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Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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Annihilation

The Southern Reach Series (Book 1)

Publisher
Blackstone Publishing
Publish Date
4 February 2014
Run Time
6 hours 11 minutes
Format
Audiobook
$13.95

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What to expect

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ALEX GARLAND, STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award–winning novel that “reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world” (Kim Stanley Robinson). This 10th Anniversary Edition features a new introduction by New York Times bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler.

If J. J. Abrams, Margaret Atwood, and Alan Weisman collaborated on a novel … it might be this awesome.

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

This is the twelfth expedition.

Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist, a surveyor, a psychologist—the de facto leader—and a biologist, who is our narrator. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life-forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Cover artwork © Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Critics Review

  • “Carolyn McCormick narrates increasingly disturbing events with an unwavering calm that makes the listening experience all the more chilling…McCormick gives a haughty, deep voice to the psychologist, the leader of the group whose intentions may not be what they seem. Her arrogant tone contrasts nicely with the gritty and increasingly anxious tones of the surveyor as the group uncovers deadly secrets better left alone.”

    AudioFile

  • “A little Kubrick, a lot Lovecraft, the novel builds with an unbearable tension and a claustrophobic dread that linger long afterward.”

    Lauren Beukes, Sunday Times (London) bestselling author

  • “A captivating meander…that veers between the beautiful and the terrifying.”

    Entertainment Weekly

  • “[A] deeply imaginative little shocker…full of metaphysical-graffiti imagery and tightly executed reveals that stay with you long afterward.”

    Wired

See more reviews
  • “[A] wonderfully creepy blend of horror and science fiction…Speculative fiction at its most transfixing.”

    Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

  • “Brilliant…Evocative descriptions…masterful psychological insight, and intellectual observations both profound and disturbing.”

    Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  • “Weaves together an otherworldly tale of the supernatural and the half-human. Delightfully, this page-turner is the first in a trilogy.”

    Booklist (starred review)

  • “A dystopian story with literary overtones.”

    Library Journal

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Details

Author
Jeff VanderMeer
Narrator
Carolyn McCormick
Duration
6 hours 11 minutes
Release Date
4 February 2014
ISBN
9781482956719
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Blackstone Publishing
Genre
Science fiction, Fiction: general and literary, Fantasy, Thriller / suspense fiction, Adventure fiction, Dystopian and utopian fiction

Synopsis

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ALEX GARLAND, STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award–winning novel that “reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world” (Kim Stanley Robinson). This 10th Anniversary Edition features a new introduction by New York Times bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler.If J. J. Abrams, Margaret Atwood, and Alan Weisman collaborated on a novel … it might be this awesome.Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.This is the twelfth expedition.Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist, a surveyor, a psychologist—the de facto leader—and a biologist, who is our narrator. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life-forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.Cover artwork © Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

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