While the premise was nice, the writing was... not what I expected. I wanted more from the characters because I felt that what was on the front cover and the front flap was not what we were given.

As a longtime admirer of VanderMeer’s Area X trilogy, I was eager to dive into Absolution, and from the very first page, it delivered the kind of eerie, mind-bending storytelling that he does so well. The beginning pulled me in immediately—dense with atmosphere, unsettling in all the right ways, and dripping with the creeping sense of something just beyond comprehension. VanderMeer’s signature style is in full force here, crafting a world that feels both expansive and suffocating, like a dream you can’t quite wake up from.

That said, the middle portion of the book became a bit of a labyrinth for me. While I appreciate his layered prose and surreal world-building, there were moments where the pacing slowed, making me feel slightly unmoored in the complexity of the narrative. The themes and imagery remained fascinating, but I found myself wading through passages that felt heavier than the momentum I had hoped for. However, just when I thought I might be lost in the fog, the final act reignited the novel’s energy, culminating in a conclusion that was both satisfying and deeply unsettling.

Despite feeling adrift at times, Absolution is a mesmerizing, intelligent, and deeply immersive novel. VanderMeer continues to prove that he is a master of strange and beautiful horror, delivering a reading experience that lingers long after the last page. If you loved Area X, this is a must-read. Five stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed this last installment of VanderMeer's Southern Reach series! Perfectly eerie and hallucinatory, the first two sections were my favorites. I felt the last section was not as engaging but worth the read . This novel can stand-alone but would be most enjoyed if the previous books in the series have been read. This series is a must read for David Lynch fans, a true genre-bending fever-dream of a ride!

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Netgalley, for an ARC of this novel!

3,5 stars.

It is no secret that Annihilation is one of my favorite books - it got me back into reading, and it introduced me to the strange and often terrifying worlds of ecohorror and the New Weird. As such, the surprise announcement of Absolution and the return to Area X had me screaming from joy.

Absolution takes place before the events of Annihilation and follows three storylines depicting the events leading up to, and including, the first expedition into Area X. Part one, 'Dead Town', follows a group of biologists doing research in and on the biological anomaly that is the Forgotten Coast, but the narrative is told through classified files and the washed up Central operative, Old Jim, who's trying to make sense of them. 'The False Daughter' delves deeper into the secrecy and conspiracy surrounding the events on the Forgotten Coast, and 'The First and the Last' introduces a "new" character, depicting what happened in the first expedition.

Intentionally or not, VanderMeer does something clever here. In terms of the broader story, including theme and tone, each part seems to coincide with the series' first three novels. 'Dead Town' is similar to Annihilation, focusing on biologists attempting to map and make sense of the increasingly unsettling landscape and wildlife; 'The False Daughter' is similar to Authority, heavily focused on Central, the government agency responsible for monitoring strange events, and the secrecy surrounding it and Old Jim's true mission; and lastly, 'The First and the Last', admittedly more difficult to relate to Acceptance as I remember the third book the least, but which I still feel, to my core, is similar in tone and themes. A different sense of becoming-with, perhaps?

The effect is circular. Absolution feels both like the beginning and the end of Area X, and simultaneously, like it never began nor ended. Quite fitting when considering the title of part three.
I found the first part most enjoyable, just like I enjoyed Annihilation more than the second and third books. One of my favorite narrative modes is when secrets are uncovered with the reader, especially through classified documents or through scientific study. I love being kept in the dark, confused, trying to gaze at the truth though small cracks, and for each new crack to evoke a deep sense of dread – I love feeling unsettled. And few things unsettle me quite like the grotesque and/in ecohorror. These particular effects shine through all of part one, though not as masterfully as in Annihilation.

Parts two and three didn’t manage to provoke the same atmosphere or feelings as the first, though the third part certainly came closest. In fact, the second half of ‘The First and the Last’ was great and thoroughly unsettled me. Following the main character of this part was difficult until the expedition was down to only a few people, and then his gradual descent into the type of madness that can only arise when undergoing grotesque metamorphosis lifted the ending. In fact, ‘Molt Revolt’ was my favorite chapter in the entire book.

Ultimately, I found the beginning and ending much more enjoyable than most of the middle, and I do think the book could have been shorter. I’m not sure I believe Absolution added anything particularly new or significant to the Southern Reach story, but it did “return to” characters we’ve met before, and making connections across books was definitely exciting. Thinking about this book as a collection of three novellas instead might help.

Reading this did, however, make me want to return to the trilogy, to perhaps uncover some of the nuances lost to time and my poor memory. I do enjoy spending time in the Southern Reach and in Area X – as much as a person can enjoy being utterly unsettled.

I was excited to revisit Area X, as Annihilation is one of my all time favorite books and was my first foray into weird fiction. Absolution consists of a few different narratives. Part 1: Dead Town follows the first group of biologists to study the Forgotten Coast’s wildlife, 20 years before the border came down around Area X.

