Annihilation

Along with [b:The Magicians 6101718 The Magicians (The Magicians #1) Lev Grossman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1313772941s/6101718.jpg 6278977], this book belongs to my “I have no idea what I was expecting, but I added it to my to-read list because it's kind of controversial with the reviewers and I want to be surprised”. I loved The Magicians (bite me, I really did), but this.... I have no idea how I feel about it. 2 stars means IDK in this case, as there is no way of marking it in any different way for me. Area X is this mysterious place overtaken by nature where things are weird, it is more of a myth to the outside world than a real place where you take your family with a tent. The army sends expeditions there, after some rigorously brainwashing training, this time the protagonist (the biologist), the surveyor, the psychologist and the anthropologist. They don't know the goal of their trip, so you don't know either, they just go because they are sent and then things are starting to be weird. I swear this book makes no sense, it is all just one sequence of unexplained things that happen and make you feel like everyone is probably a bit high and getting paranoid. (Remember the flasback sequence from the Simon Pegg-Nick Frost movie The World's End, when they all get high on top of drunk and it's all fucked? Yeah, like that, but the characters all feel distant.) Things happen and you feel no rhyme or reason, at least I didn't. The worst about it is that it never really gets a proper reason and the protagonist is probably losing her mind, so you are not even sure if you can trust her. Some people love that form of ambiguity, but I personally felt like the book was weightless because of it. Sure, the things go wrong and you pretty much just know that there is no way of a positive outcome, but to me that wasn't enough to care for real. The distance from the characters didn't help with that either. The whole thing was philosophical, to the detriment of making the characters truly relatable and believable. They stayed weirdo , artsy fictional characters who never really acted like people. I guess that can be an interesting exercise if you are looking for one, but I'm still not convinced by it. The protagonist is especially infuriating in her rambling artsy ways;she is actually being sold as a true scientist with an asocial and rational mind, while she keeps rambling like an poet on crack. On what level does that make any sense? It goes against what we learn about her. Sure, I guess the author was just writing in the way he does (which was pretty sweet, I really liked it at some point), but I don't think first person narrative was the right choice for it. Made no sense to me. When the end rolls around, it doesn't feel like a proper ending, which was possibly expected from a book that made so little sense. Sure, the protagonist offers some idea, which is probably right in my opinion, but it is nothing objectively, proven right and while an open ending is not something I automatically dislike, this book seemed to lack any real factual information about the world and with the weird plot, it just resulted in a mess of “or whatever”. The style of the whole thing is just very defined, very bold in its ways, which is something you will either get and like or not get and dislike. In that way it reminds me of China Mieville and that one half book of his I tried to read. I guess weird fiction is just not really my cup of tea? All I'm saying is that it is something not everyone is going to dig, which is supported by the reviews. I'm back to not being able to say anything meaningful about this. Did I love it? Nope. Did I hate it? Nah. I just don't think I'm the right person to appreciate it. The weirdness is making it likely that I'm going to attempt the next book, not sure with how much success, plus the covers are absolutely awesome, I wouldn't mind hanging them on my walls. The artist deserves some kudos. Not sure how many times I will be recommending this book, other than the times when I want to hear someone's opinion about it; I don't really think I'm friends with anyone who would truly enjoy it, which probably makes me a sad human being with boring friends. All in all, kind of meh. Have a good night and preferably avoid camping in the Twilight Zone!