Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Acceptance

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer

27 reviews

roenfoe's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Acceptance is better than Authority, but falls very short of Annihilation.

It's mostly cerebral (which is not new to the Area X series) and offers few resolutions to plot threads that have spanned the trilogy. I usually have absolutely no issue with not being handed answers, but after three books and about 800 pages it's fair to expect some plot substance. It seems that Acceptance only scratches the surface of Area X's potential.

I greatly enjoyed the lighthouse keeper chapters and all other details provided concerning the origin of the anomaly. I was intrigued by the biologist and Ghost Bird's story but was left feeling ultimately unsatisfied. I cared very little for Control (re: my problems with Authority).

My biggest letdown was VanderMeer's failure to cultivate feelings of buzzing, primal fear and unsettlement. These emotions were integral to my experience reading Annihilation, and I was disappointed to find him unable to evoke these same feelings (which are inseparable from Area X in my mind) in Acceptance. What was left felt like a theme park clone of a formerly frightening setting.

I enjoyed spending more time with Area X and its characters but was ultimately underwhelmed with the final installment in what could have been a great trilogy. I still plan to continue reading VanderMeer (his ideas always pull me in) but I hope that his other works are stronger.

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aileron's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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muffmacguff's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

One of the major strengths of this series is making you feel trapped in the characters’s world. Especially as the series progressed, with each successive book you see just how small a window the previous book gave you into the world of the series.
In this concluding book I think that’s a strength and also something that irritated the hell out of me! It’s so fascinating and disorienting, and I keep hoping anything will make more sense but it never does. There isn’t much to explain why all this weird shit is happening. Which is FINE and VALID but also makes me so angry.
Anyway these were a really interesting read that gave me a headache.

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