Originally posted on my blog, With Her Head in a Book. 
 Actual Rating: 2.5 stars 
 Can you really envision what it was like in those first moments, peering down into that dark space, and reading that? Perhaps you can. Perhaps you're reading it now. 
 Annihilation is one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen with a vast collection of covers to prove it. It's a book I desperately want on my bookshelves at least once but a copy of every edition from around the world doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, actually it kind of does because the books would sit there unread not due to simply language barriers, but rather that the book wasn't all that amazing. This is a series I will not be continuing despite how much I desperately wanted to like The Southern Reach books. 
 Annihilation is a good book, but not a good book. If those types of phrases agitate you, turn back now. They're frequent. 
 The novel is written similar to what I can only best describe as a crazed workaholic caught up in her own thoughts whilst giving a report to her boss after an 'incident' as if nothing terrible happened (terrible things did happen). If that's too much, let's simplify it to a journal of a mad woman. After all, the four women of the twelfth expedition are all instructed to carry a journal as they experience Area X, recording their thoughts and mysterious finds (and everything there is quite perplexing). Of course, they can't share their writings with each other which only makes the camp's atmosphere more surreptitious. They can't even share each other's names or anything about themselves. Due to the many secrets, the women are thrown into a game of "Who can you trust?" very early on. The answer is probably not even yourself and definitely not the howling beast in the marsh. 
 Annihilation is very much a thriller in the sense that I wanted to decipher these confusing elements to see if I could figure out the big mystery before the reader gets to that point - a great hobby of mine. Much of the novel I wanted to figure out what was "wrong" with Area X. Why do the animals have human eyes instead? What's that strange glowing green light? How do the tiny nanobot creatures contribute to the odd ecosystem? I'm not sure whether the author intended this or simply the writing style didn't mix with me well, but few of these mysterious are never solved even though they were made quite significant by the narrator. 
 Speaking of the writing style, the narrator is very dry. To be honest, the novel reads much like a lab analysis. It makes sense given that the narrator is very caught up in her work. Her entire life is about biology so I guess the author reasons so her thinking pattern must reflect that, too. Annihilation isn't a very good thriller namely because it's too much of a report of events to truly immerse yourself into the world. 
 When I found out that the narrator is a biologist I had many expectations. I absolutely love the field of biology. I hoped she'd be funny like Mark Watney of Andy Weir's The Martian, a surprisingly interesting personality like my last bio professor, and a woman in love with her husband (since she is married and often talks about him). She's none of these. That's especially infuriating since the novel focuses her. If someone were to ask me to describe her as a person, the only thing I could say is that she is the definition of a workaholic. Honestly, I imagine she'd be entirely happy existing as a biology textbook because that's essentially how she lives life already. Worst of all, there is no distinction in characterization that labels her, or any of the other women in the expedition, as a woman. I would not have known she's female if it was never said. She's not even a "manly woman" which is completely okay. The author, a man, writes her the same as he would a male character and that bothers me beyond words. 
 Perhaps the fault lies in the writing time frame of the book. All three books of the series were published within the same year. That's one hell of a quick turn around and I'm a firm believer that the writing process takes time in order to create something of quality. The author bit off more than he could chew by taking on such a complex project such as Area X. 
 Personally, I don't believe anyone should read this book. Many people say it's too "weird" but I think the biggest problem lies in how the author decided to write Annihilation - rushed and sloppily. By all means, if you are still interested in the book, do pick it up. There are plenty of striking ideas. Just know you probably won't get much out of completing the book. There just isn't much to it, unfortunately. 
 Plot: 3/5 
 Characters: 1/5 
 Writing style: 2/5 
 All around idea: 4/5 
 Final Score: 2.5/5