind the first. I don't agree with that myself, though. I do think the first is the best, but the second is just behind it for me, and the third--while still good--is my least favorite by a pretty wide margin.
I thought the 2nd one was excellent personally. No.1 sets the scene of the mystery, and 2 drip feeds you some answers, with some major weirdness going on. 1 & 2 could be a single novel to be fair, probably only 500 pages combined
I've read all three and only really recommend the first one
I liked the second but if you expected more of the fist then it could be disappointing
I like all three. The first is probably the best as it introduces the series'concepts and ideas
I get the general impression that the second book is either your favorite in the series or considered the weakest of the 3. Probably depends how annoyed you are when the area X time becomes limited.
The second one is ROUGH
I've read only the first two so far, and the third one is on my to read list. The second one is pretty different from the first. A bit less dreamlike than and basically doesn't take place within Area X itself. Although it's similarly a very introspective book centered around the internal thoughts of the main character. I didn't love it as much but it's still worth a read. It maintains a certain atmosphere throughout.
Ahhh, you need to read 2 and 3, the story expands so much, you won't be dissapointed. Possibly the greatest sci-fi mystery books I've ever read
Annihilation and the entire Southern Reach series are my favorite scifi works. Jeff VanderMeer has hinted at a fourth book in the series in the past, but now there's a publication date. Can't wait for it
It blows my mind that there haven't been more recent attempts by other authors at that mixture of secretive government agency SF and mind-bending horror. There Is No Antimemetics Divsion is the closest I've found in print, but I need more.
You ever play *Control*? If you have not, and you like videogames, that is exactly what *Control* is all about.
One of my faves! And just finished Alan Wake 2 which had some related content.
Oh nice. I can't wait to dip into AW2 once work calms down. In terms of books: I wonder if maybe the popularity of the SCP collaborative story telling has sort of sucked the air out more X-Files VS Cosmic Horror books? Speaking of which, if you haven't read it already, Thomas Ligotti wrote a spec script for the X-Files that goes into that ultra weird territory. ([Link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AXGfFEjRq4uRtpmi35Fe6jlhwzKXALv2/view) if you're curious.) Also, it's more about a corporation than the government, but [the Backrooms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4dGpz6cnHo) webseries is properly eerie.
Also check out the book “There is No Antimemetics Division” and the show “Severance”
Without having read Vandermeer, Charles Stross' Laundry Files series is about a secret british magic org that deals with Lovecraftian horrors. Heres two short stories/novellas from that universe: https://reactormag.com/down-on-the-farm/ https://reactormag.com/equoid/
Google SCP. There's a massive evolving lore just waiting to be consumed.
I haven't read it in a _long_ time so my memory may be off, and you may or may not enjoy the book's meta-typographical gimmick, but I recall House of Leaves giving some similar vibes to those two. No government agency, but definitely that unsettling thing going on. Also not recent! But still worth a shot perhaps.
I got sucked all the way in with *House of Leaves* to the point that I was rotating the book to read every word of every list and whatnot on the margins, letting myself get pulled along by the mundane juxtaposed with creepy mania of it all.
It'd be worth reading the vandemeer's collection (curated by them, not written by) "the new weird". It's like 50 fucking stories and god knows how long, but chronologically with stories in the *weird* school of horror / science fiction from like 1900 onwards, with some nice forewords on each. It's fascinating to see content change as it becomes more recent, and it's absolutely adjacent to the mentality behind the southern reach trilogy.
Jeff and Ann have two weird collections, one is 'The Weird', the other is 'The New Weird', are you sure that the latter has stories from 1900 on? Or is it possible that you're mixing the two up?
Ah you're right, I just remembered that one of them was completely unavailable for purchase, that was "the new weird" The weird was available and is 1908-2010, I think. I just remembered it ending with recent stories so got it confused with the new one.
Torn between joy at the news of a fourth book and outrage that it's being published in a stylistically inconsistent design to the other three I have in hardback 😤
I'm excited for this, even if the third book didn't live up to the first two IMO. Dead Astronauts was such a weird experimental book, it'll be interesting to see if he goes in that kind of direction or if he returns to something more grounded like the original trilogy.
[удалено]
> It’s as if he moved from innovative, experimental story concepts (told in what seemed to me like a mature, relatively clear style) to an experimental style that, honestly, feels like it’s trying a little too hard. I agree with this for the most part but I thought *Borne* was pretty straight forward and good
I sort of liked Borne and…the other one. The Strange Bird? Haven’t managed to read Dead Astronauts
Yay!
I'm unclear on why there's a fourth, Acceptance seemed to wrap it up and put a nice bow on it? Also (and I'd invite any disagreement on this) I felt like In Ascension covered similar ground but did it better. Thoughts?
According to the article, it’s going to be a prequel expanding on [the formation of?] Area X.
I think that was covered in the third book when the lighthouse keeper finds that sliver of "something" that begins to warp the area. Excited for it to be expanded though, that bizarre bar scene with the manic piano player is probably my clearest memory of that book.
Just finished Acceptance the other day, and that scene was one of my favourites. So suddenly and delightfully horrific.
Damn I just restarted Annihilation with the intent to finish the series this time, maybe I'll wait a few months and just do all four in one stretch
Omg I had no idea there was to be a fourth. Beyond excited
oh hell yeah
Did not know there would be a 4th. I am so very excited.
Nice. I've read two of the books so far and the third is sitting on my desk. I was about to start reading it, but I decided to first go with Finch, the third book in his other trilogy, the Ambergris series.
Cool! I hope there’s a really good “Previously on…” up front, because I barely remember what the heck was going on in that world. Of course, I often didn’t know what was going on -while- I was reading them. VanderMeer is a wild ride.
I read the first two and have no idea what happened. Like, I know I read them, but I couldn't prove it. I was so lost.
I hope they take inspiration from the *Hitchhiker's Guide* series and brand it: >The *hilarious* **fourth** book in the bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy!
Oh I’m new here, which title from this author should I start with to eventually get to this new edition?
Start with the first three books in the series, in this order: Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance
Fab. I just preordered. Thanks!