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A review by taisynn
Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
5.0
I read this Ebook through the Kindle Unlimited Program. Ebook was well formatted and proofread.
As for the contents of this second book of the Southern Reach series, the beginning of the book is rather boring. The protagonist is the son of a high ranking member of the faction that is sending the expeditions into Area X. Area X is so alien, so extraordinary, that it cannot be rendered into any known taxonomy. It is a distorted reflection of the environment and the people living in and around it. People who go in are somehow cloned, the thoughts and memories duplicated from the original, with wildly varying results on their personalities.
Like the first book, the protagonist, known as Control, copes with the mystery by falling back on his past memories. He falls back on the comforts of nostalgia while he, as a Fixer of the agency he works for, investigates the downfalls of the previous Director of the Southern Reach. We find out the psychologist from the first novel was that director. As he investigates, he slowly begins to unravel the events that lead up to the first novel, as well as explain that there were far more expeditions than just the thirteen told to the Biologist.
It took a while for the novel to build up; the groundwork leading up to the juice of the novel is a bit of a slog to get through, especially if you wanted answers as to whether or not the person he is interrogating is the original biologist or the recreated clone. We learn more about the original director, the psychologist, and her recklessness.
It doesn’t get very exciting until about 80% of the book. I started getting really excited to finish it then. As Control breaks away from the agency that completely failed in their efforts to contain and investigate Area X, you begin to see him as a person. A person slowly becoming enamored and more empathetic to the Biologist he is interrogating.
The mystery is not yet broken about Area X, but it’s history, the major players in the Southern Reach, and the reasons for all the hypnotism are actually explained in this one. This feels like the climax of the series, the height, and I feel like the third book shall be the crescendo to placate my curiosity.
No spoilers, but the subtle hints of a budding romance are there, and I’m low key shipping it…
As for the contents of this second book of the Southern Reach series, the beginning of the book is rather boring. The protagonist is the son of a high ranking member of the faction that is sending the expeditions into Area X. Area X is so alien, so extraordinary, that it cannot be rendered into any known taxonomy. It is a distorted reflection of the environment and the people living in and around it. People who go in are somehow cloned, the thoughts and memories duplicated from the original, with wildly varying results on their personalities.
Like the first book, the protagonist, known as Control, copes with the mystery by falling back on his past memories. He falls back on the comforts of nostalgia while he, as a Fixer of the agency he works for, investigates the downfalls of the previous Director of the Southern Reach. We find out the psychologist from the first novel was that director. As he investigates, he slowly begins to unravel the events that lead up to the first novel, as well as explain that there were far more expeditions than just the thirteen told to the Biologist.
It took a while for the novel to build up; the groundwork leading up to the juice of the novel is a bit of a slog to get through, especially if you wanted answers as to whether or not the person he is interrogating is the original biologist or the recreated clone. We learn more about the original director, the psychologist, and her recklessness.
It doesn’t get very exciting until about 80% of the book. I started getting really excited to finish it then. As Control breaks away from the agency that completely failed in their efforts to contain and investigate Area X, you begin to see him as a person. A person slowly becoming enamored and more empathetic to the Biologist he is interrogating.
The mystery is not yet broken about Area X, but it’s history, the major players in the Southern Reach, and the reasons for all the hypnotism are actually explained in this one. This feels like the climax of the series, the height, and I feel like the third book shall be the crescendo to placate my curiosity.
No spoilers, but the subtle hints of a budding romance are there, and I’m low key shipping it…