Acceptance

A wonderful cap to the first two books. Explains enough about what's going on to feel satisfying, without laying out a blueprint of the whole idea. Leaves plenty of mystery at the edges, plenty of things to still wonder about and turn over. But not so much that you feel left hanging by the story. A better delve into a lot of the characters and a beautiful look at the world Vandermeer has created.

This didn't quite bring it home for me, but it gave the story a decent closing. Note I didn't use the term “resolution.” There sure as hell isn't a tidy bow on the end of this story, which is pretty much to be expected. But I wish the hints at explanation had more follow-through. It's like he gives enough breadcrumbs to make you think there's going to be an “aha!” but then there hardly ever is. We do pretty much get an explanation of how Area X started - but of course, it's wrapped in a lot of “human cognition and perception cannot conceive of this” baggage as well as poetic nature descriptions and first-person hallucinating and navel-gazing, so it can be hard to unpack.

If you're willing to tolerate the ambiguity, I still recommend the series! It brings the weird in a way that's both unique, and also echoes everything from The Color Out of Space to Rebecca to Lilith's Brood.