A Badly Made Circle
Book Review: Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
“A circle looks at a square and sees a badly made circle.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, Authority
Genre: Science Fiction/Horror
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Authority is the second book in the Southern Reach Trilogy. This review will make absolutely no sense without some cursory knowledge about book one and the mysterious Area X. For my review of Annihilation click here. In the first book, we follow the biologist into Area X and get a first-hand look into what appears to be a kind of intelligent ecosystem that is consuming human expeditions and sending them back as soulless shells of their former selves.
In the second book, we change perspective to John Rodriguez, who goes by the name Control, which is ironic because he doesn’t seem to have any. Control is the new director of the Southern Reach, the secret agency that manages expeditions into Area X. He is appointed by his mother, called Severance, who works for Central, the entity in charge of the Southern Reach.
Control is trying to figure out what Area X is all about and all he has to go on is a bunch of fragmented data in the form of journals, reports, and shaky video footage taken from the first expedition. He works with the assistant director, Grace, who is extremely obstinate and difficult to work with. Everyone seems to be hiding something, or deliberately obfuscating facts.
The previous director mysteriously disappeared and we learn that she was on the twelfth expedition as the psychologist from book one. He’s trying to understand why she went, but can’t get a straight answer from anyone and Grace seems to be protecting her for some reason.
One of his main objectives is to interview the biologist from the twelfth expedition (we learn that it was the last twelfth expedition—they have been more than thirty, but they’re categorized in an unnecessarily complicated manner). The biologist, who goes by Ghost Bird, insists she is not the biologist and has almost no memory of being in Area X. If you know what happens to people who come back from Area X, you can assume the same has happened to her. Over the course of his failing interviews with her, he becomes attached.
While the second book answers some of the questions posed in book one, it also raises even more, which is okay. There’s one more installment to go and he’s about to put out a fourth. This book is longer and goes into some history with Control’s family, which I found to be a bit of a slog, even though it was all relevant to understanding the relationships within the Central organization. But I was eager to get back into Area X and that doesn’t happen until the very end. So now I have to read the third book!
I recommend this book to anyone who has already read Annihilation and who are desperate for more answers! Yes, you will get some, but not all. This is intentional. The human urge to try and nail everything down, to make the unknown known, is exactly what this author seems to be railing against.
If you enjoyed this book review, check these out!