Tag: Authority

Book Review – Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

RyanLeave a comment

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 »

WWW Wednesday – September 4, 2024

Ryan2 Comments
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

The TruthIt’s feeling rather late in the year for this considering I used to try to read one every quarter, but I’ve finally started the next Discworld novel I need to get to: The Truth. I’m expecting this one to feel a little refreshing because it’s been a long time since I’ve read one that wasn’t a part of a subseries like the Witches or the City Watch. This follows a similar yet more open-ended structure to some of the previous ones, about the world being effected by the arrival of a new innovation in some way. This book sees a machine printing press coming to the city of Ankh-Morpork and with it widespread print media. This would have a profound effect anywhere, so I’m really curious about what will unfold in this unique setting. I’m only 30 pages or so in so far, but I’m hoping I can get a lot more done soon.

Stung with Love Poems and FragmentsI also started reading Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments by Sappho, a book collecting all of the surviving poems and fragments by the well-known Greek poet. I’ve only read a section on poems about Goddesses so far, as there was actually a good deal of front matter to this book giving more context to what we know about Sappho as a figure. I found this most interesting as a look into just how fragmentary surviving art and history can be. There are plenty of references to her work and skill as a great poet throughout histoyr, but comparatively little of her actual work has survived up to now. It’s surreal to see ancient Roman sources cited, who would’ve had direct access to her work, and having to base our understanding of it off of theirs. I don’t know how quickly I’ll finish this, it’s not very long, but I likely won’t give full updates like this each week if my progress is slow.

Recently Finished

AuthorityLast week I finally finished reading Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the second book in the Southern Reach trilogy. Things finally came to a head in the story in the final chapters, and in true Southern Reach fashion I had only a vague understanding of what was really going on, except for a few certainties that were quite apparent. I really liked that a prevailing feeling I had throughout the book without a single explicit indicator to it was made to be right. I know it’s a 10-year-old book, but I don’t want to ruin it for anybody who may be interested, so I’m being vague myself. Despite the fact that I had trouble finding good momentum with reading this book, I did really enjoy it, and I’m happy with how it concluded. I’m wondering if Acceptance will hold any real, concrete answers or if I should resign myself to being in the dark about a lot of it, even at the very end.

Reading Next

I’ve not decided anything that I want to read next with certainty, but with October just around the corner I am starting to consider what horror books I think I can get through. My reading speed has been a little stunted this year, which is really bothering me, so I’m worried I won’t be able to do more than one average-sized novel. We shall see.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – July 31, 2024

Ryan1 Comment
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

AuthorityI’m still working my way through Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, and it’s unfortunately at a slower pace than I would like, though I’m nearly 100 pages further than I was last week. I’m continuing to enjoy the atmosphere of this book, for the most part, especially in how lost and ineffectual the Southern Reach reach is as an institute. It’s becoming more and more clear that Area X has been infecting them in subtle ways over the years, though how and how much isn’t quite clear, as the entire situation is terribly nebulous and hard for any of the characters to wrap their heads around. I am finding I like this novel less than Annihilation thanks to the resulting slow pace, however. It does feel immersive with Control’s struggles to get a handle on things, but the stagnating and obtuse atmosphere is ultimately having a double-edged effect.

Dead MountainI also decided to start reading Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar, a nonfiction book from 2013 about the Dyatlov Pass Incident where a group of nine hikers in Soviet-era Siberia when missing and were subsequently found dead under mysterious circumstances. Though I’m not inclined to believe anything paranormal was involved, it’s still a captivating mystery, and I’ve seen a few book recommendation videos list it among good nonfiction reads. So far, at about 50 pages in, I am enjoying it quite well. I will unfortunately struggle to keep the Russian names straight, which I hope I will come around on by the time I’m done, but otherwise the readability is very good. I’m looking forward to seeing if there’s any new or compelling information presented here that paints a different picture than other sources I’ve seen talk about this incident.

Recently Finished

The Flintstones Vol 1Since last week I’ve read the two volumes of The Flintstones Mark Russell and Steve Pugh, which I found a lot more enjoyable than I was even expecting to, and already I had good hopes for it. It turned out be a really amusing, satirical spin on the old cartoon while still maintaining the spirit of what I remember from watching the show when I was younger. Standout details for me include the fact that Bedrock was founded after committing a genocide, which Fred and Barney participated in, and the fact that the animal appliances, which only we as the reader can understand, suffer under their plight of being treated like household objects instead of living things. Despite how heavy that might sound, there’s enough levity throughout these stories to balance things out and an absence of heavy-handedness in how they’re presented that it really hits the mark.

