It is destined to become a classic of its kind. Together for the first time in one volume, the three celebrated novels of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance tell an exhilarating, disturbing, and all but unbearably suspenseful story of humanity engaged in what might be an existential confrontation with nature. Is it possible that one last mission across the border can save them? Those tasked with understanding and controlling Area X seem doomed to respond only with irrational, desperate measures. But once they cross into Area X it becomes apparent that the rules of nature as they understand them do not apply.īack at headquarters, the Southern Reach itself falls into disarray, its arcane bureaucracy and obsessive secrecy collapsing into paranoia and paralysis. The first group came back with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape the second expedition ended in mass suicide the members of the eleventh expedition returned but soon all died of cancer.Īt the beginning of the Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition: four female scientists prepared to map the terrain, to document and analyse samples. So far these expeditions have returned when they have returned with more questions than answers. Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades, explored only in a series of expeditions dispatched by a secret government agency called the Southern Reach. Reflecting on this captivating portrayal of Area X, I thought: This isn’t fiction. Additionally, it has the power to threaten the engulfment and destruction of humanity. ALL THREE VOLUMES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY – NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ALEX GARLAND (EX MACHINA) AND STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN, OSCAR ISAAC, GINA RODRIGUEZ AND TESSA THOMPSON. The trilogy brings me into an unknown world, where Area X transforms humans and nonhumans into bizarre hybrid creatures that elude the explorers’ understanding.

Area x trilogy