Authority

Starred review from February 24, 2014
The second volume of VanderMeer’s trilogy (following Annihilation) continues to investigate the secrets of Area X, a mysterious zone somewhere in the United States, isolated from the rest of the world through (as-yet) inexplicable processes, and from which participants of multiple expeditions have returned enormously changed—if they return at all. The narrator this time is John Rodriguez, who goes by the name “Control,” the newly appointed director of the Southern Reach, the organization that has, for 30 years, attempted to discover basic information about the zone. The Southern Reach is in turmoil following the calamitous 12th Area X expedition, which was the subject of Annihilation. In this sequel, VanderMeer supplements his evocative descriptions of the unnatural Area X with the shadowy, dusty, seemingly half-forgotten offices in which Control spends his time, as he parses video footage and interrogation testimony in order to get to the bottom of the Area X mystery. The book strengthens and develops the narrative arc while remaining fully coherent on its own, revealing more and more secrets about Area X all the while. VanderMeer’s masterful command of the plot, his cast of characters, and the increasingly desperate situation will leave the reader desperate for the final volume in the trilogy.

March 15, 2014
After the chills and thrills of Annihilation, published in February 2014, this second volume in VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy--a science fiction/horror hybrid--is an altogether quieter affair. It had to be once VanderMeer decided to change the venue from Area X to the Southern Reach HQ. Area X is a spooky no man's land controlled by an unknown entity (aliens?); 1,500 people have died there since its emergence 30 years ago. The Southern Reach is the secret government agency monitoring it, so we get office politics. Its last director, leader of the expedition described in Annihilation, is missing, presumed dead. This volume is narrated by the newly installed acting director, John Rodriguez, who wants to be called Control. That's ironic, for unlike le Carre's same-named pooh-bah, this Control's authority is tenuous. He owes the job to his mother, a powerful figure at Central, and the assistant director, Grace, is determined to undermine him. Moreover, after three decades of failing to solve the riddle of Area X, Southern Reach is a backwater and morale is low; Control's mission is to shake things up. First he must get a handle on Area X. He interviews the biologist, a survivor of the last expedition and protagonist of Annihilation, but draws a blank. She is stubbornly tight-lipped. He visits the border, bathed in a strange light, and watches video from the doomed first expedition. He reports to the Voice, a person in Central whose gender is disguised by technology. There are some minor frissons, as when Control discovers an unhinged scientist creating a nightmarish mural, but these are slim pickings compared to the horrors of Annihilation (an essential introduction). Nor does he measure up to the biologist in complexity. His background (Honduran sculptor father, multiple postings, multiple girlfriends) seems cobbled together, and the espionage elements, lackluster. Toward the end, there will be a spectacular development, a late reward after all the shadowboxing. Will VanderMeer rally for a grand slam finale? Stay tuned: The last volume is scheduled for September.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2014

The new director of the Southern Reach is in over his head. His predecessor disappeared on the last mission that the agency sent across the border into Area X, and all that John Rodriguez, aka "Control," has to go on to understand the mysterious zone are cryptic notes, disturbing videos, unreliable colleagues, and the interviews he conducts with one of the survivors who made it out. As he looks deeper into the mystery of Area X, he might find out more than he bargained for about his agency and himself. VERDICT The accelerated publishing schedule of the author's trilogy (Annihilation hit the shelves in February, Acceptance will be out in September) maintains the tension that VanderMeer has been building about his creepy forbidden zone. He carefully ladles out just enough information to keep readers hooked and the truth shadowed, so that his characters (and the reader) remain uneasy and unsettled. What is Area X? We'll have to wait until September to know for sure.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2014
In the second installment of the Southern Reach trilogy, Vandermeer continues to unravel the mysteries surrounding Area X, an isolated dystopia where unknown powers either disappear its inhabitants or return them to humanity brainwashed and useless. The sole surviving member of the twelfth expedition undergoes questioning by one of the government's most experienced investigators, a man named Control. Control is sent to the Southern Reach to investigate the disappearance of its director into Area X and to interrogate the psychologist who returned from the expedition; but while he's there he discovers the true dysfunction of the scientists and staff studying Area X. Authority should not be read in isolation from the first installment of the trilogy, Annihilation (2014), because much of the backstory of the Southern Reach expeditions is explained in the earlier volume. Those familiar with the series will understand the subtle foreshadowing that points to an action-packed conclusion to the trilogy. Compelling science fiction for those who can't get enough dystopia.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)