Reading Next

Not sure what I’ll be reading next, I’ve got a lot on the go right now. Rest assured, it will probably be a comic of some kind; I’ve still got to keep up getting through those.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – July 24, 2024

Ryan1 Comment
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

AuthorityI’m still plodding along with Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the second book in the Southern Reach trilogy, though I haven’t read as much as I feel I should’ve in the intervening two weeks. Still, at exactly 100 pages into it I’m both puzzled and continue to be intrigued. The tone of this novel, despite having a very different narrative approach and setting, is a little dreamlike in a way that I can’t quite put my finger on. In many respects, Control’s point of view helps ground the reader, yet the situation at the Southern Reach is just so odd. Nobody can confidently quantify or understand much of anything about Area X, yet they persist as an institution, albeit a waning one, and he’s met with such passive resistance, vague answers to his questions, and oddities in the old director’s office that it feels almost feverish.

Recently Finished

Marvel 1602Over the weekend I finally finished reading Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert, which took quite a bit longer than I expected it to. It’s clearly meant to be a larger project, so I’m not sure why I assumed it was the length of a regular trade paperback. This definitely isn’t a favourite among Gaiman’s work, but he did manage to make the characters really compelling in a rather unlikely setting. The main weakness I’d say this book has is that it is trying to include an awful lot of major characters at once, so it sometimes felt all over the place. I enjoyed those who were more fleshed out, but it felt like we couldn’t get in too deep with their own personal stories for the sake of the universe-shattering problem they must come together and solve. This overarching plot was fine, but everything else the characters had going on was actually a lot more interesting to me, so I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the end. Sure, the universe was saved, but so much feels unresolved.

Reading Next

The Flintstones Vol 1I found some comics at the library that caught my eye, so it’s likely I’ll be reading them soon; I picked up The Flintstones volumes 1 and 2 by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh. These two volumes are part of DC’s Hanna-Barbera Beyond imprint that gives a more modern and adult interpretation to these classic cartoons. I’ve heard a lot of interesting things about these books, such as Fred and Wilma’s monogamy being controversial in their community, so I’m excited to get a closer look at what the overall story will be about. I’ve got another library book I’m tentatively planning to start reading too, but I want to hold off on any commitments to that right now, as I borrowed it somewhat impulsively.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – July 10, 2024

Ryan5 Comments
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

AuthorityI’ve started a couple of new thing since last week. First up we have Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the second novel in the Southern Reach trilogy. I’m pleased to learn that this novel’s narrative is different from Annihilation in a way that I anticipated; where that first book was actually a field journal, this one is told more traditionally, from the point of view of a new interim director at the Southern Reach. Though I’m not actually very far into it thus far, it has already been rather tantalizing, as 3 of the 4 members of the twelfth expedition have been found outside of Area X, including the biologist, the protagonist of the first book. Their true nature, however, remains to be seen. I’m enjoying this new perspective character too, and I’m looking forward to the greater insight his point of view will provide into the institution researching Area X.

Marvel 1602I also finally started reading Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert, a retelling of the Marvel universe set in the 17th century. I’m enjoying it well enough so far, though the couple of chapters I have read feel like they’re dealing more with setup, so the story doesn’t feel like its really gotten moving yet. Still, it’s a unique setting for these characters, and I’m enjoying the ways that Gaiman has interpreted them for this it, though I don’t believe I’ve met all the characters who will be making an appearance yet. The most surprising was Rohjaz, a towering Native American who is inexplicably white of skin and blue-eyed, which the story explains through contact with Welsh traders before Columbus “discovered” the continent. It took me embarrassingly long to realize this is supposed to be Steve Rogers; though it feels a little odd, I appreciate that Gaiman made him firmly American rather than a European colonist.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week.

Reading Next

This is Where We Talk Things OutI’m pretty focused on what I’m in the middle of right now, so I haven’t made any big decisions about what I want to be reading next, though I do feel it should probably be a Discworld novel. As a shorter outing, however, I have been thinking about reading the novella This is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau, a horror story that I’ve heard can be read in a sitting or two. I should make an effort with shorter prose too, so perhaps I’ll be reading this sometime soon. Otherwise, I really need to keep thinking about what comics to read next.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.