In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s now-classic Southern Reach series, Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades and nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilisation. Expedition after expedition into Area X has failed to uncover its mysteries and the true nature of its danger to the world.
Now a twelfth expedition makes the attempt, a group of four women: an anthropologist, a surveyor, a psychologist and the narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X.
Dark bleatings, my adventurous tribe! I realise I’m pretty late to the party with this one, but I’m talking about Annihilation today and – fair warning – there WILL be spoilers here for both the book and the film adaptation. I don’t normally write spoiler reviews but I want to compare and contrast a little bit here so I’m afraid it’s unavoidable!
There were things I liked and disliked about the book and the film. I saw the movie first, as it happens, and had a few gripes with it. I was sure I’d like the book a lot more, but they’re about even for me.
Lena is a scientist/academic and is also ex army, and she joins a team to explore and document Area X, a mysterious, veiled area that appears to be expanding. Things that were once very much of our world have mutated – plants, animals, and also humans. They’re supposed to document and report back, but people who venture into Area X don’t tend to make it back out.
I absolutely love the premise and the concept of a section of our world becoming otherworldly, dangerous, and so mysterious. Sadly, that’s where my love for this story started and also died, because though I liked other things, I didn’t love anything else. My first issue, and this is worse in the book than in the film, is Lena. I don’t have to like a protagonist but I do at least need to be interested in them, and though I was very interested in the mission, I found Lena a bit…meh. I do think she was fleshed out with a little more personality in the film, but I found it very hard to care about her in either version, honestly. The character is kind of stoic and closed off, and that’s fine, but she also seemed quite devoid of personality. I think she was better in the movie because it gave her more to do and react to than she has in the book, but I’m sorry to say I don’t think she was a great lead for us to follow.
What I really liked in the book:
The tower. Man, I was SO interested in that tower. I was dying to know what lay at the bottom of it and what might be lurking in the dark.
The mystical elements of Area X and that whole concept in general.
The themes – we’re thinking about the meaning of life, the nature of life, and the evolution of everything. It’s almost cosmic.
What I really liked in the film:
The creatures! There’s a little bit in the book but they really developed this aspect and showed us much more in the film. The alligator attack was great and that bear was absolutely horrifying – a real horror marvel and I think it’s quite underrated, as horror beasts go. The people they encounter (they must have really loved gardening…) were fascinating to me.
The team and their relationships. Though I didn’t love Lena, I did like her more as part of this team, which was full of very strong, contrasting personalities, and the performances were great too.
The cinematography in general – it looked gorgeous.
What I didn’t like in the book:
A bit of a bleh protagonist.
The pacing wasn’t great, in my humble opinion. It’s a lot of Lena thinking about the fact she doesn’t really care about herself or the team, obsessing about the tower, and going in and out of the tower. Though I loved the tower, I found it all a bit repetitive. I think the film opened up the location and used it much better, generally speaking. The really interesting thing about this story is the landscape and I felt it was underused in the book, though that may be because I had the visual of the film in mind already.
What I didn’t like in the film:
Almost everything to do with the lighthouse and the ending. I think Lena making it out kind of undercut the point of her personal journey from the book, and the explosion of light in the film just felt too big and also too random.
No tower! I guess they cut the tower stuff to expand other elements, and I did like those other elements, but the tower was the most interesting part of the book so I was disappointed to see that they sort of booted aspects of it into the lighthouse and disregarded it.
I think that Jeff Vandermeer is an excellent writer but I guess there was just a bit of a disconnect for me this time. I’d love to hear what other readers think though, I’m afraid that I’ve missed something monumental!
Overall, this is a mid story for me. I’d recommend it to people who enjoy a bleak character journey and otherworldly elements. If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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