It’s been 10 years since author Jeff VanderMeer first brought us into “Area X,” the eerie supernatural phenomenon colonizing the Florida coast, with Annihilation. As the 2014 book and its two sequels eventually revealed, Area X was home to an alien presence, one that drove its residents to insanity and morphed local flora and fauna into entirely new creatures. The concept went on to inspire a skin-tingling film adaptation directed by Alex Garland, but VanderMeer’s original tale boasts horrors far scarier than amalgamated bears and shimmering doppelgangers.
The Southern Reach trilogy was published over the span of a few months, each entry following members of the title organization as they sought to understand the workings of Area X. While Annihilation focused on a group of scientists and their failed expedition in the region, its first sequel, Authority, zoomed out to introduce the bureaucrats controlling the Southern Reach. The final novel of the trilogy, Acceptance, doesn’t provide the concrete answers many might have hoped for... but after a decade of exploring other stories, VanderMeer has returned to expand the world of his seminal sci-fi series.
The latest entry in the Southern Reach saga comes with Absolution, a surprise novel that’s part-prequel, partially a sequel. Told in three separate parts, Absolution traces the familiar beats of Annihilation and Authority, beginning with an unofficial expedition into the Florida swamplands (before Area X was even called Area X). Part 2 follows the formation of the Southern Reach, and even sees the return of a minor character from Acceptance.
In a lot of ways, the new novel repeats the habits of its predecessors, answering questions that have haunted the fandom for a decade. It’s the third part of this story that veers into less familiar, truly bonkers territory, charting the Southern Reach’s first mission in Area X. When the dust settles, Absolution might leave readers with even more questions than before. That may frustrate some fans, especially with the added knowledge that this could be the last Southern Reach book. VanderMeer has no plans to continue the saga after Absolution, content to leave the mystery more or less unsolved.
“Ultimately the series is about ambiguity and unknowability, and the idea that the universe is far vaster than we can ever understand,” the author recently told Esquire. “[Absolution] may not be everything that every reader wanted from a fourth book, but I hope it’s what they needed.”
