Review: Authority (Southern Reach #2)
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4 stars. Wow. I loved this. I missed the biologist - I missed her voice - but Authority kept my attention even under these weird reading circumstances. What an aptly-named book, by the way. Area X is fascinating, but I was more fascinated by the way the author played with broad concepts. The authority we seek (or, ahem, control) globally, over the planet, over countries, over the environment, and also the authority we seek on petty levels, over colleagues, over spaces, over emotions we can't truly stifle or escape from.
Authority picks up where we left off in Annihilation with a perspective shift to a new director at Southern Reach. He has replaced the psychologist and must adapt to this role while navigating office politics and attempting to solve the mystery of Area X itself. The members of the twelfth expedition have returned, apparently including the biologist, and this sparks an explosive series of events that completely erode the new director's impression of his job, his role, his purpose, and his identity.
Narratively and tone-wise the writing is more dense here, more complex than in the first book. I adored Annihilation for its simplicity and direction and voice, and Authority is simply not simple or direct or even trustworthy at times. But I was rewarded with a casually catastrophic third act that left me breathless and smiling ... a true gunshot of an ending both surprising and inevitable. For a book so freakish in premise and horrifying in a few seriously disturbing, if not a little cartoonish, ways, there are some skewering truths about humanity embedded in its pages.
I recently read House of Leaves, so of course it stuck out to me that the author played with space here in ways that are interesting. The idea that space - physical space - isn't reliable? Terrifying. He similarly plays with memory, logic, and intention. I'm not sure I enjoyed how the protagonist's character unraveled - a lot of seemingly random quotes from old family members - but I think that's partly too because I just simply loved and admired the biologist so deeply.
I can't recommend Jeff VanderMeer enough. From his concepts to his writing to his ability to create and maintain subtle threads of apprehension and dread - this trilogy is excellent. I look forward to the last one.