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Authority: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Jeff VanderMeer (Author)

233 customer reviews

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After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X—a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization—has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.
John Rodrigues (aka "Control") is the Southern Reach's newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he's pledged to serve.
In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.

Length: 353 pages

Word Wise: Enabled

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

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Product Details

File Size: 1271 KB
Print Length: 353 pages
Publisher: FSG Originals (May 6, 2014)
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00GET18P2
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,104 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

233

3.8 out of 5 stars

5 star		40%
4 star		27%
3 star		17%
2 star		9%
1 star		7%

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Top Customer Reviews

Surealism without much suspense

By Ian K. VINE VOICE on May 16, 2014

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

As soon as I finished Jeff VanderMeer's novel Annihilation, I bought the sequel, Authority. Soon after it arrived on my Kindle reader, I read Authority.

In Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer's writing really shined. His descriptions of the natural habitat and the artifacts in Area X were lyrical and strong. I can still see the "tower" and the lighthouse in my mind's eye. This was combined with the lurking dread of the Biologist exploring Area X, which provided the drive for VanderMeer's surrealistic plot.

Authority is told from the point of view of Control (the alias used by John Rodrigues) who is the newly appointed director of the Southern Reach, which is a sub-agency (of Central) that is assigned to research Area X.

VanderMeer's writing is still good, but the lyricism of describing the pristine wilderness of Area X is replaced by the claustrophobic description of the Southern Reach and its bureaucratic battles. The surrealism which is the hallmark of VanderMeer's writing dominates Authority. There were places where an event took place only to be explained in retrospect, which at times forced me to reread sections. In other places I found that some plot elements were not explained at all (what happens to Controls Mother?) Perhaps these plot elements will be picked up in Acceptance (which I have also ordered). The three books have the feel of a single large novel that is being published in three pieces.

By the end of the novel it is difficult to completely understand Control's motivations. Like the Biologist in Annihilation he's been so manipulated by both Central and, perhaps, Area X itself that it's hard to understand why he is doing what he does. The strangeness of VanderMeer's surreal plotting might also be sloppy plot construction.Read more ›

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Excellent Middle Book

By S. E. Brinamon on May 6, 2014

Format: Paperback

Whereas Annihilation took you through the creepy landscape Area X, full of forests and overgrown moss and lighthouses and tower/tunnnels, Authority takes you through the creepy landscape of the Southern Reach, full of dank examination rooms and locked drawers and cluttered offices. Right away, Annihilation will answer some of your most burning questions from Annihilation, but immediately raise more. If you are on the fence about whether to continue this trilogy, rest assured that Authority is not just a continuation of Annihilation. Rather, it's a complication of it, a counterpoint.

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Slower and a bit overlong, yet still fascinating and different.

By Tom Alaerts on May 9, 2014

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

You really have to read Annihilation first before sampling this middle volume in the trilogy.
In contrast with the weird expedition theme of volume 1, this one, focusing on the research and political machinations in the Southern Reach agency, reads more like an obsessive spy novel. It feels like Orwell and Kafka blended with a weird sauce.
Now this approach does slow things down, it is more a psychological cat and mouse game in a suffocating, nightmarish environment. Mind, it is still very good suspenseful reading yet I thought it could have been trimmed a bit.
Surprisingly, while the characters have names in this book, I found the protagonist less compelling than the biologist from volume 1.
The story, like detective or spy novels, will eventually lift a few of the deep layers of mystery, which is good - an imperfection of volume 1 was sometimes a sense of vagueness. Not everything needs to be explained of course (and I expect mysteries to remain at the end of the trilogy), yet I like that here the story is more crisp.
Of note, while for the large part a slower story, things really pick up spectacularly towards the end of the book, leaving us with a sense of impending apocalyptic doom.
The trilogy's movie rights have been picked up even before initial publication. I can see an adaptation working in the hands of a skillful director, but the slowly growing sense of malaise and dread, and the slow progress of discoveries would to my taste best be rendered as a high quality concise TV series - as it is a story that needs breathing space, an execution like for True Detective could do justice to these books.
These books are overhyped (or at least very well marketed).Read more ›