Part 2: False Daughter follows Old Jim, a washed out operative from Central investigating those biologists and a mysterious figure, the Rogue, involved in their deaths - “both natural and unnatural.”

Part 3: The First and the Last then follows the first expedition into Area X through Lowry (from Acceptance), nearly half of whose narration is nonsensical obscenities. Lowry, oh Lowry… Jeff sure did commit to the bit of a cussing coke head confronting the horror of Area X. It was… not easy to read. I could’ve done with ~200 less “fuck”s.

Absolution was creepy, enthralling, and a wild ride. Exactly what I’m looking for in a followup to the Southern Reach trilogy. Lowry’s part of the book almost made this rating three stars - but then I remember the eerie dread of Dead Town and several thrilling moments from False Daughter… and I concede that I still loved it. Even Part 3 had its moments of eldritch horror that felt a lot like Annihilation.

Absolution leaves many questions unanswered - but that was always the appeal of Area X. I look forward to rereading the series and picking apart some of its riddles.

My thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC!

Ten years ago, Jeff VanderMeer published the three volumes of the Southern Reach trilogy, which between them charted the incursion of the otherworldly into a stretch of Florida coastland. In Annihilation, scientists venture into what has been dubbed “Area X” and quickly find themselves physically and psychologically transformed. Authority follows a middle manager who, in the wake of this mission’s failure, is dispatched by the shady “Central” to evaluate the people who have made studying Area X their life’s work. Acceptance jumps between timelines: the days preceding Area X’s creation, the weeks preceding the departure of the mission in Annihilation, and the aftermath of Authority, in which Area X breaks its bounds and seems set to transform the world.

VanderMeer had until this point been a respected fantasy author, a stalwart of the New Weird alongside such authors as China Miéville, KJ Bishop and Steph Swainston. The Southern Reach trilogy, despite shifting its register into science-horror, utilised many of the same techniques as his previous novels: it took the queasy sense that there is an under layer to reality from City of Saints and Madmen (2001); the Nabokovian intercutting of text and commentary from Shriek: An Afterword (2006); the transformation of a familiar, rational space into an uncanny one, in which the boundary between human, animal and plant is no longer discernible, from Veniss Underground (2003).

Inspired by “Zone” SF such as the Strugatsky Brothers’ 1972 novel Roadside Picnic (adapted for screen as Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky), the innovation of the Southern Reach books – and perhaps the reason for their global popularity – was in setting this eruption of weirdness in the familiar, present-day world, and tying it to contemporary concerns, such as a government that has become alienated from and hostile towards its citizens, or a natural environment on the verge of striking back at its despoilers (VanderMeer is also an environmental activist, calling for the preservation of the Florida wetlands that have inspired Area X’s landscape).

Absolution, the unlooked-for follow-up to the trilogy, seems at first glance like a series of outtakes from it, featuring familiar names and previously unknown backstory. Twenty years before the event that triggers Area X’s emergence, a scientific expedition – secretly bankrolled by Central – encounters harbingers of weirdness, such as the appearance of thousands of cannibalistic rabbits, and a mysterious figure dubbed the Rogue. And then 18 months before the event, a disgraced Central agent known as Old Jim is dispatched to the region to investigate the expedition’s failure and find the Rogue. A year after the event, that first expedition into the site – whose failure looms over the scientists in Annihilation – is related to us in the drug-addled, profanity-laden voice of one Lowry, whom readers of the earlier book will recognise as the expedition’s sole survivor.

Much of what made the original Southern Reach books powerful and disturbing can be found in this new volume. Once again, VanderMeer produces a near-seamless shading between the weirdness and danger of Area X, and the natural environment that preceded it. Old Jim is rattled by a stand of trees left dead by the inland incursion of seawater, seeing in it a hint of the unearthly, while a superintelligent alligator who is the Rogue’s companion disappears into the swampland. For the bureaucrats at Central, obsessed with “foreign interference” – a term whose vagueness obscures many possible meanings – this liminal quality is untenable. They send wave upon wave of operatives – as Absolution reveals, the ones we knew of were preceded by others – to unravel it. Invariably, once these operatives learn to understand Area X, they realise that they have become too altered by it to explain it to others, or even to return from it.

There is, however, a shift in Absolution’s focus, one that perhaps reflects the intervening decade of real-world events. The original Southern Reach books often featured grey bureaucrats attempting to quantify the indescribable. Absolution turns its attention to these bureaucrats, in the process revealing that they are not so grey. Central may in fact be a greater danger than Area X, if only because its leaders remain convinced that they can weaponise it. Having learned the extent of his superiors’ manipulation of their own agents, and their involvement in the lead-up to Area X’s creation, Old Jim begins to think of Central as a “shadow, eaten up from the inside”. Lowry, whose official mission is to find the “off switch” that will return Area X to normality, embodies Central’s contradictions, veering erratically between a xenophobic desire to destroy Area X, and an almost romantic longing to be made one with it.

