Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

15 reviews

mikathereviewer's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Summary of my review: Book and film aren't alike AT ALL, fascinating and shocking discoveries, character depth (protagonist only), special nickname, first person POV prevented us readers to get to know more and feel more indulged while reading the story, too little happened for a stand-alone story



Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms … to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives.



I watched the film when it came out and I did know there was a book, but didn't read it till now. But here we are!
(And before you ask: The film is VERY different from the book. Some ideas were implanted into the film, but most didn't even exist in the book)



As said near the beginning of the book all characters were trained to leave personal stuff behind; Meaning that one is only there for the task to discover Area X and should only focus on that. So we of course don't get any friendship or the sort there. But we get the backstory of our main character which at least makes us connect a bit with her.

There were so many crazy things happening, but can't mention them as that would spoiler the fun. But they were so cool and interesting to read about!

The backstory we got of the main character was so detailed. We get every now and then a bit new information or just general memories of her. It made me feel more connected to the character, especially with relatable scenes like this: 
"I didn’t care about politics except in how politics impinged upon the environment. I wasn’t religious. All of my hobbies were bound up in my work. I lived for the work, and I thrilled with the power of that focus but it was also deeply personal."

Some might disagree now but the nickname the husband gave the protagonist sounds so special and original. Like I never got called like that and the best thing is; It doesn't sound cringe (since there is a meaning behind it). 



I like third and first person, but for this story I would say the third person would have been better (bonus points for different POV's as that would make the story more exciting). 
We are reading this story to DISCOVER. How do you discover a story the best? By having a narrator that knows everything and isn't RESTRICTED.

We had only 4 characters and it felt too little, honestly. Originally it was 5, but 1 left us already before they even got introduced to us readers. Or maybe character depth was the thing I missed, as the protagonist was the only one we really got to know. But there is a reason behind why we don't get to know the others so can't quite argue with that. I don't know it felt like something was missing, especially in the plot. It felt slow-paced sometimes, but in the end we didn't get as much information or intense scenes as I initially thought before reading this book. Feel disappointed.

03. August 2024

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Sexual content, Excrement, Grief, and Alcohol

keegan53's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book is the kind of book that makes you stop, ask yourself “what the heck did I just read”, and reread the sentence. I mean this in the best possible way. Annihilation is such a mind-bending story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, and Alcohol

A note on the body horror:

things that should not be made out of flesh are made out of flesh

lumorise's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Gore, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Gaslighting

msradiosilence's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

rickvsthebooksagenda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

ambientdusk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

kinddog2073's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Read this because I loved the film based on it that came out a few years ago and have rewatched it several times. I didn't know much of what to expect going in, but had read Hummingbird Salamander a few months ago and found that there was much to recognise in the tone and attitude of the narrator towards the reader. Vandermeer likes narrators that hold back information, at least between these two novels. This book landed better than Hummingbird Salamander for me, mostly due to it being far less hopelessly nihilistic. I suppose Vandermeer might be feeling a bit less hopeful about climate crisis recently... can't blame him for that really.

The themes in this book felt a lot more relatable to me, regarding assimilation and especially guardedness in relationships. Hummingbird Salamander had far fewer relatable elements in it for me, perhaps aside from the paranoia of the narrator as a security researcher.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, and Alcohol

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, and Self harm

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Child death and Physical abuse

Further warning for descriptions of drowning, and a very brief mention of child-on-child sexual abuse.