Annihilation cover art

Annihilation

Southern Reach, Book 1

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Annihilation

By: Jeff VanderMeer
Narrated by: Carolyn McCormick
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About this listen

 ’A contemporary masterpiece’ Guardian

THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE EXTRAORDINARY SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY – NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ALEX GARLAND (EX MACHINA) AND STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC

For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border – an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness.

The Southern Reach, a secretive government agency, has sent eleven expeditions to investigate Area X. One has ended in mass suicide, another in a hail of gunfire, the eleventh in a fatal cancer epidemic.

Now four women embark on the twelfth expedition into the unknown.

©2014 Jeff VanderMeer Creative, Inc. (P)2014 2014 by Blackstone Audio, Inc. Adventure Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense Thriller Technology Scary Suspense

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All stars
Most relevant  
The story deserves a better audio productiom. The plot is interesting and thats why I powered through this truely awful reading. the performance is flat and feels rushed like the reader is disinterested and wants to get the job over and done with as fast as possible and so rushed the reading. This does not fit in terms of pacing and left me feeling frustrated and to be perfectly honest irritated to the point I was on the verge of giving up on multiple occasions. its a shame because the book itself is good and its a true testament to the plot that I kept going... but yea, honestly one of the worst preformances I've come across on audible, rushed, emotionless and flat from a preformer who seems to be completely uninterested in what they are reading. Good book truly awful performance... Its not a long book so I recommend reading it instead of listening, I wish that's what I'd done

The story is great, the reading is terrible

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Honestly I'm not quite sure why I decided to read this book in the first place as I watched the film adaptation and didn't like it, but maybe part of me hoped that the book would be better. It wasn't.

With regards to the narrator, I have to say I wasn't a fan. Her voice was very monotonous and so incredibly slow. Towards the end of the book I was turning it to 1.5x speed and only then did it seem bearable.

I had the same problem with the book as I did with the film to be honest, I was okay with it at the beginning. I liked the story telling and I think it was well written. I genuinely wanted to get to the end, however as the book went on I found it a chore to listen to. I'd delayed listening to the last 30 minutes or so for days. This wasn't a bad book by any means I just think the plot wasn't for me, I most likely will not be reading the following books.

(3/10)

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It's so good to see women as complex and unique individuals with their own faults, idiosyncrasies, and strengths.

Imaginative and enthralling

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If you came here for a written version of the film then unfortunately you won't find that here. This was different in many ways but filled me with the same existential cosmic horror and evoked the same feeling. It was incredibly vivid in its description and conjured tactile and emotional imagery that is really worth experiencing.

5 stars

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I truly enjoyed the story and its creeping implications. The storytelling is spot on and the worldbuilding on point. can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series.

oh and dont mind the hater, the narrarion was fine!

A really intriguing tale of cosmic horror.

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Like many others I found the narrator quite flat, even sped up the second half of the book just to get through it. The anticipation build up was pretty good until the last half an hour and then the story just felt mental - sort of like the author had been rushed to finish it. It’s part of a trilogy so that doesn’t make sense but I felt the climax was well, anti-climatic. I don’t often DNF but I won’t be continuing the series

Flat narration

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Tried for two days to get into this book, it's all over the place, makes you realise they did a fab job of putting it on film. This version doesn't flow, usually books are far superior than that of the film. I was looking forward to getting a more in-depth story. sorry not for me

feel let down and disappointed

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Gripping, thought provoking, well written. I am going to read the rest of the trilogy now. Hope they and the film live up to this first book!

Brilliant

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This is actually the second time I've listened through this and it won't be the last. I won't pretend the film isn't what got me curious, it was. Being a lover of ecology and also a bit (okay, quite) weird, this booked suited me to a tee. Much like Area X, the novel as a whole is somewhere and simultaneously not like anything else: a little science fiction, a little horror, a little fantasy. It has inspired me and my own writing (which I will finish one day). I love it and when I've read the sequels, I will probably listen through this again next year. This may be my "once a year" book. I just love how... bizarre it is.

I have to write specifically on Carolyn McCormick's narration. I couldn't think of a better narrator and now I've heard it, I wouldn't want anyone else narrating it. It simmers with sceptical curiosity that VanderMeer writes into the Biologist.

My Introduction to Weird Fiction

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If you're looking for a conventional thriller or horror, this is not the book for you. This is a gripping, unsettling, subtle, and mysterious book in the tradition of Lovecraft.

Our hero is unnamed and unreliable. She's vainly irrational and driven by motivations she doesn't acknowledge.

The narration is a little difficult. It's edited sick that there are few pauses but in some ways this may reinforces the sense of otherness.

This is a strange, compelling book which offers little closure but it's a pleasure to read something unusual and so very, very imaginative.

Beautifully strange

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