Readers looking for a solution to Area X’s mysteries in Absolution will come away puzzled. The novel adds new information to our understanding of the site and its genesis, but also opens new questions, and leaves some dangling loose ends. What it does do is reinforce the original series’ contention – that the boundary between the uncanny and the familiar is more porous than we realise – with the observation that sometimes, at the very heart of rationality, we may find madness.

what an unbelievable slog of a book! i received an ARC in october from netgalley and was physically unable to make it any further than around 90 pages. between the fact that i had to read it on my laptop and that very few pieces of this book are connected in any legitimate way to the previous novels, i really struggled to finish it. this book was marketed as "tying up loose ends" but not only do i feel like no loose ends were tied up, this book doesn't contribute almost anything of substance to the series as a whole. i can appreciate that the author wanted to explore this world a bit more, but the only really interesting part was the biologist's files, and that couldve been a novella.

i hated lowry's pov more than words can describe. i understand that his character is meant to be boorish and rather unlikeable, but in order to care about a story that is being narrated by a character, you have to at connect at least a little with a character. and i did not. not only that but it felt impossible to even begin to because the writing in his chapters were disjointed. i couldn't keep track of any of the plot because it was hidden in a torrent of swears. i was also disappointed–when the tapes of the first expedition were revealed in acceptance, it felt like it would be more like annihilation. truthfully, i had to skim a lot of his section because it was just so difficult to read, but i was hoping for more freak horror weirdness and suspense. i did not find much of this.

overall disappointing and lowkey infuriating. i loved all of the other books and i wish this one had come through for me too. all i can say now is i'm glad it's over.

I will always love how I never know what I'm reading when it comes to the Southern Reach series. It's just otherworldly. Fantastically horrifying. the rabbits aren't rabbits is still messing with me. Completely bonkers to be back with Lowry. God I loved it.

Overall, the book was very enjoyable. The first half was easy to read and I really enjoyed getting more perspective on the surrounding area of the Southern Reach. However, once it got to the second part with the continuous "fucks" my interest teetered off. It made reading it a chore and I felt bogged down with trying to finish. I understand why the author wrote that way, but for a casual reader it hindered my experience.

Jeff VanderMeer presents a short story collection exploring the origins of Area X.

This collection featured some extremely cool ideas and was extremely character driven. As a superfan of 'Annihalation,' I was interested in getting more backstory into the creepy, mysterious world that is Area X. I could possibly have done with less cursing and cannibalism, but appreciated VanderMeer's commitment to style and form.

Thank you Net-Galley and FSG x MCD for a chance to read "Absolution" by Jeff VanderMeer in exchange for an honest review. Jeff has managed to masterfully craft a work that was well worth the wait. It had the right amount of comedic relief alongside horrific scenes of terror. This book was everything I expected it to be and more. Filled with body horror, psychological distress, more answers that arise with (of course) more questions. It's ecological, violent, bizarre, and brilliant. I recommend reading "Annihilation" by Jeff VanderMeer first. It would give you the appreciation and eye to spot a few easter eggs that you wouldn't have been able to pick up if you started with "Absolution." King of F-Bombs and making me cringe in fear. I tell everyone to read his works! The 'Area X' series remains among my favorites and most recommended to this day.

Such a delightfully atmospheric, eerie, weird series. This one took me right back to the Southern Reach again and it felt like going home.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this title in exchange for honest feedback

Was excited to step back into the mysteries of Area X, but after the Old Jim part of the book, I was put off a bit. The swearing was too much, and writing became too criptic for me to make much sense of. Maybe I'd do better with a reread of it and the original trilogy, but overall kind of disappointed.

In Vandermeer's surprise 4th volume of the acclaimed Southern Reach series, the author deepens the personal, political and ecological mysteries found in Area X. Don't expect answers, but do expect some of Vandermeer's best, most expressive writing.

After reading the Southern Reach Trilogy, I was so excited to read the surprise fourth installment in this series. As someone who was very interested in the mythos surrounding Area X from the original three books, this book was a hit for me. It might be confusing at times but it was one hell of a ride.

