It is winter in Area X. A new team embarks across the border, on a mission to find a member of a previous expedition who may have been left behind. As they press deeper into the unknown - navigating new terrain and new challenges - the threat to the outside world becomes only more daunting. In this last instalment of the Southern Reach Trilogy, the mysteries of Area X may have been solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound - or terrifying.
***
Just out of reach, just beyond you: the rush and froth of the surf, the sharp smell of the sea, the crisscrossing shape of the gulls, their sudden, jarring cries.- OOOX: THE DIRECTOR, TWELFTH EXPEDITION
***
(@4thEstateBooks, 2 September 2014, e-book, 354 pages, bought from @AmazonKindle)
***
***
I really enjoyed Acceptance. I still think the first book Annihilation outshines the other two books, but this is a gripping read as well. This straddles both books with chapters taking place just before Area X is created and after the events at the end of Authority. Much of the book is set within Area X so the strange, surreal, and dream-like tone of the first book returns. This is a dark book but gripping and engrossing. I've read other books by the author, but The Southern Reach trilogy has made me want to read more.
