First of all, I love the use of the epistolary format. It really gives the Biologist a sense of credibility, like she is to be trusted by the reader. It also really shows off her professionalism and passion for her field. The way she writes about the environment, the pool, the lot really pulls me in and makes it seem like I am really seeing the world through her eyes. I think sometimes an epistolary that is written as scientific findings or reports can sometimes come off as too distant, like the reader is being held at arm's length. I felt that way when I tried to read “Sleeping Giants” by Sylvain Neuvel (I swear I fully intend to pick that book back up lol). But I had a really hard time connecting with the events and characters in “Sleeping Giants” because it was too professional. “Annihilation” does not have this problem. It still feels scientific and while still drawing us into the world of Area X.

Speaking of the environment, Area X is my favorite character. Area X is the embodiment of the unknown, nature, chaos, and transformation all wrapped up in its eldritch everglades. The humans and the organization Southern Reach sees Area X as dangerous and terrible because it is the unknown. There is a tangible fear of the transformation Area X might force onto you. However, once the Biologist starts drinking the Flavor-Aid (or maybe, snorting the fungal spores if I can be funny) we start to see the chaos and unknown horror as beautiful through her notes. We may even see it as desirable and that is part of the horror. The idea that we should embrace the unknown and the chaos of the changing and terrible environment.

As you read, you might be picking up on some bleak messaging about what the author thinks about climate change. Jeff says in his “Climate Fiction Won’t Save Us” article that he is sometimes asked to locate the “hope” in his novels but that he can’t because the reality is that “The search for hope is hopeless or beside the point. Fiction can’t save us in this particular way, although it can pretend to, but if in a book a heroine survives a climate crisis, this has no corresponding nexus or loci in the real world, no matter how strong the will of the reader that it be otherwise.”I think this attitude is why his fiction is marked as “horror” because the real horror of the world is that there is no hope for fixing climate change. And the thesis of “Annihilation” is that we should not look for hope in the unknown chaos of our future, but to simply embrace this transformation and to embrace human annihilation itself.

The book is bleak, but with the human connection and warmth that the Biologist brings to it and how she shows us the beauty in the transformation of our horror future, I can’t help but really enjoy this book. It is a stunning read and I encourage everyone to pick it up, even if dystopian fiction is something you usually avoid.