Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Authority

The ending was a bit interesting. And even though I didn't like this book I enjoyed the writing style (though I would have preferred sometimes different words to describe something).

The information we got in this book about Area X and the southern reach wasn't good or even a lot.

The pacing was awfully slow. One could start at 60-70% in, and haven't missed anything. It's a joke.

Main character; Control (John) was annoying. Couldn't decide if he wanted to know everything or nothing at all.

Plot wasn't interesting (or rather dragged out too much as we got almost nothing out of it). At some point I was so bored out that even the plot twist didn't bring me back into reading with interest.

Almost nothing happens in the book and we just get useless info, scenes and more that could have been cut out, as the book has about 70 pages content only.

Confusing. Maybe it's my vocabulary, but most of the time I either didn't know what was going on or it was too bizarre (without even getting an explanation!).

The last chapter. Who thinks it's a good idea to put the last 14% of the book in a whole chapter. That was way too much!

This book put me into a reading slump and even though I know that we get new characters and a new setting for each of the books from this series I seriously think I won't continue with it. Not complete set yet though, but definitely will read a different book (series) now.

04. August 2024

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wispy_reviews's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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rainstar's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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michaelion's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

Damn. I spoke too soon (in my review for Annihilation). I dozed off at least three times reading this. It wasn't exceptionally boring or bad but I believe if something is good enough even if I'm already tired I'll stay alert to enjoy it.

As a joke the first time I saw Lowry's name I thought "What if I google that name and get spoiled that Lowry was secretly the big bad all along?" I didn't google it but I ended up being right??? What the hey hey.

I thought of Control as a manchild, mostly because of his attachment to his mommy but also he didn't seem to get much of anything done. Not a critique of the book I just don't have anyone to talk to about it. Also negative points because characters have names now and I just think that's misogynistic!

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beansandrice's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

There are some neat moments in this, but it undermines so much of Annihilation. Also, it emphasizes how much Annihilation benefited from Only Women Characters syndrome, since

wow the hetero pairing in this book is supposed to be romantic but is soooo toxic. I have yet to read Acceptance but, i doubt Vandermeer really understands how toxic this is.

Content Warnings

droggelbecher42's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this one as much as the first book in the trilogy.
Like other people have mentioned Control is a less compelling character than the biologist.

On top of that I just found the southern reach agency less interesting than actually being immersed in the atmosphere of Area X like in the first book.
The slow pace of the book wasn't necessarily a problem for me but I found

the sudden climax of the Area X expending/Control fleeing quite jarring. Felt very abrupt, although I suppose that might have been intentional.

It felt like a bit of filler book between book one and three, setting up a lot of things, but not really coming to satisfying conclusions.

I still enjoyed aspects fo the book and really enjoyed some scenes e.g.

Control finding Whitby in the attic of that room. Any of the interrogation scenes with the biologist were fun

. Also I'm excited to reread Annihilation at some point while having the knowledge from Authority.

Definitely will be reading the third book soon and I'm hoping that the third book finally answers some questions while still focusing on the weirdness of Area X.

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coelwa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.0

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sophieamreacher's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Utterly bizarre, I felt like I was being hypnotised myself. Really interesting plot, characters and concept. The writing was intriguing and kept me feeling disorientated like the characters.

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