Oof, okay, I have a lot to say about this book.
If you are a fan of the Southern Reach trilogy reading this review to get a better understanding of what's in this fourth book, don't worry, the first part of my review will contain no spoilers, then the second part will contain light spoilers (themes, characters mentioned, nothing Vandermeer himself hasn't said on Twitter already).

Review of the book as a whole :
Up until 65% of this book I thought it would be a 5 stars, and then, the novel ended and the novella began and I unfortunately disliked the novella's writing style so much I couldn't even read it (I had to skim through to get the main ideas).
The first part, the novel, is a perfect addition to the Southern Reach story and universe. Just like the other three books, it has this surreal, sometimes confusing sometimes incredibly brilliant feel and as you read you keep finding answers (?) to your questions but then just having way more questions. I cannot wait to read it again to see what I grasp even better on the second read, and also to reread it along with the original trilogy to fully get all the references. I loved it, and would absolutely recommend it to everyone who read and enjoyed the other books.

Do I think you need to have read the trilogy to read this one? Yes, but I would be very curious to read someone's thoughts if they started the series with this book because I think they would have a completely different perspective on the events described and that would be really cool.





Review of the story (including light spoilers) :
The first part of the book (novel) is set before most of the events of the original trilogy (it's set at the same time as when we follow the lighthouse keeper and Gloria as a child and most of the intrigue/questioning is linked to events that happened 20 years before that) and I was so so excited to learn more about what happened to the people who lived in the area before the border came down. We also get more info on how Central works and how people end up working for the Southern Reach, loved it. It is much more similar in style and content to the second and third books of the trilogy, I would say if you only liked Annihilation and didn't vibe with the other two you probably won't like this one as much.

The novella that follows is about the first expedition once the border is down, which is the main reason I was so excited to pick up this book as that's what Vandermeer talked about on Twitter, but it turned out to be unreadable to me because it's all told in Lowry's point of view and every third word is fuck or fucking or shit and he's just so not likeable and his way of describing things I don't know, not for me, and it annoyed me so much because I want to know what happened on that expedition so I just skimmed through and read the paragraphs that were directly linked to the characters of the novel (as the first expedition happens shortly after the novel's events end).




All that said, I am so so thankful to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada | McClelland & Stewart for the opportunity to read this ARC and I will be picking up a physical copy on the day it comes out to reread it.