Acceptance is a 2014 science fiction horror novel by Jeff VanderMeer and the third novel in the Southern Reach trilogy. With the Southern Reach having fallen and the fate of the world unknown after Area X started to expand, Control and Ghost Bird embark upon their own expedition into this anomalous landscape in the hopes of reaching a remote island that they believe may hold the answers they seek. For Control, it’s the secrets behind Area X and how to stop it from expanding; for Ghost Bird, it is the fate of the biologist from the twelfth expedition, of whom she is a copy, in the hopes of gaining closure and a better understanding of who she is separate from her progenitor.

Authority was something of a drawn-out low point for me with reading this trilogy, especially after the brisk and captivating Annihilation. It was still a good book, and its slower pace had thematic relevance, but it definitely dragged as a reading experience. Nevertheless, its ending promised another journey into the unknown and, I hoped, another dramatic shift in perspective and narrative format. I was quickly pleased to discover I was correct, as this novel presents yet more perspectives, both past and present, rarely intersecting literally but providing different revelations that helped to dispel the enigmatic Area X, a place that defies control and fundamentally changes that which comes within its borders, under its own whims.

While we’re presented with a good number of points of view, the three distinct narrative threads concern the POV of Saul Evans, the lighthouse keeper, from before Area X’s border came down, the psychologist/former director’s second-person reflection on her time running the Southern Reach leading up to the twelfth expedition, and interchangeably Control or Ghost Bird’s perspective in the present as they try to reach The Island. Switching between these distinct threads made for an excellent change in pace, each with their own promise of tantalizing revelation that had me eager to continue reading no matter whose perspective the next chapter held.

While not especially heavy on plot, I found this book did an exceptional job of immersing me in the characters’ experiences, as well as in a broader sense of curiosity and discovery, even if most of the ideas leave one struck more with horror than awe. Thanks to the multiple POVs and points in time we are treated to, we are granted a greater understanding of Area X than ever before, with some truly shocking revelations about its nature; however, in a fashion truly worthy of Weird fiction, I still walked away not truly understanding all of what had happened and why. It’s a delicate balance to walk, but this novel walks it masterfully. It eludes understanding, but it doesn’t feel like it’s nonsense either, and I was able to follow the core narrative just fine. It truly captured the idea of something we can begin to understand but ultimately has an ineffable quality that keeps it beyond our ken.

My favourite plot line for these reasons was that of Saul, who we understand from the previous books as somehow being central to the eldritch workings of Area X through the “topographical anomaly” which he inhabits in his changed state. With the landscape free of unnatural influences, it was a surprisingly grounded perspective, yet at the same time it serves as an origin story for Area X, so it is fraught with its own mysteries, most especially with the activities of the Séance and Science Brigade, whose trespasses and investigations seem kooky and eccentric, yet they are somehow directly entwined with the events resulting in the brightness entering the body of Saul Evans.

What culminated most beautifully in this book is that behind all the overtly weird and cosmic strangeness this world presents us all with, it is profoundly concerned with the nature of change and our inability to control it, especially stop it. Though at the whims of an incomprehensible force greater than any of them, nearly all of the characters struggle against this change all the same, some enduring for decades and others crumbling in no time at all under the shear weight of it, struggling to understand who they are while desperate to hang onto who they were, seldom eager to pass into a new form quietly. So often we take things for granted, as a just a fact of how things are now and forever, but only too quickly do they become how things used to be.

Final Thoughts

I feel it’s rare for trilogies to do this; while I really enjoyed Annihilation, and I liked Authority, I loved Acceptance, ending the trilogy on its highest note. It’s hardly perfect (no book is), but I couldn’t be happier with the way this brings everything to a close, in such a way that I’m actually a little worried that Absolution, a surprise fourth entry released only last year, might spoil some of my satisfaction, though not nearly enough to dissuade me. I’m a lover of well-crafted Weirdness, so this resonated with me, but it is more of a niche genre in science fiction/horror, so I can’t promise you’ll share my enthusiasm. Still, if you can be at peace with some of the narrative being ineffable by design, I can’t recommend this book enough.

My Rating: 5 out of 5