Authority

By Jeff Vandermeer

I finished the second book of the Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer.  Yes, indeed, I fought my way through the fetid, cloying swamp of Area X, once again, and returned.  Not unscathed, but certainly in better shape than the first expedition with the Biologist in Book 1, Annihilation, which I found extremely difficult and impenetrable.

Book 2, Authority, by comparison, was a breath of (cheap, industrial cleanser infused) fresh air.

I liked the character of Control.  I enjoyed his bumbling journey into the Southern Reach facility and his, despite all the incompetence and self-loathing, finding something out about the plot.

Reading book 2 was not the slog that the first one was.  There was more plot mixed in with the atmospherics and suffering.  I made fast progress in the first two thirds.

In the last third he slows it down, again, and things get heavy and weird, again.  And I felt the return of that old having to work through the interminableness of it to get to the satisfying finish, or beginning, or red herring, or whatever, you never know with the Southern Reach.

And – I’m finally understanding that the Southern Reach trilogy is one story that has been lumped into three parts, so the shape of the mystery slowly appears like a gross, portentous phantom swimming in a murky tank as you progress.

And this slight lifting of the veil of plot impenetrability in book 2 allowed me to enjoy some of Vandermeer’s brilliant prose.  There were some sentences that slapped me out of my stupor long enough to sit up straight and enjoy the moment.

So, despite myself, I’m looking forward to cracking open Book 3.

And that may be the key to this series.  It’s marathon, not a sprint.

Ok. Ok. It’s an ultramarathon with sticky monsters looming off the side of the trail ready to suck your brain into a numbing, cloying vortex.

Cheers,

Chris,