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Slow and, dare I say, a bit dull after the first book

By William C. Geoghegan on May 18, 2014

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

After the eerie mood and fast-paced drama of "Annihilation" I found "Authority" a bit of a let down. In fact, very little in terms of drama happens in this second book, just office politics and a backstory that involves a controlling mother. I found enough of interest to finish the book but, like I said, parts of it were just a slog, and I kept waiting in anticipation for something a little more pulse pounding.

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Different, still good, a bit exhausting

By Grey on May 14, 2014

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

This review will contain spoilers for Annihilation, considering that you should already have read it is you're considering buying Authority.

Authority has a fantastic beginning. We as readers know that the ill-fated expedition to Area X from the first book killed off most of its participants. The anthropologist was torn apart by the Crawler, the surveyor was shot by the biologist, the psychologist died from blood loss and the biologist herself fled north. And yet as Authority opens, the surveyor, anthropologist and biologist have all reemerged from Area X and have been brought in for questioning. There's a fundamental disconnect there that is fascinating and intriguing in a lot of ways.

However, VanderMeer loses the momentum and tremendous originality that permeated Annihilation as he pulls back the curtain on some of the mysteries of the Southern Reach. Without resorting to spoilers, Authority is a revelation of the shaky nature of the organization tasked with dispatching the expedition from the previous novel. I can't help but find some of the revelations disappointing and some of the information presented redundant from the first novel. The new lead character, who refers to himself as Control, has to take a long road just to come to terms with Area X in a way remotely comparable with the reader. His past is examined in the same way that the biologist's past was in Annihilation, but its not as interesting. I understand that VanderMeer has made a calculated decision to come at the mystery of Area X from a different angle, and I can at least respect him for that. I'm just exhausted from the red herrings.

Just like I said about Annihilation, Authority is nothing if not a page turner, especially in its second half.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Good Story, Great Writer, No Editor : (

Honestly, I think anyone who made a drinking game out of how many times the author uses the word "banal" would have to have their stomach pumped by the 3rd chapter.

Published 4 days ago by JKFraser

Book 2 builds suspense

The second book in the trilogy starts with a twist--a shift of point of view. The books moves along at a fairly fast pace--again, you will have to stop and think at times to keep... Read more

Published 10 days ago by Amazon Customer

excellent, dark, complex

Jeff Vandermeer does it again with this second installment of Southern Reach trilogy. Carnality, complex characters and enigma is there for the reader to loose herself in it. Read more

Published 29 days ago by Alephel

Great read

Loved the novel, read it in one sitting. Can't wait for the next book. I love how it is written.

Published 1 month ago by Lauren

Cant believe im bailing

I'm bailing. I tried twice, but this was a disappointment. The first book read like literature, was more frightening and thought provoking. This one seemed pulpy and slow. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Labute

Vaguely interesting, not the fast-paced exciting mystery of the first...

Surreal speculative sci-fi moments dripped at an excruciatingly slow pace fails to satisfy. Drawn out to the pain is this particular prose, particularly after the fast-paced... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Happy Amazon Customer

One Star

About as much fun as watching paint dry. DNF.

Published 1 month ago by Nick Keilar

Tedious and unsatisifying

Not my favorite trilogy ever. A tedious read with little thematic value. I read through all three books hoping it would all go somewhere meaningful and interesting but it never... Read more

Published 2 months ago by resolute.rhino

If you liked the first Southern Reach novel you should check this ...

Shifting gears from the existential terrors of the wilds of Area X, Vandermeer brings the same sense of dread and weirdness to the daily grind of an office building. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer

A worthy sequel

I loved book one. This is different. Don't expect the same characters, the same questions or the same style of writing. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Benjamin Isaac Temchine

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