I'm not even sure where to begin with this one- it's weird as shit but I feel like with the Southern Reach series that would be like saying "fire is hot", because of course it is, that's pretty obvious. Of all the three narratives we're given I think my favorite would be the first one, I loved seeing how strange and abstract the Forgotten Coast has always been, how it resisted analysis before the border even came down and how Central has been poking around there long before as well. The second narrative was also really interesting and definitely the most emotionally compelling, the relationship between Old Jim and "Cass" was very well written and for a character who we spend so little time to compared to the everyone else in the series, Old Jim is incredibly fleshed out and is easily my favorite right after Ghost Bird. The third narrative unfortunately, had me putting the book down every other paragraph during the first section. I was excited to see what happened during the first expedition and learn more about Lowry's past but "fuck" was used every other word and it got to the point where I had to reread a sentence several times in order to actually understand what he was thinking and it honestly felt like trying to read while using alphabet soup as a medium. I understand why this was done given Lowry's state of mind during part 1 of narrative 3 but wow I really had to force myself through it. It gets much better once Lowry and the rest of expedition 1 are actually in Area X but even then I only really found myself enjoying this section during the last half of it. This was a really interesting addition to the world of the Southern Reach series and I feel like I have to reread the original trilogy followed by this book before I can actually decide how I feel because there was some heavy lore dropped here and I think I actually caught about 50% of it.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

!: Below review is of a regular reader, so mostly contains my subjective experience and feelings, no litcrit stuff, and mostly praises author :)
As all Southern Reach / Area X book - this one is brilliant also. Descriptions of secret agencies, field ops, all those interconnection, paranoid thoughts - all this is created with such a pleasant narrative, very distinctive and feels balanced. I still cannot find a substitute for Jeff's books in this regard, nor I find any substitute for spooky & weirds of Area X - feels like dials for those are set in a very specific secret ways, and author got it soooo right (feels right for me).
Narrated versions of those, are also great, was keeping on Repeat for last ≈5 years the previous 3 books, now I have some fresh addition to the story, and repeat cycle will take longer :) sooo happy!
Again, as I feel it - Jeffs series on Area X has very specific, i'd say unique configuration/settings of narrative, world description, spooky/weird stuff and action that feels so good, its solid and well balanced, and you crave more, once you try it and find out that this stuff is for you. So beware - it would be impossible to find substitute or any analog and one may end on repeat until Jeff releases more, hope he will...

Ten years ago, Jeff VanderMeer released a trilogy known collectively as the Southern Reach or Area X novels. A mysterious, mostly impermeable boundary isolated a stretch of the Gulf Coast, killing almost everyone within its confines. The region was called Area X and the Southern Reach was a government agency created to keep the nature of the region hidden from the world at large and to determine its nature. Those books detailed various exploratory missions into this topsy-turvy region without getting to the bottom of what has happening there.

Now, VanderMeer returns with a longer book that is both prequel and something of a sequel. It has three distinctly different sections, so it is in some ways a trilogy. Most of the book is told from the point of view of a former spy who goes by Old Jim, although it's not clear even to him what his real name is. Twenty years before the barrier appeared, he was asked to try to get a handle on an existential threat in the region, although his bosses at Control are stingy with information. He practically has to beg for things he believes will help him understand the situation. His handlers suspect foreign interference, but how foreign? Soviets? Aliens? Something from another dimension?

Old Jim works undercover as the owner of the only bar in a mostly abandoned town in the vicinity of a team of field biologists who tempt fate by meddling with the local ecosystem. Subsequently, these scientists make some fascinating and disturbing discoveries that indicate that the region that will become Area X was already shifting into a strange realm. They're haunted by strange music and discover swarms of carnivorous rabbits equipped with cameras. Perhaps the place has always been altering, under the influence of some chaotic force, and the appearance of the border was only its announcement to the world.

In the second section, Old Jim is assigned an assistant "named" Cass who, at times, pretends to be his estranged daughter, even though no one is fooled by the ruse. Given Area X's subsequently discovered proclivity for creating doppelgangers, the government's actions here are ironic. The biologist's experiments have caused—or, perhaps, accelerated—changes in the local ecosystem, and pseudo-Cass is there to help Old Jim, whether he likes it or not. This section leads to an explosive finale that puts an end to Old Jim's investigation.

The book's focus abruptly shifts in the final section to a foul-mouthed and drug-addled man named Lowry (previously seen in Acceptance) who is part of the first expedition into Area X four months after the border materialized, an expedition that readers of Annihilation will recall as a full-blown disaster, with only one person returning to the other side in possession of some deeply disturbing video footage. Lowry's prime directive is to find the hypothetical "off switch" that will disable the barricade. Upon his return, Lowry was seen to be a terribly unlikable character. Here, we learn that he was equally loathsome before embarking on the expedition. His stream-of-consciousness pervasive use of the word "fuck" in all of its various forms can be off-putting, making the final part of the novel difficult to process.

Of course there are no answers, but Absolution provides a new way of looking at Area X. It's not a necessary part of the Southern Reach series, but it is a welcome addition to the mythos for people who appreciated the mystifying and disturbing nature of the previous three books.

Worth the very long wait, and managed to fascinate me as originally as the first 3 - did not go into it with any great excitement as I was not a huge fan of the series to begin with, but loved the endeavour and breadth of his vision of this world.