Tag: Area X

Book Review – Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer

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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.Read More »

Book Review – Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

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Authority

Authority is a 2014 science fiction horror novel by Jeff VanderMeer and the second novel in the Southern Reach trilogy. Following the disastrous 12th expedition into Area X, the Southern Reach (the organization in charge of containing and researching Area X) is in complete disarray. Members of the last expedition have returned under mysterious circumstances, the same as the 11th, except for the psychologist, who was also the Southern Reach’s director. Now, despite being an outsider, John Rodriguez (aka “Control”) must take the helm as acting director. Through a series of interrogations, briefings with staff, and reviews of disturbing videos and other documentation, Control must uncover the secrets of Area X and try to salvage the institution’s handling of it, something he soon realizes is deteriorating faster than anybody is willing to admit.Read More »

Book Review – Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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Annihilation

Annihilation is a 2014 science fiction horror novel by Jeff VanderMeer and the first novel in the Southern Reach trilogy. Area X, a once lightly populated region, has been under quarantine for decades for unknown reasons, long since reclaimed by nature. There have been 11 expeditions into the region, most of them meeting bizarre and violent ends. The last expedition had all of its members return home under mysterious circumstances, mere husks of their former selves, before all succumbing to aggressive cancer. Now, the 12th expedition is underway, made up of four women including our narrator, the biologist, whose husband was part of the 11th expedition. They struggle to comprehend the phenomena they uncover in this hostile yet strangely captivating environment, the trust between them slowly eroding.Read More »

Movie Review – Annihilation (2018)

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IMDb Summary

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition where the laws of nature don’t apply.

AnnihilationPoster

Annihilation is a science fiction horror film written and directed by Alex Garland, based on the novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. The film stars Natalie Portman as biologist and former soldier Lena. Her Army Special Forces husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) mysteriously returns home after having gone missing during a mission nearly a year before. Soon afterwards he becomes violently ill and slips into a coma. They are taken by government forces to the secretive Area X, which studies a shimmering electromagnetic field that has engulfed a wide area of land after an object from outer-space struck land. Lena finds out that this is where Kane disappeared and joins an expedition team led by psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), along with paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez), physicist Josie Radeck (Tessa Thompson), and anthropologist Cass Sheppard (Tuba Novotny), into “the Shimmer” to find answers.Read More »